# I said "screw the pheasants"!



## FACE (Mar 10, 2003)

Went to my usual spot for opener at 8:00 this morning and it was already overrun with hunters waitng till 9:00 so I said to myself screw you all and headed out at 8:00 and started hunting but not for pheasants! You see every year I walk a special area of the WMA that holds American woodcock and was able to bag two over my Llewelin pup! Then when 9:00 came around there came to be over thirty hunters total walking the area which is way too many for the size of land it is, so I looked for pheasants for just a couple minutes then gave up or be shot at if one did flush!! I will tell you that just hunting the woodcock over the young pup was what made todays hunt special anyway and there are always plenty of other good places here to bag the roosters.








Not too bad huh!
I know tha ND is on the extreme western edge of the woodcocks migration but was wondering if you guys ever run into them?


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

FACE, good job! Always thought it would be a kick to try. In Barnes County we get a fall flight of jack snipe which must be similar to woodcock, maybe the western version of the little critter? A few guys said there is a flight of wc in the Valley and some nest in the lower Sheyenne too. I have a book of upland stories--"Brown Feathers"-- much of it about woodcock and ruffed grouse hunting. So different from what we are used to here.


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## FACE (Mar 10, 2003)

You might remember my pic of my mounted snipe here....








They are two completely different kind of birds, not related, however they both are an adventure all there own! In fact, I've bagged a snipe in every state that I have hunted and yes last year in Arizona I was quail hunting in the middle of the desert three miles from the nearest water and my pointer locked up on one! Needless to say he joined me for dinner! :lol:


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Nice flicks. Kind of amazing that two different critters will develope similar characteristics to use the same food source. For years we heard a bird early in the morn and again in the evening in spring. It made a whoo-whoo noise. Never could see it though because of dim light. Finally found out it was jack snipe in their mating flight. The pasture had flooded abd they were nesting there. They are crazy fliers--must be a kick to hunt.


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

Face, if you hunted in MN I hear ya! Every public spot had hunters on it. I think last year's season was really good so it had a lot of people coming back. I was surprised at the good habitat. Seems every year gets better. But the corn was 1/3 done at best so the hunting was so/so. Lot so hens which is a good sign.


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