Woodcock was actually not in my plans as I prepared for the season. Wisconsin pheasant opens on 10/15, and Illinois pheasant doesn’t open until much later in November. My plan had been to get on a duck hunt early season, then do some work with training birds for the first half of October. At some point I decided that I should put my efforts into the upland thing 100%, since my opportunities are limited and that is really where I wanted to find success for both Chester and myself.
So, when my first opportunity to get out came on September 24th it was a little bit unanticipated. There were a few issues at hand: the training grounds were running a field trial so there was a chance all training areas would be closed, also I was not 100% sure I would get to go so securing training birds would depend on if I found out in time. I also, for whatever reason, have just not been extremely stoked about the season coming up since after decided to likely skip waterfowl hunting I didn’t have any set plans to hunt wild birds at all this year. On a bit of a whim, I decided to think about the *possibility of woodcock hunting near me, thinking that a walk in the woods might be more fun in general. Some of it was inspired by this Project Upland Article where they mention the unrealized woodcock opportunities in the central woodcock flyway. I also was partially inspired because when we were looking at the Forest Preserve activities for kids (for Sawyer) this past spring, a few preserves around me mentioned evening woodcock walks to watch the sky dancing with a ranger, so there MUST be resident birds around.
I had known that there was what Wisconsin calls “woodcock habitat” in SE Wisconsin, but I didn’t really have any knowledge of hunter success. Over the past 2 years I have pretty much exhausted any e-scouting on the topic possible, and have found little-no definitive accounts of woodcock hunting before the migration (which I do know doesn’t typically occur until after woodcock season is over, since the dates are really set to be ideal for N. Wisconsin)
The one resource that gave me some encouragement was e-bird. I was able to identify some spots that had at least some accounts of woodcock being seen in the off season (summer-early fall). A significant number of these were along the Michigan coastline in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. I actually had been aware of this area as there is a few potential duck ponds as well.
One thing that is great about Wisconsin is that they provide SO MUCH information about nearly every aspect of the environment/ecology of the state (unfortunately they do not publish or track hunter success). The general area I was going to is called the Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area , which in itself is an extremely awesome area/habitat. It is of “global significance” for the endangered plants that it holds, and is the largest (only) coastal wetland of its kind still intact on lake Michigan. All that to say, seemed like a cool place to check out for what would probably amount to a walk. It is also worth noting that the doc linked above DOES mention woodcock being a species that significantly uses this habitat.
9/24
Overall, this day was more or less a shit show. I felt good leaving, however, and a few good lessons were learned.
We get out of the car and head down the path that looks like a pretty straight forward walk on satellite imagery. We flush a woodcock within the first 30 yards, which was promising. We get to a point where there is a maybe 5ft drainage channel cutting off the path. Upon inspection, that 5ft is easily over my head. Off to the left there is a beaver dam where that drainage was running into, and Chester and I walked across the dam. We tried to get around that way, but basically got dead-ended and had to turn back. We did, and went the other direction into the super thick brush to see where we could get to.
We snuck our way through some pretty gnarly stuff, hands and knees style. Eventually, I got to where it was shallower and had to just push through the marsh, getting my boots completely soaked as they would remain the rest of the morning. Despite this, we are able to make our way through to some different spots and give hunting a genuine shot. I knew what I was looking for (any thick cover that doesn’t have too much grass at ground level, and enough overhead protection) and we found it in several places. However, it was a maze of zig zagging back and forth, occasionally having to stomp through shin high marsh or do some hand and knees work to get out of sticky situations. We were still having fun, it had not really been too bad, and a good pair of 18″ rubber boots would have made all the difference so far.
We get to some thicker woods that resemble what you would think of as “classic” woodcock cover. Chester goes in and I follow. We search and get to a very* small opening and sit down to rest. Shortly after, we get up and a woodcock flushes from a very small opening close to us. This obviously renews our energy for the task, and we move on deeper into the marsh. I will also add that there were other hunters about, and I couldn’t imagine what they could be hunting other than woodcock since duck was closed so this also kept enthusiasm up. We zig zag all around until we get near the back. of the area. We then cut over to how I thought I would have been walking in. This trail is nice, and eventually we come to a small clearing. There, a group of guys have dove decoys set up. They had some passing shots, they said, but no birds. I did see them get one shortly after I left their company.
We were headed back to the car at this point, and I was convinced that if they all got back here to dove hunt that there must be an easier crossing than I had thought. We were on the other side of that drainage ditch, and when we came to it again I could not find a way across. I even tried to just step in and let Chester swim, but it was actually over my head (or close to it). SO, we tried to find a new way around ourselves. What this entailed was pretty much hell. I came to at least 1 spot where I had to cross a nearly waist deep marsh. It was so thick Chester could not even get through it and I had to carry him. I had several spots of hands/knees crawling, more water, more brush, it seemed to never end.
We did make it through, back to the car and were soaked, dirty and tired. I had lost all the extra shells that I was carrying as well as Chesters leash and water dish (basically everything that was in my side pouches of the vest).
My takeaways: 1) don’t keep going forward when the going gets tough and 2) Where I saw birds looked very similar. Don’t waste time trudging through the wrong habitat.
10/10
I had off work on Monday, which presented my next opportunity for getting out. I had looked at a few other spots, but ultimately decided to go to the same area as last time. It actually is about 10 minutes up the coast from the first spot, and is in quite a bit more populated of an area in general. This area is still part of the Chiwaukee Prairie, but is a specific spot called the Kenosha Sand Dunes as the primary feature is… sand dunes and a (relatively) natural beach access. On the other side of the dunes is the hunting area (technically you can hunt the whole place). The day I was hunting there was a 9 mph W wind, which caused some waves and was peaceful to hear the inland ocean roaring away just out of sight.
