Sunday, November 14, 2010

The Woodcock Season Flown Away

With 3 days left in the woodcock season I headed north to hunt along a small river that I've been eyeing all fall. The cover just screamed WOODCOCK !!!I love finding old apple trees in mid-fall with apples still hanging on. Old survivor trees handing out their bounty sparingly.


Emma says there's birds in here for sure, but after hours of brushing pounding without a sniff of a woodcock we went home empty-handed.

The next day Hattie and Caleb were my huntmates. We hit a local cover that often holds a few birds.




Caleb and his 16 ga. Uggie sxs surveying the cover.


Hattie found the birds, but they proved hard to approach. Here's Caleb going in to a point.






Caleb going in on another point. Hattie found 6 woodcock that day but they were runners, flushing out ahead of her points. Caleb only got one chance at a bird and didn't connect.





The last day drawed my to Lake Raystown, the largest lake in Pa. It has some excellent looking covers, but I've never been able to "hit the flights" and only move an occasional bird.
















This beautiful cover proved to be empty.











It's a shame the woodcock can't read.

So this years woodcock season ended quietly. With only a few birds bagged some may say it was a disappointing season, but I hunt as much for the experiences as for the full game bags and I have many memories to remind me of this wonderful time of year.
Now the dogs and I will put our "grouse faces" on. :)









1 comment:

Gary Thompson said...

It's so cool that you're getting a young man into sxs shooting! What an awesome looking place. The cover still blows me away. Someday I'm sure I'll get out East to try my hand at the Tinderdoodle. When I do, I'll be picking your brain for necessary skill, that's for sure. Love the photos.