NY Catskills Woodcock

[Andy]

Kevin, great post. I was scouting for birds on state land and saw him in his field, and he was a wonderful gentleman who eventually became a patient. I asked to help him on his property because he had his hands full and he didn’t need any help so he said. He was a retired engineer, but looked like a strapping farmer in his late 80s. His property was probably only 70 or 80 acres. Apparently he took a walk and fell into a well And family didn’t hear from him for two days. He was eventually found. The family let me hunt for one or two more years then they sold it. It was turned into lawn and fire pits and totally useless shit that nobody wants to deal with.

[J. Scott Hanes]

K-III, nice double! Is your sidekick along with you? The two legged one.

[Ken Waite III]

Thanks Scott. I’m here with a group of friends including Todd Burdick and of course our four legged sidekicks. Wish you were here with us. Picture of Todd and his MacNaugton plus dogs

[Bill Murphy]

Ken, does Burdick carry that McNaughton in a holster? Murphy

[Ken Waite III]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Ken, does Burdick carry that McNaughton in a holster? Murphy

He’s a big guy. All the guns look like toys in his hands!

[10 bore]

Originally Posted by Kevin McCormack

In October 1969 a former ag biometrics teacher of mine at the U of MD who had moved back up to NH invited me and another hunting buddy up for a week of grouse and woodcock hunting. While we were in the local feed store getting our licenses,the phone rang and the owner picked it up. "Yeah, when? Well, there was nothing there yesterday when my son and I worked though it. Must be flight birds come in overnight. Why can't you go this morning? Well, the 'Doc' (my former teacher) is here with two friends from down South; OK if I send them over? You bet!" He turned to us and said, "better get over there, Lans says they're in there like fleas!" We high-tailed it about a half-hour north to a large dairy farm with several loafing and grazing pastures. As Frank points out, the earth was moist and soft, churned up by hundreds of hooves every day. As I recall we didn't even use Tom's wonderful GSP 'Belle', simply walked the plots slowly. It was the only time I can truly claim to have been into a flight of woodcock. We put a self-imposed limit on ourselves to take only 2 birds each against the legal limit of 3. To this day I don't remember how many we shot, but I do remember we flushed somewhere in the neighborhood of dozen to 15 birds. This was about an hour northwest of Dover, NH.

kevin, i am from dover, NH and live 4 miles from dover, do you remember the town you hunted and what store you picked up your licence at? in 69 there were a lot of farms here. i bet you wouldnt believe what it looks like now around here. we used to hunt grouse the same way by just walking them up no dog. i havent seen a grouse around here in 5 or 6 years and that was 1. scott

[Steve Hodges]

An hour north west of Dover might put you in my neck of the woods, the Lakes Region.

[Kevin McCormack]

Originally Posted by scott kittredge

kevin, i am from dover, NH and live 4 miles from dover, do you remember the town you hunted and what store you picked up your licence at? in 69 there were a lot of farms here. i bet you wouldnt believe what it looks like now around here. we used to hunt grouse the same way by just walking them up no dog. i havent seen a grouse around here in 5 or 6 years and that was 1. scott

As I recall the feed store we bought our licenses at was in Rochester and the dairy farm we hunted was either in Lebanon or Farmington. I returned to NH to hunt with my former teacher 2 more times, once in Pittsburg NH in the late 1990s then back in Ossipee in 2002. He died in 2007 and I have not returned to that part of the country since then to hunt.

[10 bore]

Originally Posted by Kevin McCormack

As I recall the feed store we bought our licenses at was in Rochester and the dairy farm we hunted was either in Lebanon or Farmington. I returned to NH to hunt with my former teacher 2 more times, once in Pittsburg NH in the late 1990s then back in Ossipee in 2002. He died in 2007 and I have not returned to that part of the country since then to hunt.

Kevin, there is a Farmington and Lebanon would be in maine just over the state line in Rochester. Its all gone now houses,highways, stores and lots of people. scott

[James L. Martin]

Back to Tughill for 3 days, had 9 grouse flushes with 2 shots . The magic gun came thur again, no woodcock.