Those of you who follow my blog know the troubles I've had with Thicket ignoring woodcock. She had started out in her first year pointing them, and then midway through her first hunting season she started to leave her points and even ignoring birds that flew up right in front of her. I've been patient and have kept taking her into the coverts in the hope that exposure to woodcock would help her work through whatever situation made her shun them in the first place. Yesterday my patience paid off. We headed to Piney Creek and minutes after leaving the truck I saw her on point. I hurried to her taking pictures as I went expecting her to leave the point as she had been doing. This time she held perfectly until I walked in front of her and flushed the bird. She showed much excitement as it flew away and I knew she had "turned the corner".
Within minutes she was pointing another bird.
In an hour she had found 7 woodcock. Some she crept in too close and flushed but she showed me a desire to find and point them. Why she suddenly decided to start pointing woodcock again I'll never know, but I do know that having patience with her and letting her figure it out on her own was the right thing to do. Back at the truck I told her she had made this old guy very, very happy.
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