First bird hunting post

[Bobman]

I can't believe Cider wasn't the first to post in this section so I guess I'll start  !  I was wondering if anyone has any tips for consistently finding Woodcock (Timberdoodles) besides a lot of scouting.  I have places where I find them but not with any consistency.  One year they might be there the next not.  Is there certain habitat I should look for?  I try to find places with soft moist (not wet) ground since the birds like to eat worms.  Alder thickets seem to be pretty good.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[treed942000]

Bobman

Your all over the place.  I wish I could make it back to Iowa for the Pheasant Season opener.     Maybe get time during Christmas.  I can hear the Rooster crowing from here.  Nothing like that sound of a flush of birds by the dog.

TReed

[treed942000]

Cider

Quail have to be my favorite then pheasant, scarse to find but when you do there are a lot of them.  quick, small and hard to hit.  I love the challenge they present.

TReed

[Bobman]

TReed - I would love to hunt Pheasants out in the Midwest hotspots sometime, beautiful birds.  Unfortunately the only thing we really have by way of Pheasants in WNY are the ones stocked by the DEC and those you pretty much have to boot in the rump to get them to fly.  Besides they are stocked in so few areas that it's surprising more people don't shoot each other on opening day of the season.  I've seen 4 different parties of hunters surround a 15 acre cornfield and hunt to the middle, each from a different direction.  It's crazy!

Cider - The best place I've found for woodcock is a creek bottom that runs through a wide ravine.  The tops of the ravine have a lot of springs that feed the creek so I usually find them on top of the ravine in the alders and crabapples where the springs originate.  I don't often find them in the creek bottom itself which seems strange.  I've hit days when flights are in and its not unusual to put up 20 different birds.  I once caught a flight on a Saturday afternoon and had great shooting but by Sunday morning they were gone.

As for my favorite bird it would also have to be grouse.  I've had so many fun and strange encounters with these birds over the years...  Have you ever had one fly straight at your head where you had to duck out of the way or get smacked with a bundle of feathers  ?  I really like hunting grouse late in the season when there is snow on the ground (in NY the season doesn't end until the last day of Feb.).  It really consentrates the birds in the pine lots that we planted on our property.  We've had times when we flushed 2 dozen birds on one pass through the pines!  Our season starts Oct 1 here too but there are usually way to many leaves on the trees still to get decent shots.  I usually fish steelhead until mid Oct, then switch to bird hunting.

[treed942000]

TReed - I would love to hunt Pheasants out in the Midwest hotspots sometime, beautiful birds.

Bobman - Let me know when you want to go and we can coordinate something.  My family is still in Iowa and it gets rubbed in all the time that they're hunting and I'm working.    Give me an excuse to get home. 

TReed

[Bobman]

TReed - Thanks for the offer, I'd love to go.  Unfortunately Iowa is a long way from NY and with two little ones (a 3 year old and a 5 month old) money and time are in short supply.  I'll be lucky to get out a dozen times for grouse and ducks around here  !  If you ever get around Buffalo, NY area and want to hunt grouse let me know and I can find some time to take you to some of my spots.

[lumberjohn]

Bobman, it sounds like you know where to find the woodcock. I think it's just a matter of timing and getty lucky when the migration is coming through. I'm in central NY near Auburn. In my experience the peak migration seems to be around mid October from around the 10th-20th of the month. I run into them when I'm grouse and pheasant hunting and it is always in areas with moist soil, often near alder and vibernum thickets, and old abandoned apple orchards always seem to produce well. I was hunting up at French Creek WMA near Clayton one year and ran into a mess of them in the vibernums. One sat so tight that when it flushed it beaned itself on the end of my gun barrel, I kid you not. Often when I get into the woodcock I'm hunting pheasant and grouse and more than once I've blasted them at close range with high brass #6's. Not an ideal load for woodcock. Often all you can find after that is a couple wings and not much else. I hunted Connecticut Hill WMA this past sunday for Grouse with my nephew and our Springer and American Water Spaniels. We kicked up 6 grouse and got shots off at 4, all misses. But it was fun. We went through plenty of timberdoodle country but none to be found, I believe it's a little early yet, give them another week.

[lumberjohn]

The woodcock have arrived. I was out today and flushed half dozen in a few hours. If you weren't getting your feet wet you weren't into the birds. I found them on the margins of woodland samps bordered by standing timber. The woodcock were in the alder, vibernum, wild apple, thorn-apple margin that seperated the swamp from the timber. Missed them all of course, but the dog and I had fun. Beautiful day to be in the woods. Also flushed two grouse and saw three gobblers.

[Bobman]

Sounds like a good hunt even without bagging anything.  Hopefully I can get out and find some this weekend and next week.  I'll be on vacation all week so if the timing is right... !  Thanks for the update lumberjohn!

[MASTERGUIDE]

Right on with the habitat, also anywhere brushy, may work, but those places are harder to find, overall though, mainly they like young trees, saplings, and open dirt ground, I did research on them, and there was one location that always held woodcock, but when a guy baught the land, and made dirt truck paths/roads in there, the birds sat on the roads where there was dirt, that was mating season though, and they still did this in the fall, but stuck more towards cover, although did venture to the road every once in a while.  A good way to scout is to go out right before it gets dark, and watch them fly (in the migration stage in the fall) there is a 10-15 minute period right before dark, or dusk, when it is kind of dark, but still light enough to see, and they will get up and start flying at this time, go out and sit where u suspect them, and see if they fly.  also scout in the mating season, this makes them easy to find because all you have to do is liten for them, and they will be in the same vicinity in the fall. 

[MASTERGUIDE]

I forgot to mention their noise that they make, it is a peent, just like it sounds peeeent, with a nasal pitch.  I have video footage of them doing their mating dances and things, when the bird would take off, I would sit within a few feet of where it took off, in full camo I would sit and wait with a camera, and always, they come down in the same spot, or close to it.  they do some cool stuff, move in circles and make a gulping noise when they are standing there, the more peents per minute(s) the less birds in the area, less peents means more birds
MASTERGUIDE

[archbishop]

hey bob i need a teacher we should hook up and you can show me some tips i know nothing about any bird hunting other than turkey

[Bobman]

hey bob i need a teacher we should hook up and you can show me some tips i know nothing about any bird hunting other than turkey

When bird season rolls around let me know and we can head out to where I hunt.  If you have some places to go we can also head there and see what conditions are like.  I can usually finds some birds somewhere, just need access to the land.