I threw together this hunt after doing some research, and I cannot believe how much fun I had! I will attach some photos and also a link to a little write-up I did on the hunt.




Link to write up:
https://www.facebook.com/1000865980...dYkR7HgkAkS6ByZi5gZtg2l/?mibextid=cr9u03

Nicw!

Rail hunting used to be huge here, but haven't heard of anyone doing it last couple decades.
Sure, an incidental.gets shot now and again, but not like it was.

Here's an.older article, even Babe Ruth was a fan!


https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...on/d0ad8bf2-9c06-4408-a443-858dc8408737/

That is awesome. It is honestly like a mixture of waterfowl and pheasant hunting. Flushing those birds out of the marsh.

Snipe and rails used to big down here. Hardly anyone does it anymore. Same for woodcock.

This is a good post I really enjoy going out and trying something different as often as possible A good does not always mean getting a bag limit It would be fun just because you would be learning as you go Thanks for posting

Thank you!
While limits seem like the mark of success, it's not that way for me. Anything new I can go out and accomplish is a success in my mind.
Give it a go and share pictures please. It's a blast!

FIVE STAGES OF A HUNTER

Hunters change through the years. Factors used to determine "successful hunting" change as well for each hunter. A hunter's age, role models, and his years of hunting experience affect his ideas of "success."

Many hunters may fit into one of the following five groups. In 1975-1980, groups of over 1,000 hunters in Wisconsin were studied, surveyed, and written about by Professors Robert Jackson and Robert Norton, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The results of their studies form a widely accepted theory of hunter behavior and development. Where are you now? Where would you like to be?

SHOOTER STAGE

The hunter talks about satisfaction with hunting being closely tied to being able to "get shooting." Often the beginning duck hunter will relate he had an excellent day if he got in a lot of shooting. The beginning deer hunter will talk about the number of shooting opportunities. Missing game means little to hunters in this phase. A beginning hunter wants to pull the trigger and test the capability of his firearm. A hunter in this stage may be a dangerous hunting partner.

LIMITING OUT STAGE

A hunter still talks about satisfaction gained from shooting. But what seems more important is measuring success through the killing of game and the number of birds or animals shot. Limiting out, or filling a tag, is the absolute measure. Do not let your desire to limit out be stronger than the need for safe behavior at all times.

TROPHY STAGE

Satisfaction is described in terms of selectivity of game. A duck hunter might take only green heads. A deer hunter looks for one special deer. A hunter might travel far to find a real trophy animal. Shooting opportunity and skills become less important.

METHOD STAGE

This hunter has all the special equipment. Hunting has become one of the most important things in his life. Satisfaction comes from the method that enables the hunter to take game. Taking game is important, but second to how it is taken. This hunter will study long and hard how best to pick a blind site, lay out decoys, and call-in waterfowl. A deer hunter will go one on one with a white-tailed deer, studying sign, tracking, and the life habits of the deer. Often, the hunter will handicap himself by hunting only with black powder firearms or bow and arrow. Bagging game, or limiting, still is understood as being a necessary part of the hunt during this phase.

SPORTSMAN STAGE

As a hunter ages and after many years of hunting, he "mellows out." Satisfaction now can be found in the total hunting experience. Being in the field, enjoying the company of friends and family, and seeing nature outweigh the need for taking game.

Not all hunters go through all the stages or go through them in that particular order. It is also possible for hunters who pursue several species of game to be in different stages with regard to each species. Some hunters feel that role models of good sportsmen, training, or reading books or magazines helped them pass more quickly through some stages.[b][/b]

Fairly accurate, I've progressed thru all the stages snd am now in the Fill the Freezer and on to something else stage.

Snipe frequent the wet areas in cattle pastures here. I used to walk my Lab at heel and flush them up and shoot, he’d mark and retrieve them when sent. I called it the poor man’s quail hunt. They eat good too.

As far as the stages are concerned, I don’t think most ever graduate from the first stage. Don’t think so, make a post about hunting a nice whitetail, lol.

Cool hunt
Thanks

It's been 50 years since I've shot any rails, have gotten a few snipe here and there. Used to have 1600 acres of rice fields, canals and marshes across the road from our house. Man we had it good and didn't think any thing of it. Thought it would last for all time lol. Kids.

I noticed that when I went out. I was focusing a lot on water but their were just some moist grazes down spots that were holding down solid numbers of snipe also.


I heard rails absolutely love rice! We don't have any rice here, but it would be a really cool experience to hunt a rice field.

They were hunted in.wild rice here

That would be awesome!

Snipe are as sporty a wing shooting as there is.
Rails not so much lol.
I’ve seen crippled sparrows tougher to hit.

Rails are not hard to hit whatsoever. Snipe, like you mentioned are like doves on crack.

Those are some cool looking birds. Had to be fun hunting them.

I was taken on a snipe hunt when I was a kid. We hunted them differently back then. I remember I had to sit in the middle of a field in the dark with a flashlight and a gunny sack. I don't recall ever getting any either.

AH! . . . the 'ole "go snipe hunting" Boy Scout initiation!

We have a season in NC. I have one friend who has ever hunted them.
I know the tide is important.

We hunt them here, (snipe) and it is great sport. Although they are a small little bird, they are well worth plucking. Make for excellent eating. The flesh is very tender.