I also decided to use the “track” feature on OnX this time, as I knew I might get into a similar situation as before and need to back track. This ended up being neat because I could drop pins at every bird I encountered and ultimately helped me determine where I had gone and where I had not on several occasions. It also gives your total time and distance for a hunt, and even while writing this recount of the day I was able to piece basically the entire hunt back together looking at the time stamps on the dropped pins. Definitely a feature that gets my recommendation for upland hunting.
The road we had to park on was busy with morning traffic, which felt a little uncomfortable as I prepared the hunting gear. We took off and headed into the preserve. First thing I noticed is that the cover was much more brushy than I thought it would be, but I also thought that if there were birds the hunting would definitely be more comfortable. We flushed the first woodcock within 10 minutes of starting out. OnX confirmed that we actually flushed 5 woodcock within 30 min after that first one. At first we tried the really thick stuff, and while we did flush a few no shot opportunities came from it.
I mean thick stuff, this is a literal deer trail we followed
As we peddled around I wanted to try some of the woodsy patches, and these were the turning point. As soon as we came to the first wooded area Chester flushed a woodcock right in front of me. A straight away, clear shot. Biffed, and we moved on. We flushed a lot of birds from those wooded areas, and they offered a lot more shot opportunities.
The 3rd opportunity in this area the woodcock came across my front and hooked a hard left at the end of the wood patch. At this left turn I shot. He kept going a ways but I saw him go down, clearly shot. I called Chester back, and we settled for a moment (I have heard it is best to let scent pool before going right in after the bird, obviously unless it is a hard running bird like pheasant). I then walked Chester over to the general area and told him to hunt. He did, covering ground for a while looking. It seemed like a long time, but OnX just helped confirm it was only 7 min from shot (marked red) to recovery (marked with blood symbol). I can definitely say I would not have found this bird without Chester’s help, the cover is so thick.
We moved on up the wood patch to some stuff that looked more like southern quail cover than woodcock. I thought it likely that the cover was a bit too sparse at this point, and to my surprise Chester jumped another woodcock. I think I shot and missed, and another got up right after. I saw where this one pitched down, called Chester back in and waited a moment before going for the reflush.
We walked up to where the bird flushed with Chester at heel. It was just outside the wooded area in a grassy meadow area. I sent Chester in and he made short work of finding the bird (light blue pin). He was flying across and I pulled the trigger. Seemed like I may have hit a tree, I wasn’t sure but I swung with the flight path of the bird and had not seen it after I pulled the trigger. I walked Chester up there and sent him on a search. He seemed birdy a few times, and got to a point where he was ready to pounce (he does what is called a soft flush, where he hesitates momentarily before he goes in). He then did so, and kept hopping up a straight trail a little ways like he was chasing something, almost exactly as I have seen him do on pheasants before. I came to the conclusion (and am almost certain) that he was on a mouse, he does that.
We continue, when we make our way back down that section of wood I flush a woodcock literally feet from where the one I shot came from. I think after that Chester flushed 1 more woodcock, and I didn’t take a shot but watched it fly through the trees parallel to the ground in their particularly quirky flight position. The sound of that last chirp really cemented the experience for me and I really felt it had been a special day. In total, we flushed 11 woodcock (and 1 reflush, so 12 flushes) in 2 hours and 22 minutes.
It was April or May of 2020 that I sent an email detailing my plans to hunt with Chester. I have never upland or waterfowl hunt with anyone, and this day was the culmination of more work than I could actually explain in any reasonable amount of time. Chester is not a bred hunting dog (though his intelligence and prey drive has me curious of his ancestry). He was 6 when we started training for this, and I had never even hunted for what I was training him to do. All of his training has been 100% positive reinforcement (uncommon) so it has taken a long time to get from point A to B on some things and it’s still a work in progress (I do use an e-collar which you probably have seen in photos, but I removed the prongs and disabled stimulation on the handset, it is primarily for GPS and I do use vibrate and tone for certain commands). He worked so well, we have really built a bond when out there. He knows what we are doing, how to do it, and while he’s not as effective as a well trained purebred dog could be, he does get it done. I can’t say that I have not been frustrated with him in the field, it has definitely been a process. To finally get on wild upland birds and to be successful, within an hour of home, and no issues with Chester’s performance to speak of, was an emotional culmination of this whole thing for me and it was more than I thought I would get out of it when I started.
Woodcock season ends November 7th, so I hope to get out 1 or 2 more times. Jess and I will be in Door County from Nov 8-13, and I am definitely trying to work a grouse hunt in while there. As I have said previously, I have seen grouse within 200 yards of the lake house but that land is not open for small game. Door county is not known for grouse hunting, though suspiciously little has been written about it and I have a hunch it may be a little bit of a hidden treasure if you know where to look. Regardless, if I can work it in, there are some more traditional grouse covers about 1.5 – 2 hours away on the other side of Green Bay. If not, I have some spots in Door County I could try and some of them actually seem exciting to explore because entry is so limited but there is clearly an active logging presence if you are willing to put the boot sweat to get there (or knock on doors just for access permission). I also happen to know that RGS donated to increasing grouse habitat back in 06 on this particular piece of land, and again there is suspiciously nothing written about it anywhere. Back in Illinois, I didn’t get the draw for a public wild pheasant hunt but just put in for another private land access draw, so I might be able to do that again in December. Depending on how the holidays look, I may try to take a quick 1.5 day trip over to Iowa for pheasants too, though that is still a daydream at this point. I don’t think that will be so easy next year though, so I might be able to. Other than that I am going to do some of the IL managed hunts from Nov-Jan for stocked pheasants. You know how plans are, so we will see what happens!