Woodcock Hunt with my 16ga Win Model 12 cylinder bore

I'm envious. I used to hunt woodcock in central Alabama when I was in college. My dog would point them along with quail but he sure didn't like to pick them up.
I saw my first woodcock in Florida 2 years ago in a thickly-wooded swamp. I have lived here since 1971. That's an indication of how numerous they are here.

Well over thirty years ago, my boss told a co-worker of mine of a nearly dried up riverbed that had woodcock. We were out to go get some grouse that day when we decided to check it out. WOW what a HOOT! We took turns "driving" the river as the other one would sit on the bank, shooting passing birds. We both shot nearly two boxes a piece of shells when we decided to quit to save some ammo for ruffed grouse.Skeet is easy compared to them little fast birds! Took home almost our limit of "timberdoodles" that day and a few swamp chickens.Great fun!

Sounds like fun! I've got the odd woodcock over the years while grouse hunting. The breasts make a good appetizer to go with grouse.

I still regularly hunt pheasants with the first gun my Grandpa bought when he came home from France after WWI. Fox Model B 16ga SxS. Still hunt Turkeys somedays with my dad's old model 1897 Winchester. First gun he bought when he came home from the South Pacific after WWII. Great history in both and lots of memories. Woodcock tho, get hunted with my SxS coach-gun with outside hammers. It's short barrel and open chokes work very well on the small birds. Funny, while all of my pointers loved to hunt woodcock(probably because of the amount of scent they give off), none of them like/liked to retrieve the smelly little buggers.

I used to love hunting woodcock with a pointer, 16 gauge SXS with an once of eights. A few times I caught the major migration out of Canada and my woodlot was full, great fun for the dog.

Most folk think the harbinger of spring is a Robin but for me it’s the Woodcock and I still sit on my deck at twilight to catch the show.

Awesome! I've never hunted woodcock, read all about it as a kid in "Outdoor Life" and other sources. I've SEEN woodcock while deer hunting in the piney woods, but never shot one. If I lived where they were, I'd take it up! I think my little CZ 20 gauge O/U with open chokes would probably get the job done.

Those little boogers look tasty. Are they close to quail as table fare?

MCgunner said:

Those little boogers look tasty. Are they close to quail as table fare?

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Just the opposite. Quail is all white meat while woodcock are like snipe .. all dark meat.

Patocazador said:

Just the opposite. Quail is all white meat while woodcock are like snipe .. all dark meat.

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Well, since they're migratory, that stands to reason. I like dark meat birds, doves, ducks and geese. My wife ain't real enamored with ducks and geese, but likes grilled bacon wrapped doves. Ain't a lot of meat on those little woodcock. A dove probably has more breast meat I'm guessing. But, then, I really don't shoot dove for the meat. It's more of a tradition for me.

The best way I found to eat woodcock: filet the breast from the bone, marinade meat (breast/legs)in italian dressing over night.

Wrap breast over a small green onion then wrap that in a piece of bacon using toothpick to hold together, grill till bacon is crisp (grill legs also). Serve with wild rice or as appetizer

That's a great story! I've always wanted to do a hunt like that but the opportunity has never come up. I used to jump a few woodcock as I stalked to my deer stand, but I never got around to hunting them. I might need to revisit the issue.

I'm like Mc on woodcock. Seen a few through the years, never enough to consider hunting them. When I was young, we quail hunted east Texas a lot, never saw a woodcock while quail hunting though.

One of my friends invited me to go after woodcock in LA this week. I had a doctor's appointment and had to beg off. He had 2 others going and had a couple of dogs. It would have been a lot of fun.

We got into them a couple of times in Eastern Arkansas when we were hunting swamp rabbits. When they zigzag up through the thick timber they are a blast. We shot the tops out of several trees.

When the flight's in here in west central Wisconsin, there's no better bird hunting with a pointing dog than Timber-doodle. Once you find the area they like(that year) they will continue to be found there til either the flight is done or the season is over. Unfortunately, many years the season is over (ends first week in November) before the real flight begins. Since it's the ground freezing that drives the birds down, recent warm weather in the fall makes so the majority of birds are still far north when they are legal. Otherwise you have to hunt local breeding birds and that's not many and those birds are soon depleted. They have lowered the limit to three birds a day so it takes several successful days of hunting to make a meal for more than two people. While they are not my favorite game bird to eat, I do enjoy them. I've found that frying the little breast pieces with ground Italian sausage makes them moist, flavorful and creates a delicious gravy. The addition of sausage makes the little bit of meat one gets from them go farther and feed more folks.