re: Getting into woodcock hunting

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I can’t stand the overly secretive bullshite. Completely goes against everything hunting should be.

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On the other hand, those "secrets" end up becoming full scale billboard proclamations and then you have people overhunting public land, like what the Duck Dynasty show did for duck hunting.

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If you can’t tell the difference from telling slap dicks vs helping other hunters that are serious about getting into the outdoors I can’t help you With your mindset there would be no way for men to get into hunting that didn’t have a father star them

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Majority of people are slapdicks though. You’ve never taken your bro to your hot spot and he’s there with his bros a few days later?

With this particular hunting it's different. You need a dog, pointing or flushing, and a trained one at that. So first you need to put the money, time and effort in getting a dog and training it.
A lot of training is getting your dog on birds. New hunters with young dogs need the help. I think I can speak for most bird dog owner, it's more for the dog than it is for the birds. Sure, limiting out is great, but most of the time I've walked away with 1-2 birds or none (mostly because of poor shooting), but was still happy to watch the dogs work.

Also these birds are on the move a lot. The "honey holes" won't always produce, just like fishing.

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I can’t stand the overly secretive bullshite. Completely goes against everything hunting should be.

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. Well when you lose 3 duck leases in 15 years because someone came in with FU money, or a deer lease that inadvertently had the best duck hole I ever hunted got the same treatment - you learn.

On public land it’s worse - may not be the people u bring but it may be 3-4 removed .

I am fairly secret about bird hunting spots public and private …

Ducks - confidential
Woodcock - classified
Quail - top secret

But this am on private land in st Tammany - 3 woodcock on 8 flushes,

3 woodies only 1 dog today - female is home in heat.

There are quail there - hopefully I can get permission where they are after deer season


Oh and bird hunters have been like that as long as I have been in it. Since 1977

Me and roberto going out today. I’m already getting all my excuses ready for missing. It’s sunny today to start

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yodaddyroberto

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Everything this guy said^^^

I did a little upland hunting over the past few years and enjoyed it ok but always preferred duck hunting, especially with my dog. Lost her in January after 16 years, she was a good hunter and picked up a lot of ducks but also displayed many of the traits chessie's are known for, mainly dog aggression.

My family life changed a lot over those 16 years and with 2 young kids, I decided it was time for something new. I was starting to research lab litters when the friend who got me into upland hunting told me to look into Pudelpointers. My biggest fear with the versatile breeds was the dog might be ok at a few things but not great at any one thing. With the current state of duck hunting I decided to roll the dice and picked up a PP from a NAPPA breeder. I was lucky to to find a couple great guys in BR that have been very helpful with the upland training and getting me pointed in the right direction for getting her on birds. Of course, my biggest fear with versatile breeds came true and my dog won't go near the water but it seems to be caused by some sort of unknown trauma with water and a few trainers I spoke too that are familiar with her line are confident her prey drive will eventually get her in the water. She is proving to be very birdy and her prey drive is growing but she had a split heat that caused her to miss both the teal season and a rice field hunt during the 1st split I planned on her hunting.

I have decided not to push the water work too fast and focus on upland and she is doing great.

All that said, she just pointed her first 2 woodcock this am and the one I killed she retrieved to hand. It was a great morning and would not have happened without good folks sharing their time and info to help me get to this point. I'm

Yeh my wirehaired griffon loves the water. Does great retrieves through it, but I couldn’t imagine trying to train him to sit in a blind

He also does deer tracking as well.

On eating woodcock- not as good to me as quail or dove, but I found a recipe many decades ago where you pluck and draw the woodcock, salt and pepper inside and out, and bake it with currant jam smeared on the outside and stuffed in the body cavity. Really tasty. Don’t overcook.

Yea we need some more fronts coming in. Also, lots of areas are dry so they may not be in spots you’re used to seeing them.
What part of MS?

It’s “piqued,” not “peaked.”