doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Where are all the woodcock?

Gil, I think the pictures you've added of the period artwork and decoys are a perfect complement. There are still seasons for other shore birds besides the snipe, and the woodcock may not be perceived as a shore bird.

I would think engraving would be market driven. Standard patterns for cost managing might only be offered in the most popular patterns. One off commissions might show more woodcock scenes if they were requested.

Craig, thanks. In Walt's Ithaca History book, there's a Grade 4 NID with a woodcock on the bottom of the action. There are other examples in the book on trap single barrels. Gil

Yes, I'm about 1.5 hours from Cape May. Cape May's main attraction (for me) has always been bird watching, and migratory birds do stop off there. I really just didn't realize people hunted those shore birds. Just na�vet� on my part.

Here is some cover art from the old National Sportsman magazine from the 1920's.
The magazine made prints available to subscribers. I have these in my office with a few decorative decoys. Depicted is a young hunter slogging through the saltmarsh and another hunter putting out his shorebird dekes while carrying his double.

Fun pics and comments. I'd started to mention plover in my original post, but refrained because of their much shorter bills. It would be near impossible to confuse a plover w/a woodcock or snipe. In the same breath, there are a number of shore birds that at first glace might be confused w/a snipe. Particularly by an older hunter w/< perfect eye sight or a neophyte. Woodcocks I've seen &/or bagged have bills somewhat longer than most varieties of snipe and their bills are straight rather than curved.

FWIW, I'm also of the opinion that some engravers never saw the birds or animals they were trying to depict. Some may have simply not been remotely talented. I have a Lefever G grade that I acquired many years ago only because it was the very worst example of engraving I have ever seen. The old gun is as tight as a tick & the bird depicted is clearly a pheasant [more than may be said of some 'flying turnips'] and it is rather boldly signed 'ROY'. I view it as an irreplaceable piece of Americana in spite of the many laughs Bill Wise & I had over it's acquisition and my quixotic perspective.

TW,
Flying vegetable portrayals weren�t the sole province of gun engravers. Here�s a decoy version of a sweet potato shaped shorebird decoy owned by Theodore Rogers, 1824-1903. Theodore Rogers was a prominent banker in NYC, president of the Bank of the Metropolitis and an avid shotgunner with memberships in all the right gun clubs on Long Island. He had a huge spread of shorebird decoys that he used in hunting the Jamaica Bay flats on the western end of Long Island. It is unknown who the carver was of these whimsical birds which rise to the level of Impressionistic folk art. Below is a dowitcher with the Rogers brand in the bottom. Rasp marks are also visible which were left by the carver. It is one of my favorite decoys. Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge now occupies where Theo hunted and JFK International Airport is on the western side of the bay, built upon old wetlands.

In the early stages of my decoy carving hobby, I carved a 4 bird rig of sand pipers that I intended to hunt over some day, strictly as conversation pieces for me and my friends to discuss. Reading this post reminds me I've never hunted them. All 4 birds are mounted (not permenently)on a piece of drift wood in my work shop. I would post a pic, but I seem to have an inordinate amount of trouble making picture posts happen. If I emailed a pic to one of you folks, could you post it for me?

Mergus

Awesome, thank you guys! Finally found one, a Fulton special with a woodcock on one side and a quil on the other, the quail looks like a grouse in flight, so thats what I'll pretend it is!

Mergus's wisp of "snipe" (peeps). Neat little decoys.

Nice Mergus, hope some day you can hunt over them.