# Who shoots woodcock?



## Duece22 (Mar 30, 2004)

After reading a couple threads about sportsman that do or do not shoot woodcock. I am curious as to who does or does not shoot them and the reason(s) why or why not. 

I will get it started..,,...

1. I don't shoot woodcock unless I am training a young dog and can use them as a training tool (this only last for one season) 

2. They don't present the challenge to pursue or shoot that a grouse does and due to the following reasons I am a grouse hunter not a woodcock hunter.

3. I don't like to eat them (I am a believer you should eat all that you kill)

4. I don't like them period. When I am grouse hunting I do my best to avoid woodcock covers and attempt to verbally deter my dogs from pursuing them. 

Thoughts?


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## 88luneke (Jan 13, 2009)

I shoot them because I think they're tasty


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## Flash01 (Jun 12, 2008)

I use a shock collar to make sure my dogs learn that hunting woodcock is too easy and something we should be embarrased by. I want my dogs and everyone to know that we are way too hardcore to hunt such easy prey as woodcock. In the evenings after long days of hunting and killing many, many grouse, we make fun of the hunters we met along the trail that had woodcock in their game pouches. We take pictures of them and post them on 'Grouse Only' forums in a pejorative fashion.

As for my dogs, I shock them if they point woodcock, retrieve woodcock and sometimes when I just suspect they are thinking of woodcock.


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## k9wernet (Oct 15, 2007)

Fishing for bluegills is easy... they're also damn tasty!

KW


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## 88luneke (Jan 13, 2009)

k9wernet said:


> Fishing for bluegills is easy... they're also damn tasty!
> 
> KW


What he said...


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## kek25 (Jul 9, 2005)

Flash01 said:


> I use a shock collar to make sure my dogs learn that hunting woodcock is too easy and something we should be embarrased by. I want my dogs and everyone to know that we are way too hardcore to hunt such easy prey as woodcock. In the evenings after long days of hunting and killing many, many grouse, we make fun of the hunters we met along the trail that had woodcock in their game pouches. We take pictures of them and post them on 'Grouse Only' forums in a pejorative fashion.
> 
> As for my dogs, I shock them if they point woodcock, retrieve woodcock and sometimes when I just suspect they are thinking of woodcock.


 
:lol::lol:


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## WestCoastHunter (Apr 3, 2008)

When you have to make a two hour drive north every time you want to scout for grouse cover and hunt grouse...well, some of us are richer than others and can afford the gas and have the time I guess, but for the rest of us you stop being picky after a while. Michigan doesn't offer much in terms of wild birds compared to other states, you take what you can get.

If I lived closer to good cover I'm sure my outlook would be different.


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## Rudi's Dad (May 4, 2004)

I am old, and I shoot woodcock. I like to eat them and am glad you Grouse Snobs leave them alone.


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## FindTheBird (Dec 18, 2004)

I don't directly target them, but if my dogs do a good job on a bird, I like to reward them with a kill, regardless of the specie (presuming it's a legal specie) including woodcock. Ironically, and despite their relative ease, my oldest active hunting dog blew it more on woodcock last year than grouse.
I agree that they're good for young dogs, but there's also a counter-view that if a pup starts-out with, and learns grouse, they can handle any of the flightier species without much of a transition.


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## lang49 (Aug 1, 2005)

Duece22 said:


> ...and attempt to verbally deter my dogs from pursuing them.
> 
> Thoughts?


Generally not a problem for dogs that are steady to shot and flush :evilsmile


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## troutchops (Apr 15, 2005)

The lowly little woodcock, so undeserving of our respect the mere mention of his name will aggravate the grouse killers. At times they are easier to hunt and shoot, other times impossible to find. They were built for a pointing dog, but every year seem to run more and more. The uplands seem bare to me come December when all the woodcock have left. To me grouse hunting wouldn't be the same without them. Yea, i like em.


