Cracklins and Double Guns

Well, after getting an open invitation for five years I finally took my friend Felipe up on a woodcock hunt in South Louisiana. Brownie and I loaded up and made the 11 hour drive down on Friday, hunted Saturday and Sunday and then made the drive home today. It was really an unbelievable, although long, weekend.

Saturday we had a bit of bad weather and some really heavy cover, but Sunday was just more fun that a man should be allowed to have. It took Brownie (my English Setter) to catch onto what exactly Felipe's GSPs were so excited about, but he finished the day really strong with two rock solid points and held the birds till we got there to flush.

If only our marksmanship had been better. I have heard all the jokes about the difficulty of shooting woodcock.... but good gosh... I did some really horrible shooting! Good thing I am a bit better with the camera.

The land down there is beautiful and after the winter we have had in Tulsa is was good to see at least a little bit of green in the woods. We hunted some WMAs and also the Catherine sugar cane plantation (Felipe's wife is a stockholder and direct descendent of the original owners)

I learned a ton on the trip thanks to Felipe and his crackerjack German Shorthair Pointers Gypsy and Roscoe. Although I expected the trip to be a one time deal, I will be putting it on my calendar every year for the forseeable future, as well as seeking out some possible places locally to find woodcock next year.