Well I finally got out in the woods yesterday for birds and it was a good day except for getting drowned like a rat and having an empty game pouch. I was very surprised to see so many leaves on the trees in the Southern Tier of WNY for so late in October, man was it thick. Anyway, I was hunting by myself with no dog so it was tough getting shots but I did flush one grouse (never saw it), one woodcock (that I was in no position to shoot at) and 5 pheasants (three roosters). I managed to get a couple of shots at one pheasant but missed. It's amazing how a pheasant rising can hang in the sky like a big slow chicken and you can still miss
! But it was still good to get out and I saw a bunch of game all day (while driving to my spot I also saw a half dozen pheasants walking the road, 2 flocks of turkey standing next to posted signs, about 100 geese in a posted field and a few ducks in a roadside stream.)