
WINTERING WOODCOCK POPULATIONS IN WEST-CENTRAL LOUISIANA, 1953-54 
Vincent H, Reid and Phil Goodrwm 
U. Se Fish and Wildlife Service 
Woodcock inventory work was done in conjunction with quail studies 
on the longleaf pine forest lands of west-central Louisiana, from 
November 1, 1953 through February 195). The inventories were made 
largely on National Forest lands in Vernon, Natchitoches and Rapides 
Parishes. 
Method.--Bird dogs were used for the inventory work and a record 
was kept of the number of woodcock points made by the dogs and the 
time spent afield. 
Inventory Data 
Eee a tho les began to show up in the coverts of west- 
centra uisiana the last week in October and the first week in 
November. James Leatherman of the U. S. Forest Service observed one 
bird 8 miles south of Alexandria, Rapides Parish, on October 25, 1953. 
Reid flushed one woodcock on the Evangeline Ranger District, Rapides 
Parish, on October 31, 1953. One bird was seen on November 1 and another 
on November 2 in the same general area on the Evangeline District. The 
bird found on November 2 was successfully netted and banded by John D. 
Newsom, biologist, of the Louisiana Wild Life and Fisheries Commission. 
There was a noticeable general movement of birds into this area 
in the fifth week of November when the dogs averaged a woodcock point 
for each 1.6 hours afield. Except for the third and fourth week in 
December, when woodcock numbers appeared low, the counts were fairly 
uniform through the second week in February, Peak counts were made the 
first and third week in January when the dogs averaged a point per 0.7 
and a point per 0.5 hours afield respectively. Peak counts in the 
winter of 1952-53 were made the fourth and fifth weeks in January; the 
dogs averaged a point per 0.7 and a point per 0.3 hours respectively 
for these weeks. Table 1 shows a summary of the inventory by weeks 
for the past 5 winters in west-central Louisiana. 
The best individual count was made on January 13, 195) when the 
dogs averaged a woodcock point per 0. hours (2 minutes) of work. 
The best count in 1952-53 was made on January 25 when the dogs averaged 
a point per 0.11 hours (7 minutes) afield. Table 2 shows the dates of 
the highest woodcock counts for the past five winters. | 
