Southern New England Woodock

[IW1978]

I haven’t seen a woodcock in 2-3 years and when they do come through it’s usually some solo birds. Yesterday was one of the colder days so far and it was very windy out of the NW. I wasn’t going to hunt but the dog was antsy and driving me insane. I went to some local fields and wasn’t expecting to find much but almost immediately she went on point in the same spot she flushed a pheasant the week before. I figured she was just remembering the spot but she held tight and up went a woodcock. I dropped it with the first shot but unfortunately I was using #5s by accident. The bird was pretty beat up. Hunted for another 45 minutes and the dog went on point again and put up another woodcock but I missed that one. She got birdy in about 5-8 other spots so I am thinking that cold snap and the NW wind blew those birds down to us on their migration.