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John N. Felsher's Bird Hunting Adventures
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Yes, there really are such things as
snipe, and they're great fun to hunt
snipe, and they're great fun to hunt
TOP: Steven Felsher admires
some snipe he bagged while
hunting in the marshes off
the St. Johns River near
Geneva, Fla. Snipe frequently
visit soggy meadows, rice
fields, marshes and other
wetlands.
RIGHT: Hard to hit common
snipe, formerly known as
Wilson's snipe, make
excellent sport in southern
wetlands each winter.
some snipe he bagged while
hunting in the marshes off
the St. Johns River near
Geneva, Fla. Snipe frequently
visit soggy meadows, rice
fields, marshes and other
wetlands.
RIGHT: Hard to hit common
snipe, formerly known as
Wilson's snipe, make
excellent sport in southern
wetlands each winter.
Armed men in line abreast formation headed across a rice paddy to
search for an elusive quarry.
Without warning, a tiny screeching object exploded from beneath a
clump of weeds almost at the feet of one man and hurtled itself at another
man. In erratic flight, it zipped along like a screaming banshee on fire. The
camo-clad man didn’t have much time to react. However, he turned and
instinctively fired three times. The creature kept coming, showing no signs
of injury. It flashed past the man and landed about 100 yards away. Thus,
a snipe embarrassed another good shooter.
Many people refuse to believe such a bird really exists. A “snipe hunt”
of legend usually fueled by adult beverages, occurs when someone wants
to play a trick on a dim-witted acquaintance. Inebriated “sportsmen”
convince a neophyte outdoorsman to go to some remote location at night.
The jokesters tell the intended victim to hold a sack and stand in the
woods making strange sounds to call snipe. The group promises to beat
the bushes to chase a snipe to the victim so he or she can catch it in the
sack. Instead, the pranksters get in their vehicles and leave the poor
individual stranded and literally holding the bag.
Real snipe hunting, for an actual live game bird, looks nothing like a
snipe-hunting prank. Common snipe, formerly known as Wilson’s snipe,
offer some of the most challenging sport anywhere. Migratory and
abundant, snipe breed in Canada and the northern United States.
Sometimes incorrectly called a “jack snipe,” a small rare cousin native to
the British Isles, common snipe migrate to marshes and soggy crop fields
across the southern United States each winter. They begin arriving on the
Gulf Coast by mid-October and remain until April.
Shorebirds related to sandpipers, snipe resemble woodcock with
relatively long wings, short tails and long bills with sensitive tips. Like
woodcock, they use their dexterous probing bills to probe soggy ground for
aquatic insects, worms, grubs, snails, small crustaceans or other
invertebrates. Mottled with striped feathers flecked with brown, black and
buff camouflage, snipe thrive in damp rice or soybean fields, wet meadows
instead of thick bottomlands preferred by their rich brown woodcock
cousins. Although they prefer fresh or brackish marshes, they frequently
visit salt marshes
Largely ignored as sportsmen pursue other game, few hunters
intentionally target snipe. More snipe probably fall to duck and goose
hunters spewing No. 2 or No. 4 steel shot than actual “snipe” hunters.
Waterfowlers frequently see the diminutive birds, kicking them up as they
cross rice fields to their blinds. Sometimes, flocks of zooming snipe briefly
fool waterfowlers into thinking teal buzzed them, until hunters spot their long
bills.
Sportsmen don’t need to fire goose shot at birds weighing only few
ounces, though. Better ammunition choices include number 8 or 9 shot.
While only one or two pellets can bring a snipe down, even the best wing
shots might throw a lot of pellets at these diminutive, shifty speedsters
before hitting one.
To hunt snipe, sportsmen don’t need to arrive before dawn or set out
hundreds of decoys, although old market hunters did use wooden
shorebird decoys. Many hunters bag a limit of ducks and geese in the
morning, return to the camp for lunch and to change ammo. Then, they
head back to the snipe fields.
Snipe hunters don’t need elaborate equipment either. A reliable
scattergun with an open or improved cylinder choke, several pockets full of
shells and rubber boots completes the equipment inventory. Some people
jump snipe by poling or paddling small boats through marshes. Others walk
the marshes in hip boots or waders. In soft agricultural fields, hunters
usually only need knee boots.
Many sportsmen spread out through a moist field at intervals just out of
shotgun range. Walking across the fields, they kick up the tiny buff-colored
long-billed feathered firecrackers. Snipe frequently freeze in cover,
flushing only at the last minute with a distinctive, yet indescribable harsh,
raspy scaip-scaip, a sound that no hunter could ever forget.
When flushed, snipe generally fly swiftly and erratically, but not for long.
Snipe routinely fly just long enough to escape danger and may land again
in the same or an adjacent field. Often, snipe fly over hunters as they push
across fields, perhaps to land where they had flushed previously. Hunters
can mark landing sites and keep flushing snipe until the ammunition runs
out.
