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Forums10
Topics38,376
Posts544,025
Members14,391
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Most Online1,258 Mar 29th, 2024
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 641 Likes: 3
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 641 Likes: 3 |
Though I've hunted rails and I've hunted woodcock, I've never chased after cousin snipe. Yesterday, being off from work and dealing with a constant barrage of rain, my hunting partner and I decided we would walk the fringes of the duck swamps and bogs, as well as some flooded fields to see if we could put up any snipe. We did not raise a feather. Any tips for hunting snipe in the northern states?
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 453 Likes: 149
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 453 Likes: 149 |
I hunted them in the south and still do from time to time. Populations are way down where I am. Best advice is good luck finding huntable populations. When you find them, they are a lot of fun to hunt
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4,076 Likes: 442
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4,076 Likes: 442 |
They will occasionally show up in flooded pastures down here. Wet,shallow areas are what you need, the bigger the better. Gil
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 598 Likes: 30
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 598 Likes: 30 |
I've shot hundreds, mostly in the wet meadow zone of grazed wetlands. Few here now, as willows, hybrid cattail and reed canary grass have shaded the meadows out and glyphosate (Roundup) has killed the wet meadow plants around the edges of wetlands that still lie in cropland. Four of us shot 31 in one walk around a single bay of a grazed hardstem bulrush marsh when the limit was 8. Buddy Tom found the 32nd in his hunting coat about three weeks later!
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 453 Likes: 149
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 453 Likes: 149 |
Old rice fields and cow pastures - preferably rice fields that are cow pastures - are what they have historically liked down here. Even friends with perfect habitat report low populations, though
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,089 Likes: 13
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,089 Likes: 13 |
Are snipes different than woodcock?
So many guns, so little time!
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 641 Likes: 3
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 641 Likes: 3 |
Yes they're different birds (though they look similar) and I believe they have completely different diets and habitat.
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 97 Likes: 30
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 97 Likes: 30 |
Back in the 80's we hunted Snipe at Catahoula Lake in central La. and there were lots of them. It was a lot of fun. We just walked them up in the wet ground covered with cockle burrs.
We shot a lot of shells because we would shoot at some slower flying birds but found out they were actually mosquitoes.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,720 Likes: 48
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,720 Likes: 48 |
"We shot a lot of shells because we would shoot at some slower flying birds but found out they were actually mosquitoes."
Now that is funny. I can believe it though.
David
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Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 390 Likes: 8
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 390 Likes: 8 |
Hunted a few, normally around shore line, or edges of pounds in middle of field
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 598 Likes: 30
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 598 Likes: 30 |
Look for hummocky ground indicative of grazed seepage areas. They make a beeeek sound when they get up and then go into a zigzag flight that makes for tricky shooting. I think they taste a lot like woodcock.
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 641 Likes: 3
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 641 Likes: 3 |
Are they usually found in groups (not physically together like quail but numerous birds in an area)?
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4,076 Likes: 442
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4,076 Likes: 442 |
Snipe are at least half the size of a female woodcock and have a grey/black coloration with a white belly. The tailfeathers have some brown near the tips. Woodcock are brownish with a buff/tan belly. No self respecting woodcock would be caught dead in snipe habitat and vice versa.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,089 Likes: 13
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,089 Likes: 13 |
So many guns, so little time!
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,127 Likes: 1129
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,127 Likes: 1129 |
Gil, I have seen a few woodcock out in open, big, wet areas. But, have never seen a snipe in woodcock thickets. SRH
May God bless America and those who defend her.
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4,076 Likes: 442
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4,076 Likes: 442 |
Stan, at night woodcock will often move into and can be seen feeding along road shoulders and pastures. Their eyes will glow like rabbit eyes when hit by car lights. Caleb, at about 7:30 and for the next couple of minutes, large flocks ("wisps") of snipe can be seen flying in and around some perfect habitat on the Georgia coast. A lot of yakking before then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hqMQvCoLsESurprised we haven't heard from Skip, snipehunter, who knows more about hunting snipe than anyone I know. Gil
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,372 Likes: 103
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,372 Likes: 103 |
Gil, I have seen a few woodcock out in open, big, wet areas. But, have never seen a snipe in woodcock thickets. SRH Stan, I shot one my dog pointed near a small pond in woods. I was expecting woodcock. As soon as I pulled the trigger, I said to myself: "Darn. That was the fastest woodcock I've ever seen!" Used to hunt them in Iowa along with rail (mostly soras) before any upland seasons were open. (Iowa didn't have a dove season back then.) Snipe on the fringes of the marsh, frequently on mud flats. Rail in the marsh, requiring wading. Snipe are fast, bob and weave a lot. Sora rail fly low, slow, and drag their landing gear. A real contrast in shooting those two birds. Even more so than grouse and woodcock.
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 641 Likes: 3
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 641 Likes: 3 |
Thanks Gil, I've seen that video and it looks like a ton of fun...
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