Many sportsmen are familiar with American woodcock from hunting the birds and/or witnessing their courtship skydance at dawn and dusk each spring. What they may not be aware of is that there is a Eurasian counterpart that is somewhat different but equally fascinating.
Taking a look at the two woodcock and how they are hunted in the US and Europe makes an interesting comparison-contrast.
The American woodcock (left) and the Eurasian woodcock are an ocean apart—literally—but they are similar in many ways. Left photo courtesy of: Timothy Flanigan/natureexposure.com; right photo courtesy of: shutterstock/smutan
The American Woodcock
American woodcock are small, plump birds typically weighing five to eight ounces, with the females being generally larger than the males. Because of the woodcock’s unusual features, the Seneca Indians believed that the Creator assembled the bird from the leftover parts of other birds. Woodcock have round bodies, short legs and long beaks, with large eyes set high on their heads so that they can see 360° around. Their ears are located between their eye sockets and bill, and their nostrils are set at the top of their bill. Most interesting is that their cerebellum is below the rest of the brain and above the spinal column—whereas in other birds it is in the rear of the skull—so in essence they have upside-down brains. They also are excellently camouflaged for their wooded habitat, their plumage being a mottled mix of russet, brown, gray and black, with lighter buff colors on the chest.
There are many colorful names for the woodcock, including timberdoodle, bogsucker, night partridge, hokumpoke, Labrador twister and even mudbat. The French word for the bird is “bécasse.”
The woodcock’s primary food is earthworms, and it has been theorized that the timberdoodle’s unusual bobbing-rocking walk pushes the mud down, causing worms to come to the surface, where they are snatched up in the woodcock’s long beak. The distinctive back-and-forth motion of the woodcock’s head has been described as “walking like an Egyptian,” and it certainly looks like that.
American woodcock are migratory, and their preferred habitat is a mixture of damp, wooded thickets; open fields with forest borders; and abandoned farmland with early successional growth. Their primary breeding range extends from Canada’s Maritime Provinces west to Manitoba and south to Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri and even Florida and Texas. Woodcock—pushed south by colder temperatures, as they cannot feed in frozen ground—generally winter in Gulf Coast and Southeastern Atlantic Coast states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama.
Woodcock hunting seasons vary from state to state, depending on the typical migration schedules and how long birds usually remain in particular areas, but they are usually short. As would be expected, the seasons in the North are earlier in the fall and in the South are later. In Louisiana, for example, the season is from mid-December to the end of January, and in Texas it runs from late January through February.
The Eurasian Woodcock
Eurasian, or European, woodcock in the Old World have evolved into two separate groups: one that breeds in the UK and basically remains in the area all year and another that breeds in Northern Europe and migrates into the UK and Southern Europe for the winter, returning north in the spring. Woodcock season in most of Europe runs from October 1 to January 31.
European woodcock are quite a bit larger than their American counterparts but are similar in many ways, including their bobbing walk, primary food source and preferred habitat. Their coloring is a bit different, as they have adapted to the darker grays and browns—in speckles and bars on their chest—that make up the cover foliage.
Hunting American Woodcock
Each year countless hunters pursue these sprite-like denizens of the forest. The key is to know not only where to find the birds but also how to shoot at the tricky little fliers.
The first step in locating woodcock is to find areas that harbor their main food source: earthworms. This means places with moist soil, including wooded, swampy spots; alder swales and agricultural lands.Clues that woodcock are in the area are drill, or bore, holes left in the ground by feeding birds or their white liquid droppings, often called “splash” or “chalk.”
When plying productive-looking cover, hunters with dogs—either pointing or flushing breeds—stand a much better chance of finding woodcock. (In fact, cocker spaniels, as their name implies, originally were bred for flushing woodcock.) The reason is that timberdoodles tend to hold tight and often will let dogless hunters walk by without flushing. This trait of hunkering down makes the birds great quarry for pointing dogs—especially young dogs still working on becoming staunch. Another advantage of having a dog is to recover shot birds, as the well-camouflaged woodcock is easily lost in the leaf litter. (Some dogs do not like retrieving woodcock, but most will at least indicate the location of fallen birds.)
When woodcock flush, they make a twittering sound as the air passes through their rapidly beating primary feathers. They usually lift quickly and fly erratically, making them hard to spot and tough to hit, especially if a lot of foliage remains.A hunter’s initial instinct may be to shoot as soon as a bird flushes, but a better strategy is to be patient and wait for the woodcock’s flight to stabilize.Savvy wingshooters wait for a flushing bird to reach treetop height, and then shoot when the bird hesitates before lining out. If you don’t drop a bird on the flush, watch where it goes, as woodcock often will set down again within sight.
Another nice thing is that where you find one woodcock, odds are there will be others. Earlier in the season there may be only a few “resident” birds, but once the weather begins pushing woodcock south, a covert can experience a “fall” of woodcock as numerous birds drop in. Of course, these migratory birds can depart just as quickly; so you might find plenty of woodcock in a location one day, but then return the following day to find that they have moved on. Here today, gone tomorrow.
As for guns and loads, I have always been an advocate of matching the gauge and load to the size of the bird. The woodcock is a good example of using enough gun but not too much. A 20-gauge or smaller is the preferred choice, and shot sizes No. 7, 8 or 9 are good choices, as smaller shot means more pellets and better patterns.
Woodcock and ruffed grouse often occupy similar habitat, so some hunters like to carry guns and loads that will work for both. They also prefer shorter barrels for swinging and poking in often-tight cover.
Hunting Eurasian Woodcock
Woodcock hunting in Europe, especially in the UK, is usually done by a small group of hunters walking in areas where woodcock are known to feed. These are lands typically owned by farmers who have given permission to hunt the low, boggy places on the edges of fields. As in the US, with woodcock being known to hold tight, hunters often use dogs to find and retrieve birds.
While driven shooting for pheasants and partridge is popular in the UK and other European countries, woodcock are wild birds and do not typically occur in numbers that allow them to be driven as easily. Occasionally a woodcock will get up during a pheasant or partridge drive, and the cry of “Woodcock up!” sends a certain electricity through the line of Guns. If the bird is shot, it is a rare delicacy featured at dinner that evening—but one to be enjoyed only by the lucky Gun who shot it.
There are certain places in the UK and Ireland where there are sufficient grounds and enough resident and/or migrating woodcock to conduct driven shoots. Obviously, daily bags are not high, but the challenge of trying to hit these small, erratic-flying birds is the bucket-list experience. (Some estates even offer “evening flighting” shoots for birds dropping into cover.)
Shooting woodcock in the UK has always been considered a challenge—so much so that there is a Woodcock Club devoted to honoring Guns who have taken a “right-and-left” at woodcock. Established in 1949, the club began as a promotional idea of the Lucas Bols liquor company and was an immediate success. (It was originally called the Bols Snippen Club.) By 1970 there were more than 2,000 members.
Today it is called the Shooting Times Woodcock Club, named for Shooting Times & Country Magazine. It meets annually, and membership remains quite a privilege. Terms of membership are that a Gun must shoot a right-and-left at woodcock before two witnesses, and the gun may not be lowered between shots. To any woodcock hunter, this is not easy. To see two birds that close together and then to make the shots is an accomplishment deserving of recognition.
Once inducted, a member may wear the Woodcock Club tie and badge, which sports four woodcock pinfeathers, the “trophies” from a right-and-left.
To sum up, hunting the mysterious and beautiful woodcock is a challenge for any wingshooter. Should the opportunity arise to pursue this curious little gamebird—on either side of the Atlantic—it should never be turned down.
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