Thursday I headed for the huge Raystown Lake bottoms. Filled with hawthorn and alders they look to be the perfect cover for woodcock, but in the 12-13 years that I've hunted them they have never produced many birds. With a local church, sportsman club and road all bearing the name Woodcock Valley this area must at one time been a woodcock hotspot. The game commission now stock large numbers of pen-raised pheasants in the fields that border the bottoms and I wonder if disease has spread to the wild bird populations. This day proved to be another disappointing walk with one woodcock flushed by me and one pointed and then bumped by Thicket, showing me that she's still a pup with much to learn.
A pet peeve of mine are signs like this posted throughout the bottoms yet I have never seen any sign of management being done :(.
Friday we headed for the Doll's Head covert with Thicket redeeming herself for yesterdays bump. She had two solid points that she held until I walked in for the flush.
Thicket has really impressed me with her hunting style always seeking out the thickest cover in her search for birds.
After the walk she strikes a pose on the tailgate.
2 comments:
Greyphase, thats interesting thats where i went last week and only found two and it should hold a TON of birds but it never does everytime i go. I also think it gets hammered by pheasant hunters i never hunt it i only ever go there in the spring. But every time i go i see many empty hulls
Kind of good to know that I'm not the only one who can't seem to find birds in that beautiful cover.
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