In another technique, hunters begin in opposite corners of a field. One
group walks through the field jumping birds while another party waits at the
opposite end. The driving party may take shots at flushing birds. The
stationary hunters may take shots at birds flushed their way. Sometimes,
hunters in a wide plowed field can keep snipe moving for hours.
Dogs can help on a snipe hunt, although they should remain on leashes
unless trained to stay close to the hunters. Wide-ranging dogs may jump
snipe out of range. A good retriever may find more birds in thick grass.
Buff colored little birds can fall into thick grass and disappear easily almost
at the feet of a hunter.
search for an elusive quarry.
Without warning, a tiny screeching object exploded from beneath a
clump of weeds almost at the feet of one man and hurtled itself at another
man. In erratic flight, it zipped along like a screaming banshee on fire. The
camo-clad man didn’t have much time to react. However, he turned and
instinctively fired three times. The creature kept coming, showing no signs
of injury. It flashed past the man and landed about 100 yards away. Thus,
a snipe embarrassed another good shooter.
Many people refuse to believe such a bird really exists. A “snipe hunt”
of legend usually fueled by adult beverages, occurs when someone wants
to play a trick on a dim-witted acquaintance. Inebriated “sportsmen”
convince a neophyte outdoorsman to go to some remote location at night.
The jokesters tell the intended victim to hold a sack and stand in the
woods making strange sounds to call snipe. The group promises to beat
the bushes to chase a snipe to the victim so he or she can catch it in the
sack. Instead, the pranksters get in their vehicles and leave the poor
individual stranded and literally holding the bag.
Real snipe hunting, for an actual live game bird, looks nothing like a
snipe-hunting prank. Common snipe, formerly known as Wilson’s snipe,
offer some of the most challenging sport anywhere. Migratory and
abundant, snipe breed in Canada and the northern United States.
Sometimes incorrectly called a “jack snipe,” a small rare cousin native to
the British Isles, common snipe migrate to marshes and soggy crop fields
across the southern United States each winter. They begin arriving on the
Gulf Coast by mid-October and remain until April.
Shorebirds related to sandpipers, snipe resemble woodcock with
relatively long wings, short tails and long bills with sensitive tips. Like
woodcock, they use their dexterous probing bills to probe soggy ground for
aquatic insects, worms, grubs, snails, small crustaceans or other
invertebrates. Mottled with striped feathers flecked with brown, black and
buff camouflage, snipe thrive in damp rice or soybean fields, wet meadows
instead of thick bottomlands preferred by their rich brown woodcock
cousins. Although they prefer fresh or brackish marshes, they frequently
visit salt marshes
Largely ignored as sportsmen pursue other game, few hunters
intentionally target snipe. More snipe probably fall to duck and goose
hunters spewing No. 2 or No. 4 steel shot than actual “snipe” hunters.
Waterfowlers frequently see the diminutive birds, kicking them up as they
cross rice fields to their blinds. Sometimes, flocks of zooming snipe briefly
fool waterfowlers into thinking teal buzzed them, until hunters spot their long
bills.
Sportsmen don’t need to fire goose shot at birds weighing only few
ounces, though. Better ammunition choices include number 8 or 9 shot.
While only one or two pellets can bring a snipe down, even the best wing
shots might throw a lot of pellets at these diminutive, shifty speedsters
before hitting one.
To hunt snipe, sportsmen don’t need to arrive before dawn or set out
hundreds of decoys, although old market hunters did use wooden
shorebird decoys. Many hunters bag a limit of ducks and geese in the
morning, return to the camp for lunch and to change ammo. Then, they
head back to the snipe fields.
Snipe hunters don’t need elaborate equipment either. A reliable
scattergun with an open or improved cylinder choke, several pockets full of
shells and rubber boots completes the equipment inventory. Some people
jump snipe by poling or paddling small boats through marshes. Others walk
the marshes in hip boots or waders. In soft agricultural fields, hunters
usually only need knee boots.
Many sportsmen spread out through a moist field at intervals just out of
shotgun range. Walking across the fields, they kick up the tiny buff-colored
long-billed feathered firecrackers. Snipe frequently freeze in cover,
flushing only at the last minute with a distinctive, yet indescribable harsh,
raspy scaip-scaip, a sound that no hunter could ever forget.
When flushed, snipe generally fly swiftly and erratically, but not for long.
Snipe routinely fly just long enough to escape danger and may land again
in the same or an adjacent field. Often, snipe fly over hunters as they push
across fields, perhaps to land where they had flushed previously. Hunters
can mark landing sites and keep flushing snipe until the ammunition runs
out.
In another technique, hunters begin in opposite corners of a field. One
group walks through the field jumping birds while another party waits at the
opposite end. The driving party may take shots at flushing birds. The
stationary hunters may take shots at birds flushed their way. Sometimes,
hunters in a wide plowed field can keep snipe moving for hours.
Dogs can help on a snipe hunt, although they should remain on leashes
unless trained to stay close to the hunters. Wide-ranging dogs may jump
snipe out of range. A good retriever may find more birds in thick grass.
Buff colored little birds can fall into thick grass and disappear easily almost
at the feet of a hunter.
