[thornton]

Sitting on the front porch in se Ohio, wife reported this evening..."I saw two woodcock fly up from pond area and then heard one call on south side of porch".

Something comfortable in any predictable return fulfilled.

 

[Beagle Huntsman]

Spring mating flights have started here. A sure sign spring is coming, as if we ever had a winter.

 

[tracker 6]

Jumped 1 2 weeks while running the beagle, Angus.Only went about 6 feet musta been all tuckered out.

 

[Beagle Huntsman]

Jumped 1 2 weeks while running the beagle, Angus.Only went about 6 feet musta been all tuckered out.

I jumped one on Tuesday on my farm that did the same thing. Flew about 15 ft. I looked around for a nest but didn’t see anything. I didn’t know they could be that tired?

 

[thornton]

I have heard of indications of 24 hr migration distances up to a couple hundred miles or so, some less...woodcock are a difficult bird to study.
Weather over that time could also make the effort more difficult, or not....same for finding food and the low levels at which they migrate as factors.
That said, nests can be difficult to spot and genetic bird behavior itself may feed into flush distances at times as well.
Regardless, tired and short flushes happen....always have.
Tough gig...migration.

 

[bluedog]

I heard my first woodcock of the spring the past Saturday evening when I was walking back home after rabbit hunting with the beagles.