Monday and Wednesday Hunts

On Monday Thicket and I hunted the Doll's Head covert.

 

The old road leading in.

 

The cover looked inviting.

 

Thicket hunted hard.

 

We found no birds until we made our swing back through the top part of the covert where Thicket's beeper went on point mode. As I walked in from the front she relocated and pointed again. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and the bird flushed off to my left and behind me. It had been a runner and my reflexes proved to be too slow for me to get off a shot.  We finished our push through the cover finding no more birds.  Never the less I was pleased with Thicket's performance on the running woodcock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday Thicket and I headed to Piney Creek. In my haste I forgot my camera so no pics of this hunt.

We found a few more birds on this trip with me flushing two and seeing one flush from cover that Thicket was working through as we made our first swing through the cover. Soon after we turned back in the direction of the truck, Thicket went on point. The bird was a runner, as more birds seem to be, but she relocated nicely without flushing the bird. As I walked in for the flush the woodcock showed me that this was his "neighborhood" and dodged around a clump of maples making good his escape before I could get the gun to my shoulder.

Not long after this bird Thicket went on point again.  This bird was in thick saplings and although I dropped both hammers the bird flew away unscathed. We made it back to the truck with no more bird contacts but I considered it a very successful hunt with Thicket's two solid points.