[DOUGLAS STOEVER]

whats the best gun to take snipe hunting

[CB900F]

Douglas;

Why it's the well known apostrophe and question mark, in the caliber of your choice.:neener:

:D 900F

[Superlite27]

I like using my Browning Citory Featherweight in 12 ga.

I would think any shotgun would be practical, but I'd keep it 20 ga. or above.

.410 would be difficult for any bird hunting. (Unless you're really really good.)

I'm not sure snipe are indiginous to your area. You might be better off hunting for the snipe's close cousin the woodcock. Although, being from San Antonio, you'd be better off travelling to the gulf and shooting some sandpipers if you want to hunt something related to snipe from the family Scalopinidae.

[jkingrph]

Old timers used to tell kids to use a burlap sack to hunt snipe.

[BlackBearME]

Yup, I'd say shotgun. Of course, I also say a Saiga-12, though that may be overkill.

Admittedly, I haven't yet been snipe hunting - I know little about hunting in general, no real mentors in that area. Same with turkey. I'd like to go snipe hunting, though - I've heard it's fun.

[Spyvie]

In my family the tradition of snipe hunting was always carried out after dark. No firearm was needed, just a flashlight, a stick, and a burlap sack.

[qwert65]

this is a joke right?

[woodybrighton]

http://www.irishfieldsports.com/gamebirds/snipe.htm

must be a US joke :confused:

[bogie]

When I was in the boy scouts, the general info was that a "snipe" was a small furry creature with large teeth... Lure into bag, and whack.

For birdies, I'd use a shotgun. Or a paintball machine gun... Or the BFG from the 8 year old's video game...

[Len S]

There is the snipe hunting of kids and tenderfoots that is carried out with a stick and burlap bag. There is also snipe hunting where you sit in the bow of a boat in costal marshes and shoot snipe which is a bird that looks like a wood cock with a long bill. A smaller shotgun is the norm but since I hunt doves with a 12 I guess it would be ok if it does not cause you to tip over the boat.


Len

[GhostlyKarliion]

there is an old city slickers joke about telling someone to go snipe hunting... those who have never been to the country seem to have no idea that there really are snipes.

I got told by one of the ladies that I know (in a joking manner of course) to go "hunt snipe" and then she laughed. I shrugged and said "they arent in season" she retorted "there is no such thing, it's an old joke"

I start laughing, "no it isn't, there really are snipes" she refused to believe me

of course, I got down some bird books just to prove her wrong :D

anyway, so yea here in the US some city slickers don't know that there really are snipes in the woods, the joke is usually on them though when they find out that such a thing does exist.

[Claude Clay]

not sure of the gun, but i would sight with ghost rings a halo and a blacklight.

[RoadkingLarry]

http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/regs/huntregs9.htm
(http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/regs/huntregs9.htm)(scroll down a bit)
COMMON SNIPE

Dates & Open Areas

Oct. 1, 2007 - Jan. 15, 2008; statewide.

Daily Limit

Eight (8) daily, 16 in possession after the first day.

September Teal & Special resident Canada goose seasons

Migratory Bird Hunting & Conservation Stamp: Federal law requires that each waterfowl hunter 16 years old or older must carry on his person a valid Migratory Bird Hunting & Conservation Stamp (federal duck stamp), signed in ink across the face. Hunters must also carry the HIP permit, unless otherwise exempt.

Oklahoma Waterfowl Hunting License: All nonresidents and residents 16 years old or older must have in their possession proof of purchase of an Oklahoma waterfowl license or proof of exemption while hunting waterfowl.

Nontoxic Shot Regulations: All waterfowl and coot hunting is restricted to the use of federally-approved nontoxic shot in all areas of the state. Possession of lead shot while hunting waterfowl or coots is prohibited.

[WayneConrad]

Same gun as you use for geoduck, no?

[goon]

Don't be silly. Everyone knows that you don't hunt snipe with guns.
You hunt them with a garbage bag and a stout 4' long club.

[marksman13]

I use my Ruger Red Label 20 gauge. Probably the best tasting game bird in North America.

[jnyork]

I was an older adult before I found out there reallly is such thing as a "snipe", and I am not a city slicker by any means.

