Although the cover looked good and I flushed two grouse out of pine trees the woodcock were absent.
On Thursday Thicket and I headed to Piney Creek.
Sadly she slipped back into the habit of pointing the bird until I got near her and then walking away from the point. On her third point I called her back into the area where she was pointing and she repointed the bird. I walked in and flushed it and dropped it with the right barrel. She hunted hard and found the bird and carried it away from me about 20 feet, dropped it and looked back at me. Although frustrating I'll be patient and keep exposing her to woodcock with the hope that the "light" will come on and she will become more solid on her points.
On Friday Emma and I hunted the Shawnee Creek Covert and the birds were there.
The hawthorn are carrying a good crop this year with many fruit on the ground.
They proved to be wiley and used the thick cover to their advantage. I missed the first two birds and then had several flush without giving me a chance to shoot. I finally had one flush back just over my head. I turned and fired and saw the bird drop into an opening. Emma ran into the opening and went on point. Suddenly the bird reflushed and flew over my head again. I saw one of it's legs dangling and I waited as long as I could before firing another shot which connected. Emma ran to the bird but wouldn't pick it up and as I walked to it I saw that my close shot had completely decapitated it.
Emma found several more birds with me missing another one and several flushing without giving me a shot. We ended up back at the truck tired, wet but happy never the less with the number of birds we encountered.
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