Woodcock Hunting.
- Thread starter Birdman2
- Start date
Miforester
Well-known member
I haven't hunt down south, but do alot of in Michigan. Look for good soils and thick to dog hair thick young forest. Typically they don't like much for ground cover. Habitat along rivers/riverbottoms should hold alot of birds.
Birdman2
Well-known member
Think about it, lots of Doodles come down that way. It should be good hunting.
Miforester
Well-known member
Yep I agree with that.
birddude
Well-known member
I goggled it. Evidently it is a thing. Only thing is them Cajons might not welcome yankees with open arms!!
birddude
Well-known member
Season Dec. 18th to Jan. 31st. The older I get the better the south sounds. Uhhh let me see here... Noth Dakota or Louisiana in Jan.?? Maybe get some fishing in to??I goggled it. Evidently it is a thing. Only thing is them Cajons might not welcome yankees with open arms!!
sjohn
Active member
I hunt them in South Carolina. I grew up hunting pheasants and grouse in PA but we don't have pheasant or grouse in SC so I hunt woodcock instead. We do very well and I have very detailed records for the last 16 years. Averaged 18 hunts per year, 36 birds harvested per year, 2.0 bird per hunt average on a bird limit.
Once you know what kind of cover to look for, there should be no reason you shouldn't be able to find enough birds on public land to get your limit. River bottoms with high stem count understory and closed mature canopy is good place to start. Extreme end of cover spectrum would be mature pines with small patches of thick spots within. Could be from where a tree blew down and small pines started to grow or a patch of briars. It doesn't take much of a patch to hold a woodcock. And if you are up for it, sometimes you can find them in rabbit-tat. Short young pines with thick briar understory. They don't like grass ground cover so it the ground cover it grass, go somewhere else. Also, if the river bottom has been flooded out and most of the leaf debris has been stripped away from the flood waters, go somewhere else. One last tip, if you can find these types of cover within 1/4 - 1/2 mile of a plowed or fallow field or fresh clear cut, you will improve your odds of finding woodcock. I lied, here is last tip. Learn to identify woodcock scat. it will take you a long way in helping to find the cover they are using even if the birds are not there when you scout or hunt for them. Best of luck. john
Once you know what kind of cover to look for, there should be no reason you shouldn't be able to find enough birds on public land to get your limit. River bottoms with high stem count understory and closed mature canopy is good place to start. Extreme end of cover spectrum would be mature pines with small patches of thick spots within. Could be from where a tree blew down and small pines started to grow or a patch of briars. It doesn't take much of a patch to hold a woodcock. And if you are up for it, sometimes you can find them in rabbit-tat. Short young pines with thick briar understory. They don't like grass ground cover so it the ground cover it grass, go somewhere else. Also, if the river bottom has been flooded out and most of the leaf debris has been stripped away from the flood waters, go somewhere else. One last tip, if you can find these types of cover within 1/4 - 1/2 mile of a plowed or fallow field or fresh clear cut, you will improve your odds of finding woodcock. I lied, here is last tip. Learn to identify woodcock scat. it will take you a long way in helping to find the cover they are using even if the birds are not there when you scout or hunt for them. Best of luck. john
Birdman2
Well-known member
SJohn, Wow, you should be called the Doodleman. Great advice, thanks bunches. I have hunted them up north and you find them typically close to swamps etc. Sounds like their habitat is somewhat different here in the south land. Have you ever been hunting them and got into a migration flight? I have only been lucky twice in all my years. Talk about FUN.... Have you hunted them in the upper Midwest?
sjohn
Active member
I'm not sure what you mean by a migration flight but when they are here, they are here and we always limit out. We generally don't hunt with more than three people in a party and usually just two people. We walked out of the woods 4 times this year with three limits!
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Birdman2
Well-known member
Typically when you find a flight, they will be only be there for half of a day, then they move on. All that being said some Doodles are local birds and never migrate. RGS and the Woodcock Society are a great source for info. I like them as a conservation group. Yes I am a member.
birddude
Well-known member
Here in south In., it's very hard to target them. Usually the first couple weeks in Nov. I will see a few. It's a different story in March as I will sometimes see decent flights of 10 or so and once saw a flight of at least 30 in a half mile stretch of river bank. Anyone know why in spring more and a few in fall?
Birdman2
Well-known member
sjohn
Active member
I follow the RGS and Woodcock Society data maps etc. Our flush rate is anywhere from one bird every 6 minutes to one bird every 12 minutes. I guess the migration flight you talk about would be the one bird per 6 minutes. Once they get here they move around a little but if you miss a bird on Monday and go back on Friday, he will generally be under that same piece of cover. We can hunt one spot several times and jump 20 birds first time and gradually the numbers go down as we are taking out about 6 birds every time.
birddude
Well-known member
I should have been clearer. I know they are coming back north, I've always wondered why there's not enough to target in the fall, but can at certain times find several in the spring in the same places.
sjohn
Active member
Just my thoughts. There is no real rush to get to the wintering grounds in the fall. But in the spring, there are deeds that need to be done and that means birds must be together. So it would make sense they are more coordinated in the spring migration compared to the fall migration.
Never hunted woodcock in PA. They were only bi-catch while pheasant hunting. But we did grouse hunt. If I recall, the limit was three when I hunted grouse in PA. I may have limited out one time but they were hard to find and tuff to shoot once you did jump them. We never had a dog back then so we were just jumping them ourselves. Hunting on sides of the mountains in the laurel thickets of Central and Bedford counties.
Never hunted woodcock in PA. They were only bi-catch while pheasant hunting. But we did grouse hunt. If I recall, the limit was three when I hunted grouse in PA. I may have limited out one time but they were hard to find and tuff to shoot once you did jump them. We never had a dog back then so we were just jumping them ourselves. Hunting on sides of the mountains in the laurel thickets of Central and Bedford counties.