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Woodcock Hunting


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I've been hunting these things a bit more lately, and my pup is pointing them a bit better and not bumping as many. But I'm having trouble getting to him quick enough to get off a good shot. On my way there I hear or see them flush most of the time. He is pretty close to them when he locks up though. I kinda enjoy hunting these goofy birds.

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I love hunting the timberdoodles. I know of a few spots where there are some resident birds near me. The bonus is there are pheasant in some of the same locations. They aren't always as easy to hit as you'd think given ythe cover they live in. They are very good for the pups though. My older setter is a pro at hunting them. My 10 mo old setter is adjusting nicely to them after busting them quite a bit at 8 & 9 months old.

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Not seeing any big concentrations of birds, but a few here and there.

Son shot his first woodcock late last week. The bird must have been a young male that just migrated in. Small, very little meat, and absolutely no fat around the breast meat. Still flew hard.

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Last year, I ran into the them big time as I must have hit their prime migration through the area. I tell ya, they sure our fun and my springer loves them too. They were an absolute challenge amongst all other birds too which makes it even more better. I've ran into a few this past week, guessing that will pick up here soon though.

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I've been seeing some really small birds, and a few monsters. I don't know how to identify the northern birds, or male/female. Seems like if I hunt a patch of cover and push'em out, that patch is not holding birds a few days to a week later. But I find them in patches that I haven't hunted. Hope they come down soon and I locate a mess of them.

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Bigger birds are females. Smaller birds males. Length of bill provides an indication of sex too. This bird was small even for a male.

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In all the years hunting around Chisholm, I've yet to see a timberdoodle. My dad has one mounted from back in the late 70s, but he didn't even shoot it, his bro did. I'm hoping that, since we now have a dog, we'll actually find some.

Something for my bucket list, anyway!

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We hit a spot during MEA weekend that was thick with them. 3 of us and a dog put up 13 and actually hit 3. Amazing how hard to find on the ground after shot without a dog. I usually bump a few during grouse hunting but let them go since I don't care for them. Guy at work says they're tremendous baked on a bed of apples so we took a few to try it out. The good note is the dog had never seen them before and we actually got some points and 2 hand retrieves. The dog sure didn't care for them though.

What a great day it was.

Ferny. TimberDoodles.jpg

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Hunted today for 2 hrs and moved 9. 3 wild flushes, 3 bumped and 3 pointed. First pointed bird got lucky, one miss then my gun jams. The second one I barley saw, bell stopped and I'm headed that way then his bell starts again and I just watch it fly away for a second. His third point was really nice, he's super hot then slam as he is turning. I start busting brush and get about 10 yds from him. Then 2 of them flush he starts to chase the one that flew right , and the other flies in my direction to the left. 2 shots and it goes down. I call him back and get to the area of the fall. He's searching and all amped up, then locks solid. I see the little doodle about 6 ft from his nose. Release him and he retrieves to me. After hunting our way back to the truck I decide to call it a day. His field obedience was spotty at best today. We could've ran one more spot just down the road, but I'll save it for Sunday.

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Had my last doodle hunt for the year yesterday. My pup pointed 4, but I shot none. I think they were running, he would break and they would flush further away. After hunting the same small spots a few times the birds caught on to us. It was fun while it lasted.

Time to get ready for late season ruffs.

