Woodcock flights

[Big D]

We've all seen flights of ducks and geese. Has anyone ever seen what they would call a woodcock flight?

[Rick Riddell]

Originally Posted by John Dallas

We've all seen flights of ducks and geese. Has anyone ever seen what they would call a woodcock flight?

They migrate solo, so no flocks or groups. The flights are usually as high as the tallest tree.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by John Dallas

We've all seen flights of ducks and geese. Has anyone ever seen what they would call a woodcock flight?

its a fall of woodcock - if you want the old classic old timer's term

even though Rick is correct- we now know that they travel as individuals

[mobirdhunter]

I've experienced what I would term a "Fall" of woodcock twice. Once in central MN after a frigid blast of northerly air we were walking through a new cut that had grown to whips about waist high. We were headed to grouse cover on the other side, but started flushing woodcock. In the span of about a half hour, we flushed over 30 birds according to my records. Some were reflushes, but there were a gracious plenty of birds in that small covert.

The second one occurred back in the 1990s. We had a Halloween snow storm that brought about 6 inches of snow to us (Northern Missouri). We went out the next day, the first day of our quail season, to hunt quail. We were hunting a friend's farm, mostly open, but with a small "ditch" (as we call them in Missouri). We ran into many nearly frozen woodcock. Once we saw their condition, we left them alone. They were reluctant to flush and could barely move. It was sad to see.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Garry L Gordon

We were hunting a friend's farm, mostly open, but with a small "ditch" (as we call them in Missouri). We ran into many nearly frozen woodcock. Once we saw their condition, we left them alone. They were reluctant to flush and could barely move. It was sad to see.

They mostly probably survived okay after they regained some rest and the strength to move on.

Is seems almost every other late February after some unseasonable warm south winds for several days and early woodcock have moved in a 8 or ten- inch snow hits us and it almost always tails off in heavy rain and sub-freezing temps puts a thick crust on the snow. We have found dozens of dead woodcock for the next couple of weeks, all starved because they couldn’t find their customary food sources.






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[Wild Skies]

Here's a link to an interesting series of maps of individually GPS-tagged woodcock and their migration from mid to late October through the eastern part of the U.S.A.

https://www.woodcockmigration.org/migration.html

[Ed Norman]

Originally Posted by Greg Baehman

Here's a link to an interesting series of maps of individually GPS-tagged woodcock and their migration from mid to late October through the eastern part of the U.S.A.

https://www.woodcockmigration.org/migration.html

Greg,
Is there some way you can e mail or text me the migration info, I am trying to forward it to the guys that have helped me so much. I think they would appreciate it. kalglass@charter.net is my e mail I cannot figure out how to forward to them. Thanks, Ed

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Ed Norman

Greg,
Is there some way you can e mail or text me the migration info, I am trying to forward it to the guys that have helped me so much. I think they would appreciate it. kalglass@charter.net is my e mail I cannot figure out how to forward to them. Thanks, Ed

Ed, Just cut and paste the address and email it to your friends. Very simple.

[Ed Norman]

Originally Posted by Garry L Gordon

Ed, Just cut and paste the address and email it to your friends. Very simple.

Garry,
Unfortunately the only cutting and pasting I know how to do is with scissors and the paste like glue we used as kids. I keep trying, but a computer is just foreign to me. You should see me with my garmin dog collar system. I took that in yesterday and asked him to update for me. I can type 100 words per minute, and can barely turn on a computer