Timing is everything

September 29th. The date had been on my calendar for a while. It would be the first day I would try to hunt woodcock this year and the official start of my upland hunting season.

It was about 42 degrees out when I woke up, with a light frost and fog heavy in the air. Just about perfect weather for hunting. Well, then I helped get the kids off to school and loaded the gear to go. I hit the woods at about 8:30 AM. The frost was gone, the sun was up and the fog burned off. It was a hell of nice morning, but far from ideal hunting conditions. The window of really excellent weather only lasted about 90 minutes.

I was hunting the home covert today, where I had quite a bit of luck during the flights last year and moved some resident birds outside of the peak times. Being September, the undergrowth was still quite thick. More than once the dog and I just about bounced off impossibly thick tangles that seemed to say "you shall not pass!".

Whit had one solid point, but it was a non-productive. I don't doubt there was bird there, was being the appropriate form of the verb. I think my eagerness to get the season going we hunted less-than-ideal cover too early in the season under too warm conditions. We'll let it rest for a couple weeks and try again.