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Hunted up by Remer/Hill City this past weekend. We moved around 10 woodcock between three of us. I bagged one and missed one. I was surprised, but pleased, to see as many as we did. The main objective was grouse but I love the doodles. I have a friend coming into town and will be taking him on his first grouse/wc hunt this week. Hope a few of the little guys are around for a while and we're lucky enouhg to find them.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • monstermoose78
      Had something crazy happen this morning a fork horn buck came running up to Finn and I while sitting on the pond at just after legal shooting time. Finn bark and the buck snorted and came closer. Next I saw was a big white flash of Finn going after this buck. They made it to the field and then the buck started chasing Finn. The buck stopped at 40 yards from me and Finn was behind me. I thought I was going to have shoot this buck if it tried to get me. I also could have got my fall turkey as, but you can’t have a dog with or shot bigger than 4 shot. I had 2 shot only with me. What a crazy day. Only had a few ducks close enough but I was busy trying make sure this deer didn’t hurt my dog. 
    • Kettle
      Best time of the year. Water temp mid 50s, aggressive fish. Threw back some big ones too
    • redlabguy
      Mark, Great that you made it back up and great report on another great trip. Sitting here in Urbandale, I am jealous. I’m working on training my new lab, not at all sure he will be ready for pheasants! Thanks for sharing your trip, RLG
    • monstermoose78
      Shot the muzzleloader and I am good. Then saw big groups of woodducks  everywhere. I saw 300 easy as the sunset. 
    • leech~~
      Those darn tournament guys, their always trying new ways to get weight in their fish!  🤣🤣
    • SkunkedAgain
      Hogs! Hogs!!!
    • MarkB
      My 2 cousins and myself just finished up a windy 4 day trip to our favorite lake. It was the last of the year and was eventful to say the least. When we arrived, water temperatures were 61 degrees and when we left yesterday morning the water temps had dropped to 54 degrees. The fishing was fantastic, once again, and we caught walleyes, bass, and northerns on minnows and crawlers(northerns only on minnows). We found the fish adjacent to shallow rock piles(14') in 20'-28' of water. Our best fishing hours of the day were ~5:30 -twilight in the evenings and until ~ 10:30 in the mornings. Although those two time periods were prime time, fish bit all day. For us, the bite was very light and we probably missed or lost as many fish as we caught. Some people think I'm nuts when I say bead color can make a difference and it certainly did this trip. My cousin's "go to" green/white bead combo did zilch on this trip. It was one translucent red bead and a plain size #2 gamakatsu hook with a 3' leader that produced the fish. We ended up with 137 walleyes and 19 bass for the 4 day outing. We caught far more 17"-19.999" walleyes on this trip than on our previous trips and our numerous slot fish measured from 21"-25". My younger cousin caught 4 slot fish in ~20 minutes one evening. We fish exclusively for walleyes and additional species are incidental. With that said, we caught some beautiful smallmouth bass on this trip and they were right down there with the walleyes, usually in the rocks. As usual, everything is catch and release except for the fish we eat while there and the 12 walleyes(3 individual limits) we take home to the wives. While cleaning some eaters we kept for supper, we always check the stomach contents. One of the walleyes had the jig that is pictured below loose in its stomach!  No attached line, no embedded hook, just the jig! It baffled us as to how in the world it could have gotten there . As you can see, the jig is in good shape so the fish must have swallowed it recently .   The boat traffic was minimal this trip and we had a couple days where it looked as if we had the lake to ourselves. Sunday was a brutal day with wind gusts to 50MPH!. We stayed in and ventured out finally at ~5:00. It turned out to be the best 2 hours of the entire trip. This time, the baby loons were around, the eagles were abundant, the changing leaves made the entire lake area look like a painting. If I could make only one short trip a year to the lake, now would be the time. What capped off the trip was the magnificent display of the Northern Lights. We can't wait for next spring to return, God willing, and, in the meantime, good fishing.  MarkB🙂 The jig found in the stomach of a walleye we ate.   My young cousin with his best of the trip.   a chunky 17" smallmouth   19.5" smallmouth
    • leech~~
      Well, since they both say Propane on them.  Not propane QT++ their probably both the same gender!  🤭
    • Wanderer
    • Brianf.
      What an amazing extended weekend. The fish were happy and cooperated nicely.   We also had the unique experience of fishing under Northern Lights each of the last three nights in pristine weather conditions.  I wish everyone could have that experience, even if just once.  The pics below don't do it justice, though you get the idea.  The walleyes are putting on the feedbag and some are getting rather plump.  We caught mostly slot fish with several 'overs' in our bag.  Our two biggest weighed 8lbs 5oz and 8lb 3oz.     The crappies were active at dusk and beyond.  Almost all of the ones we caught were 14" or bigger.  The biggest we caught was a bit over 15".  We lost two muskies at the boat and caught a 38" pike after dark - quite surprising.   Every fish we caught was immediately released btw.  Water temp 54/55 when we left.  All-in-all, another great fishing experience on Lake Vermilion - for which I'm so incredibly appreciative.        
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