Woodcock are moving north

[Jnyiri]

2 points today but we could come up with 1 bird only.
7B82BF40-2CFE-4CE1-9DD7-8CC1E05B8CE7_1_201_a by Jozsef Nyiri, on Flickr

251903E0-2CB9-4BE9-AC16-3DC76EAB2432 by Jozsef Nyiri, on Flickr

[Fenelon]

Do you folks not see anything wrong with intentionally running (hunting) your dogs on birds that are in closed season? They're breeding here at my place right now and will be on eggs in two weeks. Doesn't seem legal, or ethically correct in my books. Kind of like shooting yourself in the foot. We've lost 70% of our continental population of these birds since 1968, and we're losing another 1.4% of the population every year.

[dilly]

I wasn’t targeting them. My dog bumped it in an area I’ve never seen one before. Regardless, it flew away fairly unmolested as far as I could tell.

I think most people stop working dogs on them abruptly once the first nests with eggs are observed.

[vom Dufenshmirtz]

Do you folks not see anything wrong with intentionally running (hunting) your dogs on birds that are in closed season? They're breeding here at my place right now and will be on eggs in two weeks. Doesn't seem legal, or ethically correct in my books. Kind of like shooting yourself in the foot. We've lost 70% of our continental population of these birds since 1968, and we're losing another 1.4% of the population every year.

You have a point there
Most birds move through my area fairly quickly, the few that stay here to breed move around until they find a quiet spot.
I do not go bushwacking, just walk the same trails, so if the dogs spook a bird, it just moves into a slightly different area. No harm done.

[ninepointer]

Just saw a report of a woodcock nest with eggs in the Ottawa area. Till we meet in October...

[mark_t1012001]

Yes, it's early this year but I quit two days ago.