BritChaser,
Yes woodcock are very good to eat. We usually butterfly them and batter and deep fry them, stew them, roast them, or put 'em in gumbos with squirrel, duck, or some other small game.
As far as the hunt.....man, where do I start. Woodcock like moist, swampy areas with heavy, HEAVY cover. Briars and thickets that are almost inpenetrable, or young buck woods that have trees very closely knit. They need the moist ground so that they can penetrate deeply with those long beeks and get to their favorite food, worms. They fly out of these dense areas at night to feed in open fields close in proximity to the areas that they rest in all day long. Out at dusk....back in at dawn. They usually start to show up here in mid-October and en masse in November/December. The season always runs from december 18 to January 31.
O.K....Now for the hunt. Me and my group hunt them with pointing dogs, we use GSP, English Pointers, Brittanies, Setters,.... Before I had pointing dogs I used Labradors to flush them. We use beeper collars or bells on the dogs because visability in these coverts can be limited to about ten of fifteen yards sometimes. Sometimes the birds hold well, sometimes they are jumpy.
We hunt the thickets adjacent to swampy areas, bayous, or rivers. Most of my favorite coverts are along the Mississippi River, I mean RIGHT along it, within sight of the river, in between the containment levees and the River itself.
Doesn't really matter what time of day you hunt 'em, I usually like to head out at about 8or 9 depending on whether I make a duck hunt first. I favor doubles (sxs for me) with imp. cyl. on the first shot and mod. on barrel 2. Open chokes (or NO chokes) are effective also. I use a 12 or 16 but 20's or 28's work well also. The gun should have a short oal because I can't stress enough the thickness of the cover we hunt and it's easy to get tangled up. That's another reason I favor doubles.
On some rainy years, when the water is abundant, they are spread out all over the area so you better be ready to walk to get some. The limit is 3 and on good years, like this year, I try to take along a couple of extra hunters so that I can make the hunt last a bit.
If you ever find yourself in this area at the right time of year jump on in with us. I promise you'll have a good time.
Happy Huntin',
Timberdoodle
