USFW Releases Annual Woodcock Report

[scolopaxmatt]

Courtesy of RGS a link to the annual woodcock population report. 

 

http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/Woodcock%20Population%20Status%20Report%202015#.VaZXmLnbLbg

[Jaeger]

Very interesting report.  I believe the biggest threat is development.

 

On my old farm, I left the small springs and streams alone and always had plenty of woodcock.  Schatz pointed and I flushed a lot each year, but only shot one or two to give her a chance to hold steady and retrieve.

 

More of a training exercise as they really stink to a dog and she would hold that point all day.  Some dogs won't even retrieve the and spit them out.

 

I had a very wet farm and it was probably not characteristic of the area as a whole.

 

I had to sell and know the new owner will be bull dozing in roads and cabin sites near the springs, so under duress I guess I contributed to their decline.

 

In elections, it's the economy stu..d, in wildlife it's the environment stu..d.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Jaeger