Woodcock Shooting

bsdirect

Lads looking for a bit of help and Info. Meself and a mate are looking for a bit of woodcock shooting as we don't get a fall of them here very close to the east coast. What is the situation with shooting clubs that shoot over woodcock ground further west. Is there any gun clubs that will allow two strangers to join to shoot a day or two a season. There is probably plenty of public ground about but rather be in a club so we don't step on anybodies toes. We are already in a gun club so have insurance Etc.

viper123

Do you have your own dogs?

bsdirect

Hiya, yea we shoot over pointers.

bizidea

Where abouts in the country are you what kind of shooting do you mainly do.maybe if you offered to swap a days shooting with lads it might work for you.75% of my shooting is woodcock the rest is vermin control don't really bother that much with pheasant or duck. It's some sport a days woodcocking we usually out 2 days a week if we can

bsdirect

Mainly Pheasant up here and most land is gun club so can't extend shooting as its club members only.

bizidea

Do they not let ye bring in a guest for a day usually clubs would allow you.have you any heavy covers or wood's that lads wouldn't usually hunt you'd be surprised at the amount of woodcock that might be in a spot like that seen it at home woods and covers full of birds and no one hunting because there was no real tradition of woodcock shooting in my area.not sure if pointers would be the best dog to hunt these sort of covers we have labs and springers

bizidea

Another thing you could do if you have heavy covers or woods is go down to these places in the evening just before dusk and see if there are woodcock fighting out of them.it will save man and dog beating these spots if there are no birds holding in them

allan450

flighting woodcock is banned now buck.

bizidea

Ha I was waiting for someone to say that Allan450 not talking About shooting them just go and see if there are birds flighting then you will know
whether it's worth while beating it or not.one of my permissions has over 180 acres of mixed forestry most of the birds hold in one corner of it which is about 30 acres of cut away bog it's a jungle I usually check it out in one spot and if I see more than 7 or 8 woodcock flighting here I know it's worth hunting any less I don't bother. It's too much hardship on man and dog this spot a bird can get up 10 foot away and you will not see it it's that thick.one evening last year I counted 21 birds at dusk.I'm the only one who shoots this woods there's no pheasant there anymore and a lot of lads wouldn't even know what a woodcock is round here it's great like my own personal shoot.

allan450

bizidea wrote: »

Ha I was waiting for someone to say that Allan450 not talking About shooting them just go and see if there are birds flighting then you will know
whether it's worth while beating it or not.one of my permissions has over 180 acres of mixed forestry most of the birds hold in one corner of it which is about 30 acres of cut away bog it's a jungle I usually check it out in one spot and if I see more than 7 or 8 woodcock flighting here I know it's worth hunting any less I don't bother. It's too much hardship on man and dog this spot a bird can get up 10 foot away and you will not see it it's that thick.one evening last year I counted 21 birds at dusk.I'm the only one who shoots this woods there's no pheasant there anymore and a lot of lads wouldn't even know what a woodcock is round here it's great like my own personal shoot.

Mate i didnt mean to sound like a prick i read it wrong i hate that when some no all starts spiting ****[like i did].iv a lot of woods your describing il beat anything just for a change.iv flushed up on 400 woodcock with myself and job but their is some about of woodies around:D

bizidea

Your sound Allan450 I was waiting for it here anyway I knew someone would jump at it it was kind of like fishing I dropped the bait and you were first to bite lol.do you hunt on your own the whole time Allan450 or do you ever go with other lads.I do a bit on my own and then do a bit with 4 other lads we kind of take turns beating and shooting. Works well but you have to know who you are shooting with too some lads can get over excited when a woodcock breaks cover

allan450

iv dogs that will go in deep and iv other dogs that hunt the outside of the timber.But sometimes we beat for each other.flushed 12 yesterday got 10.everything was hit.just one of those days.iv them fairly susted out at this stage.Its the best shooting out their but im def for bag limits of 10 a day.

daithi55

would you not consider renting forestry off coillte they can be got at a reasonable price for shooting .. i was in a coillte forest a few weeks ago with a friend who was stalking and i tagged along for the walk.. i couldnt get over the amount of woodcock we flushed by just walking, if you ran a dog through it god knows how many would of gotten up

bizidea

Often thought about looking into coilte let's it's usually by tender I think. does anyone know roughly what you would be talking per acre or how does it work

daithi55

bizidea wrote: »

Often thought about looking into coilte let's it's usually by tender I think. does anyone know roughly what you would be talking per acre or how does it work

i no a club that gives a euro an acre for theirs which is about 350 euro.. some leases are massive so you could go less.. up to yourself really