Woodcock and Springers... What a Pair!
by Tim Baker
Woodcock hunting.
These two words will make me forget the well thought out plan for the day. For when someone inquires about hunting these unique birds, my focus quickly changes - and my attitude improves immensely. The only other thing that has a similar effect are the words "Springer Spaniel". Whenever the four words are put together, my concentration is blown for the day. There is no other kind of hunting that I enjoy more than hunting woodcocks... and the only way I enjoy hunting woodcocks is with my English springer spaniels. In my opinion, the two were made for each other. Now I know that woodcock enthusiasts have hunted woodcocks for years with the many pointing breeds. The pointing dog hunters don’t understand the spanielers and vice-versa. If everyone liked the same thing, there wouldn’t be so many different hunting dogs. But for me, I am addicted to hunting woodcocks with springers.
I live and hunt in the Southwest Missouri area - which is not listed in the woodcock manuals as a location for prime woodcock hunting opportunities. And likewise, you will seldom come across another hunter with springer spaniels in the dog box. Both are relatively unknowns to the hunting community in this part of the country - and when mentioned, brings an onslaught of questions from the curious. Matter of fact, even the conservation agents are not aware that the woodcocks migrate through the region in huntable numbers.
So, how did I get addicted to hunting a game bird that few people know about, you might ask? It all started during a quail hunt when we flushed more woodcocks than quail. During the next year, I asked questions and looked at maps trying to figure out where I might find more woodcock. Just like in other areas of the south, quail were hard to find - and not very plentiful. I was hoping that the woodcock would allow me to work my dog on more wild birds - and have more action than I was finding while in search of quail.
The following year, I lucked into a public hunting area that proved to be a gold mine. The birds were migrating through - and I had a blast! With a young, untrained springer blowing through the cover, woodcock were literally popping up like popcorn. The limit in the early 1990’s was five birds per day. I shot a lot of shells, but eventually got my five bird limit. With such success, I gradually turned my attention to woodcock, totally, until the season was over.
What makes springers such fine woodcock machines? Their intense desire to hunt, the fearless way that they attack the cover - and how they hunt for and with you, makes springers excellent woodcock hunters. If you have ever seen the horrid places that woodcocks hang out, you would understand how vital the role of a canine companion is when hunting timberdoodles. The cover varies from wild grapevine, green briar patches, blackberry patches, small sapplings in thick groves to tangled vines and thorn patches. Places that make walking hazardous to the hunter. Woodcock cover is typically very dense. Someone once wrote, "If you throw your hat down and it hits the ground, you are not in woodcock cover."
While a hunter will walk the easiest route around some thickets, the spaniel will blast through it, putting to flight any animal that thought it was safely hidden for the day. Due to the way in which the spaniels attack the cover, it is seldom that the dog does not get an ear cut, tongue pricked or thorn scratches on various parts of their body. A well-stocked first aid kit for dog and man is a good thing to have handy during - and after - a woodcock hunt.
The close working spaniel will put more birds into the air than a hunter without a dog, which is the case for most wild bird hunting. However, woodcock seem to hold tight on some days and a thoroughly working dog will not miss very many birds. Even if the scenting conditions are poor, I believe the dogs would at least scare a woodcock into flight due to their close working pattern.
The camouflage color of the woodcock makes recovering birds a formidable task without a dog. I have been fortunate to have springers that would retrieve woodcocks with very little encouragement. I have heard of dogs that would not pick them up or who would bring them out of the cover for the hunter to see and then spit them out. This action has been interpreted as the woodcocks having a undesirable taste for the dogs. Needless to say, I have been fortunate to not have to deal with this type of behaviour with my dogs.
For a couple of years, I was hunting with only one dog, Jake. He has been the easiest dog to hunt with of the three that I have owned. Jake was steady to flush and shot and marked quite well. Retrieving was never a question. He would always work an area hard until he found the bird. Jake is the type of dog that just moves smoothly through the cover and works more ground than you realize - yet always staying in touch with you. With Jake being steady to flush and shot, multiple flushes on a bird were always available should I miss or not get an opportunity for a shot. I hope that last statement does not imply that I rarely miss, which would be far from the truth.
One memorable hunt was with a couple of eleven year old boys. Since Jake was steady to flush, I could quarter him through the cover until he flushed a woodcock. Woodcocks do not typically fly far before setting back down. These short flights allow for accurate marks from you and your dog. After the downed bird was marked, the boys were positioned where they would possibly have a shooting lane - depending on the flight of the bird. After positioning the boys, Jake was released to re-flush the bird. The boys got to shoot approx ten shells each in a couple of hours of hunting that day. Unfortunately, neither of the boys hit a bird - but the joy of watching the boys and Jake was well worth the trip.
There was a very memorable retrieve during a hunt in 1998, on Halloween. I was taking some guys on their first woodcock hunt. Like many of the hunters in the area, they were going out of curiousity because they had hunted "all over the area for years" and never had seen a woodcock. Well, the birds cooperated and provided some exciting shooting for the group. One woodcock had flushed from some briars and I was able to take a safe shot - fortunate to have hit the bird. I could tell that it was a clean kill, but it was a long shot by woodcock standards. As I eased up to the area of the fall, Jake was having a hard time locating the bird. I could tell that he was hitting fresh scent, but he was not finding the bird. I started looking for the bird hanging on some brush but could not locate it, either. Finally, I looked up and saw the bird hanging about seven feet offthe ground on a tree limb. As the bird fell, a wing had become hooked on a limb and held the bird in the air. I guess a draft was pulling the scent down which was confusing Jake. After about four attempts through the cover, Jake slowed down as he entered the scent cone. When his nose began to leave the stronger scent, he stopped and raised his nose into the falling scent and looked directly at the bird in the tree. He then looked at me as to say, "There is your bird and you will have to get it down." I could not believe that he had located the bird in the tree… but he did!
As summer is starting to lose its grip and the temperatures begin to slip down the thermometer at night, I start looking forward to the upcoming hunting seasons. The dogs sense the changes in the weather and I think they also know it won’t be long, now. By the time this story is published, many areas will be within four to six weeks of the beginning of woodcock season. I will try to keep busy in order to pass the time more quickly. My woodcock hunting partners and I have different opinions on types of guns, gear and such - but there is one thing that we agree on. And that is, we like to turkey hunt, fish white bass and trout... and hunt rabbit. They are all fun and enjoyable, but they just help to kill the time until it’s woodcock season, again!
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM WWW.SPANIELJOURNAL.COM See Spaniel Journal for more tales and informative spaniel articles.