Overnight Flight

Be ready when the October uplands suddenly teem with timberdoodles

- Phil Bourjaily

WATER SLOSHES over the tops of my low-top hikers where the aspen thicket hugs the edge of a bog. Here and there, chalky white splashes spattered over the leaf litter remind me to stay ready. What I need are rubber boots, perhaps even the very rubber boots I packed for this trip, laid out with my gear last night, then completely forgot when I left early this morning. Five minutes into the hunt, my feet are soaked. Fortunately, mid-October weather in Wisconsin is mild.

In fact, it’s perfect. Cool, not cold. Enough leaves remain on the trees to add a little bit of fall color, though not so many that you can’t see to shoot. Geese and sandhill cranes pass overhead. All the gas stations nearby are stocked with the necessities of North Country life ahead of winter: beer, cheese, dried meats, and Packers gear. And the woodcock are in. There’s no better time to be in Wisconsin than the month of October.

ARRIVAL TIMES

My friend Rick and I are hunting with a pair of local Ruffed Grouse Society members. We know the woodcock are in from the wet white blotches on the ground. The birds trickle south in ones, twos, and threes, moving 20 to 100 miles overnight and showing up close to the same dates every year. Knowing those dates and keeping tabs on likely hotspots are the keys to catching the flight. Woodcock cover isn’t always boggy, but there’s usually water nearby. It’s rare to find fresh splashes and not run into woodcock almost immediately. Sure enough, one of the drahthaars goes on point.