AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



97 



WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 

 [Plate IX.] 



There is, perhaps, no sport, in this countrj^, which 

 occupies the attention of the shooter so much as that 

 of hunting Woodcocks; and, as the season approaches 

 which embraces this favourite amusement, much anxiety, 

 pi'eparation, and s-olicitude, are wasted, in anticipating 

 the pleasure which abundance of this game produces, 

 and, for weeks before this period arrives, the talents of 

 all the gunsmiths are called in requisition by sports- 

 men, to supply any deficiencies which may be found 

 existing in their stock of accoutrements. This undue ea- 

 gerness, however, sometimes leads to great vexation and 

 disappointment, and proves to be premature; for, like the 

 instability of most pleasures, the prospect of good shooting 

 is often obscured by the storms of a single night, and those 

 places of favourite resort by gunners, which sometimes 

 yield rich harvests to their perseverance, are frequently 

 rendered birdless by one heavy rain. This contingency 

 attending Woodcock shooting, deters many from pursuing 

 it who are extremely fond of the sport, and who prize it 

 as superior to all others, but which circumstance alone is 

 sufficient to bring it beneath the level of partridge shoot- 

 ing. In Europe, this bird is considered a great luxury, 

 and their scarcity in England enhances their value con- 

 siderably more in the eye of the sportsman, but seldom 

 affi>rds so much amusement as other species of game: 

 they are, howeA'er, in this country, so plentiful, that the 

 season for shooting them, if prudently observed, adds much 

 to enjoyment, and constitutes an era of great importance 

 in the sporting world. 



No laws regulating the season for shooting Woodcock 

 have, we believe, ever been enforced, except by the State 

 of New Jersey, which restricts it to that period between 

 the first of July and February; although several cities have 

 so far noticed this game as to prohibit its sale in their 

 market places, except during the above period. Sports- 

 men, however, in ever}'' State, respect the proper season 

 for shooting this bird, and are generallj' confined to those 

 months: but there are many, who do not bear even the 

 semblance of sportsmen, so unprincipled as never to regard 

 law, either natural, moral, or statute, and destroy this bird 

 indiscriminately whenever it is to be met with, often em- 

 bracing the season of incubation, when the bird is so tame 

 as almost to be taken by the hand, as more easily sacrificed 

 to their inhuman and unfeeling propensities. In connec- 

 tion with the pleasures attending Woodcock shooting, there 

 are many inconveniencies and difficulties, which call into 

 exercise all the energies of the sportsman. Commencing 

 Bb 



in the heat of summer, he is subject in his excursions to 

 the scorching ra3's of the sun, and dampness and mud at- 

 tends his every step, from which by the solary influence, 

 often ai'ises a damp vapour, almost, at times, suffocating, 

 which enervates the system, and serves to create excessive 

 fatigue; it thus becomes a season of toil, pain, and un- 

 pleasant retrospection: when, if pursued during the only 

 proper season, in the fall of the year, it would be one of 

 the most delightful periods of enjo3^ment. 



This bird is known throughout the United States, under 

 different names, as the snipe, big snipe, red-breasted snipe, 

 and mud snipe, and, in som.e parts of the country, through 

 ignorance, is not considered fit to eat, although they are 

 generally held in the highest estimation as an article of 

 luxury, and frequently command an extravagant price; it 

 is in October and November, that the Woodcock is in the 

 best state for the table, but impatience in the sportsman 

 urges him to war against them, so soon as the law will per- 

 mit it. The favourite places of resort for Woodcocks 

 are low, marshy grounds, swamps, and meadows, with soft 

 bottoms, where cattle have been grazing, although during 

 wet seasons they seek higher land, most generally corn- 

 fields, to seek their food in the soft ploughed ground. It 

 is no difficult matter to ascertain the presence of these birds 

 in particular places, as the earth will be found perforated 

 with numbers of holes made by their bills, while searching 

 for worms beneath the surface of the ground. 



Throughout the month of July, and part of August, the 

 Woodcocks are to be found in most grounds of the above 

 description, and in seasons of excessive drought, are very 

 numerous^on tide water creeks and shores of fresh water 

 rivers — those extensive meadows in the interior of New 

 Jersey, near to Atsion Furnace, and frequently in the 

 marshy flats, overgrown with reeds: they were also found 

 in quantities in the meadows bordering the Cohansey river, 

 in the lower part of Jerse}", in 1825, at which place three 

 gentlemen, in the space of about two hours, on a very 

 small spot, killed upwards of forty birds. But though 

 the favourite places of resort for Woodcocks are in the re- 

 gion of streams and niuddj- bottoms, yet, different from 

 the snipe, they are averse to much water, and a heavy rain 

 will disperse them over a wide extended country, and 

 ground which sometimes produces abundance of this gariie, 

 ' is found forsaken by them, the night succeeding a heavy rain. 



The Woodcocks, when found in meadow land, are easy 

 birds to shoot, and require but an indifferent shot, and 

 slight wounds to kill them, and are, therefore, sought after 

 by young sportsmen in preference to other game; for, 

 being exceeding sluggish in their movements, they- afford 

 excellent opportunities to the beginner to exercise himself 

 in the science of shooting. When sprung from the ground, 



