During the '80s & '90s I would always bow hunt deer with my Dad . An 85 acre field behind his home which joined the 69 acre woods ,,,,both on the same farm . Flat , miserable country . But better than no country, I guess .
The deer would always come from the interior of the woods toward the edges and eventually out into the fields at dusk . We always hunted the edges , particularly the corner nearest the house , which was 849 steps for a longlegged feller , such as myself .
I mentioned all that above just to say this . Countless evenings found Dad and I in our treestands . The sun was set and the western horizon all bright and the anticipation of a buck stepping out of the brush was continual . There was always a few weeks of decent weather when we would see WOODCOCK fly around the corner of the woods between sun down and dark. Many times there would be a pair . Then singles . A broken yet steady stream of them little 'DARTERS' , making their unique sound as they rocketed by our stands . Generally no more than 20 feet above the ground . I thought it was odd how they would fly parallel to the front of the woods and then cut the 90degree corner and vanish out of sight flying parallel with the south face of the woods . Seemed like they enjoyed making that corner . It was as if they pour on the coal as they made the turn and each one would do the same and they all would go a little higher in the turn and then drop back down for the long straight 1/2 mile long south side .
It's been years since I thought about all this . This thread just happened to trigger a memory.
