
An effort was made to locate woodcock in March, April and May but 
few adult birds were found. In 10.25 hours during March the dogs found 
three adult birds. In ly hours in April, the dogs found one adult bird 
and | young. And in 7.08 hours in May no woodcock were found. Few 
woodcock were found in these months. Those present were probably breed- 
ing birds. 
Summary for Winter Counts.--For the period November 1, 1953 to 
February 25, 195] a total of 232 hours were spent in the field with 
dogs and 120 woodcock points were made. For this period the dogs 
averaged a woodcock point per 1.9 hours afield. The inventory figures 
indicate that fewer birds wintered in this area than in 1952-53 when 
the dogs averaged a point per 1.2 hours of work. Table 3 summarizes 
the counts for the past five years. In the winters 1953-5) and 1951-52 
the dogs averaged a point for about each two hours afield during the 
winter months. In the winters 199-50, 1950-51, and 1952-53, the dogs 
averaged a point for about each hour spent afield. 
Table 3.--Hours per Woodcock Point for the Winters 1949-50 to 1953-5) 
in the Longleaf Pine Area of West-central Louisiana. 
Hours Afield Hours per 
Winter with Bird Dogs Woodcock Point 

194)9=50 129.5 1.1 
1950-51 166.5 lel 
1951-52 273 2el 
1952-53 223.3 1.2 

Discussion.--The fact that fewer birds were found in the piney woods 
this past winter does not necessarily reflect an over-all decreased wood- 
cock population. Observations have indicated that fall and winter rains 
are important in conditioning the piney woods section as favorable wood- 
cock habitat. Fall and winter rains were light in 1953-5 (1.83 inches) 
as they were in 1951-52 (11.25 inches) and dogs only averaged a point 
per two hours afield in these years. When the winter rains totaled 
greater than 18 inches as was the case in 199-50, 1950-51 and 1952-53, 
the dogs averaged a point for about each hour afield. In the drier 
winters, the soil in the post oak flats and blackjack hillsides scattered 
through piney woods was dry and hard packed, and woodcock were seldom 
found using these areas. In the more moist winters, these soils were 
wet and made favorable woodcock feeding areas; in the more moist years 
woodcock use this type habitat and higher woodcock counts were obtained. 
Table ) compares fall and winter precipitation totals with the average 
number of woodcock points per hour for counts made from 199-50 to 
1953-5h. 
