# Woodcock Flights



## Hoyt0321 (Jan 29, 2021)

Allegan county this past weekend I noticed birds pre-dawn flying around and we jumped a few 
in a random spot- that normally holds none.


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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

I’m just blown away that over here in TC this Halloween the predominant color of the leaves this year will be green still. Normally the leaves are near all gone.


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## dbortola (Oct 25, 2017)

Same here in Columbus. 90% of tree's are still all green leaves.


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## shaffe48b (Oct 22, 2019)

Mio fall finally hit late last week. Leaves off the poplar and lots of color


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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

shaffe48b said:


> Mio fall finally hit late last week. Leaves off the poplar and lots of color


Outside my work. Ran the dog in kalkaska co on Saturday. Driving back home looked like driving back into the end of September. Where I was at was way past peak


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## Sharkey (Oct 29, 2010)

Normal year for Woodcock here but a down year for Grouse. Seems to be a pattern. 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Sharkey said:


> Normal year for Woodcock here but a down year for Grouse. Seems to be a pattern.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


What area? I am having a really good year on grouse. I have only hunted the four counties of ogemaw, roscommon, Crawford and oscoda. Havent been further north than frederic area. Headed up near Dickinson county in the UP this Friday.


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## Sharkey (Oct 29, 2010)

Crawford


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## shaffe48b (Oct 22, 2019)

It depends on your covers and hunting spots. Some people get on here every year and claim it's the best bird hunting year since Christ was a corporal. These people should be hired to deliver quarterly earnings reports or sell extended warranty plans on used vehicles.

I wish they still published the cooperators flush rate info so we'd have data but then again I haven't contributed to it myself in a few years mostly because I don't have a printer to print it off. I need to keep it electronically for my own benefit so I have a better idea of what's actually happening vs what it feels like after a good or bad day.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

shaffe48b said:


> It depends on your covers and hunting spots. Some people get on here every year and claim it's the best bird hunting year since Christ was a corporal. These people should be hired to deliver quarterly earnings reports or sell extended warranty plans on used vehicles.
> 
> I wish they still published the cooperators flush rate info so we'd have data but then again I haven't contributed to it myself in a few years mostly because I don't have a printer to print it off. I need to keep it electronically for my own benefit so I have a better idea of what's actually happening vs what it feels like after a good or bad day.


It is another incredible year.More birds than the previous year.I will put numbers together for the next five days and record the time for a flush rate per hour.


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## shaffe48b (Oct 22, 2019)

birdhntr said:


> It is another incredible year.More birds than the previous year.I will put numbers together for the next five days and record the time for a flush rate per hour.


Id say at minimum it needs to be the same week every year. Problem with the one week idea is when you get off ff weather ideas like this one


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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

Sharkey said:


> Normal year for Woodcock here but a down year for Grouse. Seems to be a pattern.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


Exact opposite in benzie, GT, kalkaska, Antrim, and western otsego. Woodcock few and far between all season. Grouse everywhere


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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

shaffe48b said:


> It depends on your covers and hunting spots. Some people get on here every year and claim it's the best bird hunting year since Christ was a corporal. These people should be hired to deliver quarterly earnings reports or sell extended warranty plans on used vehicles.
> 
> I wish they still published the cooperators flush rate info so we'd have data but then again I haven't contributed to it myself in a few years mostly because I don't have a printer to print it off. I need to keep it electronically for my own benefit so I have a better idea of what's actually happening vs what it feels like after a good or bad day.


Are there grouse like in the 80s and 90s? No. But I’m averaging 6.5 grouse per hour all season. I’m finding grouse even in covers I’m not looking for them in and only specifically looking for woodcock. Woodcock has only be about 2-3 per hour all season.


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## michiganmaniac (Dec 9, 2008)

Yeah there are a few spots that will be duds or maybe had some localized poor weather for the hatch. This past Saturday is a prime example. We were hunting an area that is normally good but we were only moving 2-3 grouse an hour. So we packed up the truck and drove an hour and got into better bird numbers. I will not be back to that area this season. If I hit a spot and its unproductive I am fairly unlikely to revisit it in a season. So far this year I have hunted 7 counties in the UP and 2 in Minnesota, having a variety of spots in different areas helps me to stay on good numbers. If I only had 5 or 6 spots in one general area and that area had a bad hatch, well then yeah I would see bad numbers if I stuck with that area.


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## homemadespud (Jan 19, 2014)

birdhntr said:


> It is another incredible year.More birds than the previous year.I will put numbers together for the next five days and record the time for a flush rate per hour.


were you in Iron Mountain today , saw a license plate with your handle on it at Home Depot


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

Nope it's an imposter lol.
I've seen that plate twice however!!


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

homemadespud said:


> were you in Iron Mountain today , saw a license plate with your handle on it at Home Depot


I'm running around the northeast lower right now.
If you see a guy in a old Z71 suburban full of dogs that would be me.
I moved 18 grouse today.1 in the vest.
The young setter didn't handle all of them properly so I only had a few shots to take.
I also had to skip a couple spots since someone else was deer hunting at them.
The one spot as I pulled in was lined with grouse along the trail then I saw his truck parked.
Birds were scattered today and I found quite a few in old timber with oaks.
They were drumming all day long today.
Had four different drummers around my mom's house alone at dinner time.


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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

birdhntr said:


> I'm running around the northeast lower right now.
> If you see a guy in a old Z71 suburban full of dogs that would be me.
> I moved 18 grouse today.1 in the vest.
> The young setter didn't handle all of them properly so I only had a few shots to take.
> ...


I always tell new people that I take out I have 4 rules
Don’t shot me
Don’t shoot my dog
Don’t ever give my dog a command 
And if my dog screws up and creeps, or bumps a bird you can’t shoot.
Fortunately for them at 4 he doesn’t screw up very often anymore. Though some get annoyed when a bird flushes and I yell Nope!


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## dbortola (Oct 25, 2017)

Great rules, but I list Don't shoot my dog #1. #2 is Don't ever give my dog a command  Could be why I hunt alone with my pup!


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## Gsphunteronpoint1 (Mar 8, 2018)

dbortola said:


> Great rules, but I list Don't shoot my dog #1. #2 is Don't ever give my dog a command  Could be why I hunt alone with my pup!


X2 on this. I noticed my success started to go up when I hunted alone.


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