When I was a teenager, "going snipe hunting" meant taking your best girl, or at least A girl, out in your jalopy and parking at night in some secluded glen:D

OOPS, probably most of you are too young to know what a jalopy is!:p

[209]

My uncle had us kids out snipe hunting back when I was about 8-yrs old. We used bags and bats. :rolleyes: We didn't get any. :mad:

Kind of like taking the young women to the beach at night to watch the submarine races. ;)

But, from the internet:

Wikipedia-
A Snipe is any of nearly 20 very not similar wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia and Europe and the Coenocorypha snipes are restricted to New Zealand. The three species of painted snipe are not closely related to these, and are placed in their own family, the Rostratulidae.

The elusive nature of the snipe is well-known among hunters. In the days of market hunting, the most skilled hunters of all would often bring many Common Snipe to market earning the nickname "sniper" as a badge of respect for the difficulty in shooting this amazing little bird. The term has evolved into the modern usage sniper, referring to a skilled anti-personnel military sharpshooter.

A common form of prank is the "Snipe hunt," in which the victim is given the description of a creature and some ridiculous means of catching it. The object is simply to make the naive individual (usually a newcomer to a tightly-knit working crew) look foolish for attempting it, and perhaps keep him or her at it as long as possible. However, while the name of the prank is most likely related to the actual Snipe, the creature described is almost always fictional. These "Snipes" are usually granted traits which either makes the victim look more foolish for believing it could exist, or lend some form of credence to the foolish means of capture.


I apologize if this spoils the fun.

[MCgunner]

Something very quick. Snipe are amazing fliers, hard as HELL to hit on the wing. I'd use my side by side 20 if I were an avid snipe hunter, and number 8 Winchester AA and I/C/mod, IF I could use lead. Steel, lord, there really isn't a good load.

I used to be on a banding crew in college doing a snipe study. We used nets, about 12 feet high, strung across the marsh at night. Yes, I did this at Texas A&M. It fits the aggie joke genre I guess, but it really ceases to be funny after 35 years.

[marksman13]

Snipe really aren't all that hard to hit if you know when to shoot. Usually a snipe will flush straight up and pause for a split second before taking off in the most erratic, bat-$h!t crazy flight you have ever seen. If you shoot right as they reach that pause at the top of their vertical climb, you will hit them all day.

[308win]

Snipe are best hunted with a burlap bag and flashlight.

[GearHead_1]

Everyone knows that the most effective way to hunt snipe is to use a pillow case. Oh sure, just about any firearm will do but one shot and the rest of the flock is history. Just like coyotes, you'll never get close enough again to take another one. :D

[Lee Lapin]

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/hunting/columns/story?columnist=sutton_keith&page=h_col_sutton_snipe-hunting_lessons

Out There: Snipe-hunting lessons
Leave your gunnysack at home. Snipe are real!
By Keith "Catfish" Sutton
Special to ESPNOutdoors.com
(Archive)
Updated: September 19, 2006, 1:16 PM ET

Josh Sutton displays two pair of snipe killed on a hunt with his father.

Ask another hunter to join you for a snipe hunt, and you must be careful how you phrase the invitation.

Even then, you may get a knowing grin and a polite decline.

The image of an age-old practical joke lingers.

You see, there is a snipe hunt, and there is snipe hunting.

1. Snipe hunt: A prank in which an unsuspecting person is taken into a marsh at night, carrying a lantern and a gunnysack with which to catch the snipe to be driven to him by other members of the party. The others go home and leave the unfortunate to fret over a thousand spooky swamp noises.

2. Snipe hunting: A legitimate outdoor activity in which sportsmen seek small, fast-flying, hard-to-hit, unpredictable, tasty, long-billed birds that frequent open wetlands.

Snipe hunts, the practical joke kind, prompted the phrase "left holding the bag," meaning to be duped.

But don't be duped into thinking snipe are just imaginary birds. They're just as real as mallards, quail, woodcocks and other game birds. And hunting them is equally exciting, if not more so.

I recently did some snipe hunting, the real kind, with my friend Lewis Peeler and my son Josh.


We found the birds — scores of them — in a muddy, 50-acre farm field edging a slough.

