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Gil S
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 7:06 am  Reply with quote
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Location: Lowcountry Ga.

Had a great Saturday morning with Floyd, Stan, and the girls-Willa, Abby and Sadie.
Stan had to leave before the last bird of the hunt and the photo. Found plenty of birds, not in the usual spots, but in the unusual spots for us. On the hill, out of the swamp and mixed in with the pines and huckleberry bushes. Very skittish and wild flushers. Depicted guns are Floyd’s Ithaca SKB 100 20 gauge and my new-to-me E&G Higham 16 gauge. Blooded it today. Floyd is not only a great shot, he is a professional artist with a specialty of bird carvings. Here are two of his woodcock he whittled and painted today on the tailgate of my truck post hunt. Wink He carves the leaves out of thin metal.



As much fun as Saturday was, yesterday (Monday) was even better. It was the last day of the season in Georgia. A beautiful cool, but not cold, sunny day; Billy, Willa, Abby and I had a fabulous day. Floyd drove separately and took Snap and Pop, his other two Brittanies. leaving Sadie home. Snap is 12 and is deaf as a post. She is fitted with a gps locator collar which is necessary to round her up as she can't hear a whistle. Floyd used the collar to find her on point several times yesterday. The gps collar has extended her hunting career. He hunted with Clark, not far from us and each group could hear the other shoot which can be painful when you aren't in birds when you hear shooting. Wink The two of them shot 5. As usual, Willa and Abby did better at their jobs than their 2 legged hunting partners did at theirs. Billy is the third generation of his family to shoot and hunt the Remington Model 32. It is depicted with 20 gauge barrels. His granddad bought it when it first came out and had Simmons make 12, 20 and .410 for skeet. Someday it will be his son’s and we all hope that won’t be in the near future. Wink The double is my E&G Higham 16 BLE which I first blooded Saturday. From an extrapolation of serial numbers, the gun most likely was made in 1905, best guess, in Liverpool. It’s 5 lbs, 13.3 oz., with 29” barrels, C/M.


We met with Floyd after the hunt and took this group photo of the day's results. The birds are in thick and the season is over. That's not such a bad thing. A great season here in the low country with almost two weeks left in SC a half mile from where, across the river, I sit typing.

Gil
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Savage16
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 8:41 am  Reply with quote
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Looks like you had a great season. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

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Gil S
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:43 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 04 Mar 2008
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Location: Lowcountry Ga.

I've never had a better woodcock season than this year. For lunch today, I cooked two on a diy vertical roaster at 500-600 degrees for ten minutes after coating in olive oil, salted and peppered. There are more elaborate recipes, but they would be hard pressed to be that much better than my lunch today. Gil


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Chicago
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 9:00 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 12 Aug 2007
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Location: Northern Illinois

Gil S,
Good to hear you had such a great season. It confirms what I saw in northern MI this year and that was considerably more woodcock than I had seen for years. The limit used to be 5 in MI and pretty much every hunt I would take home 5 peepers and a grouse or two. Back then Michigan was some of the best woodcock hunting in the country and I used to bump into folks from the continent that had traveled to northern MI to hunt them.

By the late 90’s the population started to slide and at some point they lowered the limit to three birds. It got to the point I would see so few I felt guilty taking any of them and if I shot one I would pass on any others the pups pointed for the day.

When the grouse cycle was at or near the bottom his long billed friend would provide the dogs work and they also added a certain symmetry to a hunt that I had come to miss. It is really great to see them making a comeback. I hope it holds up.

Good Hunting,
Mike
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cowdoc87
PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 4:00 am  Reply with quote
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Great stuff Gil!

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Gil S
PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 4:34 am  Reply with quote
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Mike, I hope it is a rebound. I've read accounts from the few Georgia hunters that chase them seeing more this year than in recent years and seeing them in areas never seen before.. I thought it may have been due to temporary habitat shrinkage resulting from river plain flooding forcing birds to unflooded habitat. Soil moisture upland has been high as well making worm pickings easier. All major rivers around here have been at flood stage during the season. They are such secretive birds and many hunters of other birds don't normally see them. Gil
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Chicago
PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:21 am  Reply with quote
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I forgot to ask, how does one go about acquiring one your friends carvings?

Mike
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jawjadawg
PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 8:33 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 20 Jan 2016
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Location: Atlanta, GA

Glad to see someone in Georgia having some success. The last several years have seemed to be pretty lean. I haven't been able to get my dog out once this year in this heat. Every chance I had was met with a 70 degree afternoon.
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Gil S
PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 9:34 am  Reply with quote
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Mike, check your pm's. Gil
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Two Pipe Shoot
PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 5:58 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 25 Jun 2008
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Spent the first 43 years in the South and never targeted woodcock, having second thoughts about that. I love to hunt them but have not eaten one that was cooked properly. There's still time and hope for that. Reno

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Rick Grimes
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:21 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 18 Jun 2004
Posts: 438
Location: thick and uncivilized places in the Allegheny Mts.

Great report Gil. Looks like you and the puppers had a wonderful season. Woodcock can sure be a lot of fun to hunt. I can relate to Snap's deafness. I use a GPS collar on my setters but it's because I can't hear the beeper Embarassed . Incredible carvings done by your friend.

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Going into coverts becomes less a chase with the sole purpose of killing; it remains important to find game but the gratification-and I keep coming back to that word-is in the beauty of finding it. George Bird Evans A Dog, A Gun, And Time Enough.
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67galaxie
PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 7:13 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Mar 2017
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Location: Valdosta GA

What a great thread! I would love to tag along this season. Indefinitely need someone with a dog to hunt any in my area
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:04 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
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Gil,

Congrats on a fantastic finish, real nice birds!

Pine Creek/Dave

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Gil S
PostPosted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 10:17 am  Reply with quote
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Dave, that was the season before last year's. The immediate past season was even better. Gil
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 4:50 pm  Reply with quote



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Gil S,

Roger that, both good seasons!

Pine Creek/Dave

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