Woodcock in Montana

I swear I saw a woodcock the other day. In fact, I thought I saw several of them. So I took a photo for proof. It's not a great photo but I thought I had something.

Last year on The Montana Dream Cast, Scott Hirschi and I debated over whether or not there were woodcock in Montana. I talked to another guy last week that says he hunted them out here and shot several. We did a little research and apparently there were only like two ever sighted in Montana. I swear I've shot them out here, too! We looked it up on the FWP website and there is no season because there are no woodcock according to them. So this is proof right?

Nope. This isn't a woodcock. It's a Wilson's snipe. It's related to the woodcock but it's not a woodcock. There is a season out here for snipe. You can shoot 8 per day but if remember right, they taste like liver. And they are tiny. So have it. There are a ton around right now because they migrate and this is where they've landed until they move on. 

By the way, here are a couple photos courtesy of Wikipedia of a woodcock and a snipe respectively, in case you're wondering.

 And if you're wondering about the archery season for elk, I wasn't able to seal the deal. I had a fantastic season, learning a lot of new country and was into elk just about every day. I saw several different bulls. I saw a bunch of cows and put the sneak on elk a number of times where a step here or there different and my freezer would be full.

So what's next? Well, I still have a few days of guiding left. This October has been really busy and I'm incredibly grateful for that. But I'm also looking forward to a break. Duck season is open as well as upland birds and this weekend is the opener for rifle season. I have big plans for this rifle season.

The first objective is to get Patrick a deer. This is his first year he can hunt under the apprentice hunting program and he is jacked. I'm also pretty stoked to go out with him.

There are other folks that kicked around shooting their first deer this year as well. I may be spending a lot of my time helping out with rookies this year. That would be great.

As for me? I purchased an elk B tag and have permission to hunt a ranch out here on a damage hunt to fill the freezer. I will be chasing elk around the mountains a bit as well but I'm into more for the meat than anything. The one thing I have yet to kill, that I have a tag for, is a big mule deer. I've shot decent mulies but I've never shot one that I'd spend the money on to mount. I've said it before but I really am not a trophy hunter. I do, however, want to get one good representation of each of the animals I've hunted out here. So that's my goal. A big mule deer.

Keep 'em where they live...