You the man.

It's a lot of fun, but a bit much for my young dog! Ready for next year! We have a Kansas pheasant and quail hunt planned... I want to see him work wild birds in wide open country instead of the briars and thicket! Still a lot to learn until then though!

Headed back tomorrow to prep the freezer for the off-season!!

Love it! See you added a "swamp rabbit" to the bag too.

My two favorite things under God and Family are Hunting and Dogs! And anytime I can combine the two, I'm in heaven on earth!

Added one more "swamp rabbit" to the bag and finished out our three man limit of woodcock shortly after!!

Thanks NP!!

Jenny and I went on a quick hunt this afternoon. Her work was a little rough around the edges but she still got the job done.

@Nogalus Prairie

How thick is the area that you hunt?

We have to hunt brush that is extremely thick! And loaded with chainsaw briars... Only place we can find them! Had a rough go at it Sunday too! Think it was too hot and the scent had burned away!

Was worried that they had left until I saw your last post!

There are of course some VERY thick areas. But these are surrounded by more open areas (drainages,cutover areas, etc.). I stay out of the thick stuff as much as possible. Interestingly, by hook or crook, Jenny has learned to work these areas from the outside and does a "head up" point if she smells a bird in there. She obviously doesn't like them either. She has no problem with yaupon thickets because there are "tunnels" through them.

Just sounds like where I hunt is a little more open.

Growing up as a kid in Louisiana, we found a woodcock roost that we would hunt about every other week. No walking, just waiting for them to come in, and still hard as hell to hit. Man that was some good times.

Hitting them over a dog is weird thing. There are two types of shots: 1)the "quick" shot as they blast out that is pure instinct and 2)the "patient" shot where you wait on them to get up and line out wherever they are going.

I have never been a shotgunner and have no idea what I am doing but am doing OK so far. I would not shoot skeet or try to practice right now for anything as I am convinced it would totally mess me up.

ksnow I was real worried the big freeze had driven the all down to the Gulf coast too. They were pretty few and far between so I am still concerned it had an effect. Woodcock guru Dr. Whiting (emeritus SFASU professor) says we have good numbers of resident birds/breeding pairs in east TX. I wonder if the few I am seeing now are in that category. IDK. This is not fully studied or universally accepted. I plan on running my dog in the Spring some to test this theory.

Dang that looks like fun.

Personally I think birds and skeet are different, the birds are accelerating and the clay targets are slowing down. The birds may be rising while the clays are dropping.
I wish I was a better shotgunner, Last year I did pretty good on doves, we kept score and I'd be 2nd or 3rd out of about 20 but this year I just didn't get out that much nor did I do that well. In any event, for me, it is a "ZEN" thing. If I "just do it" looking at the bird- I'll get a hit. When I screw up is when I think about the shot. One good thing about doves is you get in a lot of shooting. They taste pretty good too.

I agree. I have never been much of a shotgunner but am hitting my fair share (most of them actually). But I couldn't tell you a thing I am consciously doing to save my soul. Plus it all may change tomorrow.

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Even a blind sow finds an acorn every now and then.


Dogless on the Davy Crockett National Forest - 17 January 2014

Speaking of acorns, why was the bird on a relatively open, oak-dominated slope? My uninformed guess is that the acorn-rooters had tilled up the soil and pushed the leaf litter around enough to make the area more accessible to worms and woodcocks. The bird had moist earth up to his nostrils, so he'd been feeding.

Last few minutes of the hunt, and the weary, hungry hunter—having had zero flushes across two days of trekking—was daydreaming of a cheeseburger and cradling the gun in his nondominant arm when the forest gods smiled with an unexpected bird. Wake up, Little Susie!



The beautiful feathers will be saved and used for fly-tying, and after some aging, the meat may get beer-braised in mushrooms, butter, and fresh sage or thyme and using a just-discovered, intense, dark brew called Lobo Negro, a German dunkel with a Spanish name . . . which seems pretty appropriate for a Texas beer. Complementary earthy flavours are the idea since woodcocks are worm-eaters . . . and it's hard to get earthier than that.
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^^^^ Congratulations!!!!! I am so glad your perseverance paid off! As for him being on an open slope, who knows? Some days I find most of the birds on open drainages and some days only in the thick stuff a rabbit couldn't go through. Most days it is just a mix of everything with no discernible rhyme or reason. I have only recently discovered my birds like a particular stumpy-as-heck cutover area I had never even thought of hunting. Jenny found one in such an area on the way out, and I have since found several.

They are really in the DCNF as we speak. I am at my place doing other things this weekend. But they are flying in/out of the forest at dawn and dusk in great numbers. You can also hear their mating calls and flights at dawn and dusk all over.

Looks like we pup and I going to have to make a trip down this week....

Guys,
That looks like a ton of fun. I'm a squirrel hunter myself, but I may have to give this a try some time.

This is a long thread. I haven't seen a woodcock since last January; but hopefully I will this week. DCNF is a pretty big place, BTW.

Wrapped up several reports at work so headed to the farm yesterday. It was a perfect day all around.

Two hours' work for Miss Jenny (would have been one if her master could shoot better):

Plus a great supper when I got home:

I was curious if there are many in the LBJ grass lands others wise I will have to pull of EAST Texas hunt. Would be fun to get my pup on some of these before the end of season...

Any north east Texas locations that are open to public?

From what I have read they are few and far between outside the east TX pineywoods. Others will know more than me though. I live in Corsicana and did have a buddy tell me he used to hunt them when he would see them coming through on his place, but he said they only came through for a few days sporadically.

So that's what always flying all over the pasture... look like long nosed field larks...

There is a lot of Corp. land and a pretty big WMA on Lake Wright Patman! And I'm sure it has tons of them on it!

Many thanks to Conor Harrison of "Lone Star Outdoor News" for the article featuring Jenny's and my woodcock hunting exploits. More than a little embarrassed he chose a rookie like me to interview but proud of the exposure for Jenny (who deserves all the credit anyway). The article is at pp. 4-5 as you scroll through the current issue. LSON is a great publication for Texas hunters.

http://issuu.com/lsoneditor/docs/jan2414

Neat. The forums get more exposure than I realized

Saw a woodcock on my place in a little marshy area yesterday. Beautiful bird.

I walked the Memorial park arboretum in Houston yesterday with my boykin, the office was closed so I let him off leash. He flushed 5 woodcock within a small area, I could of had shots at 3 of them and one was a big chukar size. Got me thinking I need to get out after some before the season is out. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I was thinking about Sam Houston National Forest but it's a pretty big area. Anyone care to join on Friday morning?