As we made our way across the field in ankle-deep mud, lesson No. 1 of snipe hunting was quickly learned: Wear rubber boots and prepare for intense muscular exertion.

The walking often takes place in water and muck up to the knees. Or one may have to pick his way through a soft marsh, springing from tussock to tussock, with every prospect of tumbling from those unsteady resting places into a mire of unknown depth.

The snipe shooter, therefore, should carry no extra weight. His shotgun should be light, and his cartridges need hold no more than an ounce of Nos. 8 or 9 shot.

For this bird is easily killed, and it is so small — and so often flushes at a considerable distance — it is important that as many pellets as possible be sent after it.

Several wisps of snipe took flight as we approached, and as each of us swung on a longbill, we were confronted with lesson No. 2: A fleeing snipe has no idea where it's going, which makes shooting one very difficult.

Most birds rise from the ground on a particular line of flight and keep to it. Not so with the snipe.


The snipe hunter's boots: wet and muddy.
This bird flushes, darts a few yards one way, changes its mind and turns at right angles to its original course; then it appears to think it has made a mistake, and once more alters its direction.
The bird then either rises high in the air and circles for a while, looking for a desirable spot to alight, or settles into a straight, swift course that doesn't end until the snipe forgets it is frightened.

This eccentric flight pattern puzzles many sportsmen; some who are capital shots at other birds can never calculate the movements of snipe.

So it was for our trio of snipe hunters, at least during the opening volleys of that hunt. If we zigged, the snipe zagged. When we swung left, the snipe veered right. Many rounds were fired, yet the snipe remained unscathed.

We followed them all over that field, leaving a trail of empties behind us. I decided if we ever did bag one, it would be as costly a bit of fowl as was ever put on a table.

Bag one we did, however — then another and another and another. Fortunately, the snipe has another trait that is endearing, rather than irritating, to the hunter.

When they have not been hunted, these "shad spirits," as they're sometimes called, often drop back to the ground a few yards from where they flushed. Some birds fly straight up until just specks in the sky, then plummet back and light near the same spot from which they took off.

The problem here lies in marking birds down, for snipe with their amazing camouflage are ghosts on the ground. Even when you mark one carefully and search the ground ahead as you approach, you often fail to see it.


The long-billed Wilson's snipe is highly adapted for life in open wetlands.
The bird squats motionless, and just as you decide you have made a mistake in marking it, it jumps from the spot where you have just looked.
Hunting pressure makes the birds steadily wilder, even though it may not cause them to abandon good areas.

After just one day of shooting, the birds may get so spooky that you're wasting your time, then it's possible to walk for hours, putting up scores of snipe, without a single one in range.

After Lewis, Josh and I had each burned up half a box of shells, we were wise to some of these tricks. We figured out that snipe usually rise against the wind, and by advancing on them with the wind at your back, they are forced to fly toward you for some distance, thus allowing a shot at fair range.

We also learned that a snipe cannot be shot too quickly, especially if it rises more than fifteen yards from the shooter (and they seldom rise closer). Take aim and shoot, fast.

Open marshes, rice fields, lake and stream edges, shallow drainage ditches, and damp mud flats all are prime hunting areas, if the cover is not too thick to allow snipe access to the soil.

If the ground freezes, however, or becomes iced over, the snipe will leave, for they feed by probing the soft earth with their long bills.

You also should be aware of lesson No. 3: Snipe are uncertain birds.

One may find them on a particular piece of ground in great numbers one day, then return the next and find they have completely disappeared.

A bog that afforded splendid shooting at evening may be visited at dawn the next day and the birds will have departed.

Happy is the man, therefore, who finds plentiful snipe, and wise is the snipe hunter who takes advantage of the present opportunity. Carpe diem certainly applies when gunning for these extraordinary game birds.

After four hours of almost nonstop shooting, Lewis had bagged six snipe, Josh five. As for me … well, let's just say I wasn't as quick a learner as those two. I scored once and fired 50 shells.

I did learn one thing, though — lesson No. 4: When other game animals are scarce, snipe can save the day.

These skinny, little shorebirds can be hard to hunt and even harder to hit. But when you're in the mood for some for fun, fast-paced gunning, snipe are hard to beat.

They're abundant, widespread and excellent on the table.