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## Grass Shrimp (Jun 16, 2004)

Wow!!! A couple of surprising answers. To those who make fun of people who shoot woodcock, I will make fun of you for being a flyfishing catch and release purist. I will shoot my limit of woodcock if my dog does good job of nailing them down. It is after-all about the dogs, not about the hunters ego!


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## N M Mechanical (Feb 7, 2008)

Yeah I take them. But there usually is reason's young dog, old dog not know if that might be there last, dog that has not had many birds killed over it, new shotgun needing to break it in or just been on a bad shooting slump
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Duece22 (Mar 30, 2004)

Grass Shrimp said:


> Wow!!! A couple of surprising answers. To those who make fun of people who shoot woodcock, I will make fun of you for being a flyfishing catch and release purist. I will shoot my limit of woodcock if my dog does good job of nailing them down. It is after-all about the dogs, not about the hunters ego!


I am in no way trying to make fun of people that shoot or hunt woodcock or is it an ego thing. At the end of the day I love wing shooting over my dogs but I don't enjoy cleaning or eating woodcock. 

FTB and WCH make some very good points and maybe I would feel differently about it if I lived in a different area further from good habitat and would learn some new and better culinary skills. 

FTB, going along with your post and branching from a previous thread how do you define the line of what is to many woodcock contacts before it begins to have a negative effect on a grouse dog at a young age? 


_OutdoorHub Mobile, the information engine of the outdoors._


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## BIGSP (Sep 16, 2004)

I don't shoot many anymore but, I sure hate it when they are gone and sure love it in the spring when they return. I cut my teeth learning the game with them, I hope that my son will too. I do fancy myself as a grouse hunter but do shoot a few for the young dogs and absolutely love getting them pointed for people who are new to the game. 

Long live the woodcock!


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## Mike McDonald (Sep 10, 2007)

I do. Like to eat them. I haven't found that they slow the hunt down or negatively affect the way my hounds handle grouse. As you know I also shoot sharps, p chickens, S grouse, quail, and phes. If there is a bird in the group that screws up a pointing dog I think it the phez. You also know that if you hunt the phez with anything but a flushing lab I think you're under dogged. BTW if you think woodcock are bad, try to eat a sage grouse. mac


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## 2ESRGR8 (Dec 16, 2004)

BIGSP said:


> I don't shoot many anymore but, I sure hate it when they are gone and sure love it in the spring when they return. I cut my teeth learning the game with them, I hope that my son will too. I do fancy myself as a grouse hunter but do shoot a few for the young dogs and absolutely love getting them pointed for people who are new to the game.
> 
> Long live the woodcock!


I feel the same although I cut my teeth hunting ruffs, not sure my Dad even knew what a woodcock was. 
And after holding those little buggers in your hand during the Spring as a licensed bander it becomes more difficult to hunt them in the Fall.
I have shot two so far this year.


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## ckendall (Sep 1, 2000)

I love woodcock. They really add action to the early season - and yeah, they are not as challenging as grouse (and not the trophy or the meal that a grouse is). Still, I miss my share, and I love their twisty-twittering acrobatics. 

I will usually re-flush once only, because if I miss on two flushes, I figure the little guy has earned his freedom.

I don't like to eat them "straight up" in pan or grill - but in a stew, in a Dutch oven, with beef stock, vegetables, and pepper - they are just fine.

Nothing "lowly" in my book about the woodcock.


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## chewy (Mar 27, 2006)

they make excellent dog food. 


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## Shotgun Kennel (Feb 9, 2007)

In an effort to increase the survivability of future generations of woodcock I only shoot the slow dumb ones. My theory is if you only do shoot the slow dumb woodcock, the woodcock with superior survival instincts will pass on those genes to the offspring, creating a kind of super survivor woodcock. Culling the inferior woodcock will lead to a genetically superior woodcock. I urge others to do the same.

Oh ya, shoot the males only,


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