Post by Uplander on Nov 13, 2008 20:01:18 GMT -5
Closed out the 2008 woodcock season here in Massachusetts today.
In anticipation of cold, wet weather, Dear Ol' Dad had spent yesterday slow cooking a big pot of pa'tridge soup for our lunch today. He threw 3 whole pa'tridges, snap peas, chopped onion, carrots, a little celery, and a little broccolini into a big kettle and let it cook for hours. When everything was nicely cooked, the pa'tridge meat was taken off the bones, and some noodles added.
Pa'tridge Soup
We were able to hunt a couple of hours before lunch with no rain, just cold, windy, grey weather. Piper put up 6 pa'tridge and 1 woodcock. The pa'tridge were spooky and no shots were taken. When the woodcock got up I punched the first barrel at it and was way behind. As I was swinging further along after the miss, for a split second I thought to myself, "Let it go, it's the last woodock, it's the last day, and I don't need to shoot anymore woodcock." But, my body was on autopilot and without thinking, the second barrel crumpled the bird.
After that, it was time for lunch!
Hot Lunch On a Raw Day
After lunch it started to spit freezing rain, which quickly turned into a steady drizzle. Not much worse than soaking rain when it's hovering just above freezing. We hunted one more smaller cover for about an hour, and soaked to the skin and shivering, we called it a day.
Last Woodcock
Berkshire County
Massachusetts 2008
In anticipation of cold, wet weather, Dear Ol' Dad had spent yesterday slow cooking a big pot of pa'tridge soup for our lunch today. He threw 3 whole pa'tridges, snap peas, chopped onion, carrots, a little celery, and a little broccolini into a big kettle and let it cook for hours. When everything was nicely cooked, the pa'tridge meat was taken off the bones, and some noodles added.
Pa'tridge Soup
We were able to hunt a couple of hours before lunch with no rain, just cold, windy, grey weather. Piper put up 6 pa'tridge and 1 woodcock. The pa'tridge were spooky and no shots were taken. When the woodcock got up I punched the first barrel at it and was way behind. As I was swinging further along after the miss, for a split second I thought to myself, "Let it go, it's the last woodock, it's the last day, and I don't need to shoot anymore woodcock." But, my body was on autopilot and without thinking, the second barrel crumpled the bird.
After that, it was time for lunch!
Hot Lunch On a Raw Day
After lunch it started to spit freezing rain, which quickly turned into a steady drizzle. Not much worse than soaking rain when it's hovering just above freezing. We hunted one more smaller cover for about an hour, and soaked to the skin and shivering, we called it a day.
Last Woodcock
Berkshire County
Massachusetts 2008