Next time someone asks if you want to go snipe hunting, don't be too quick to call their perceived bluff. You just might be in for some of the best wingshooting of the season.

To contact Keith Sutton, email him at catfishdude@sbcglobal.net. His new book, "Out There Fishing" (Stoeger Publishing; $19.95), is available at www.catfishsutton.com.

[qwert65]

well, I apologize to the OP. I had heard that snipe actually existed but thought they were extinct. again my apologies

[skinewmexico]

I got a burlap sack, and a light.

[CB900F]

Fella's;

The confusion exists because of the improper terminology used here. Snipe, the bird, does exist. It is indeed usually hunted with a shotgun. My post #2 here reads as it does because of the form, or lack thereof, of post #1.

Now then. The other "sport" that's being bandied about here is not snipe hunting as such. It's sidehill snipe hunting. These animals have legs shorter on one side of the body than the other & therefore always run around hills on little game paths either counter, or clockwise, as determined by how they happened to leave the nest after birth. Note that left hand snipe cannot breed with right hand snipe, but they are the same generia & phylum. How this can be is a mystery that biologists do not want to talk about. If you doubt me, just try to engage one of your state's Fish & Game biologists on the subject, they'll just fob you off. These extremely shy and nocturnal animals are indeed hunted with pillow cases & clubs.

Now, has everybody got it straight?

:D 900F

[Avenger]

Way back in my first year of Scouts, we stuck a kid out in the woods all night with a bag, a ballbat, and instructions to rustle twigs underneath the bags to lure them in. 7 hours later, he walks into camp with the plucked and headless bodies of a dozen pheasants. Nobody ever worked up the courage to ask him how he managed it.

[kentucky_smith]

I seem to interchange snipe and woodcock. Whilst ruffed grouse hunting, my setter will find 'em, I'll shoot 'em, then I'll try to give them to someone else to eat. Not all that great eating. Saw a whole flock the other day on the side of the road.

[marksman13]

Kentucky Smith, I don't know what you did to the snipe you ate, but me and the boys found them to be some of the best eating ever. Marinated in Wicker's, wrapped in bacon and grilled like a dove. They were excellent.

[paintballdude902]

i didnt know they were real till last year

[1/4MOA]

i wish you all could have witnessed "the prank." when i was playing college baseball a couple years ago we had a guy on the team from Canada, and had never heard of this but when he asked if he wanted to go, he was gung ho for sure. He sat out in that filled with a pillow case, stick, no flashlight. We told him you had to call the snipe, "here, snipe, snipe, snipe, snipe." amazing part is he kept at if for 3 hours until finally walking back to the house, walking in the door and saying, "i dont think there's any snipe there can we try another place..... " haha

[dagger dog]

Snipe, woodcock, timberdoodle, all names for the hard to hit little SOB's.

Never saw a bird fly upside down until I saw one of them, and did it through branches so thick you couldn't throw a BB with out it hitting a limb. They make a bat look like they're flying straight!

The 28ga would be perfect, you have so little time you have to get on them quick or they're gone.Max range 20yrds because of the tight cover, 15 is more like it.

[koja48]

I've shot "at" them on occasion . . . sorta like trying to hit a spastic dove on crack on the the second shot . . . at the end of each inning, the score was: gunner 0. snipe 10 . . . would have done better with a gunny sack at night, I'm thinkin' . . .

[uk roe hunter]

i get quite a lot on my marsh. i shoot at them with my 12 bore and 6 shot becuase thats what i have with me for shooting ducks. i don't get many. they are tough to shoot. they are different to the woodcock.

steve

[macfarlaine123]

I shoot them on our salt marsh. Walked up into the wind, they are a quick bird and tend to jink once in flight. I use a 12b with a No 6 shell.
Eating they are delicious, fry for two minutes in salted butter and serve on toasted bread.

[hockeybum]

for those of you guys that don't know this is a snipe

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj18/monk911/snipe_300_tcm9-142482.jpg

just use a 12 or 20 gauge with 2 3/4 and 8 shot. mainly any shotgun with 8 shot. i don't know about 28 or .410.

when they take off, they'll zigzag from side to side making it hard to hit them. its a LOT of fun though. :D

[jamesb]

16 ga