Woodcock Status Report 1965

Singing-ground surveys of the American woodcock indicate that breeding populations have increased gradually over the past 7 years while production, as indicated by wing-collection surveys, has remained relatively stable. The woodcock harvest, meanwhile, has probably more than doubled during the past decade. This suggests that while woodcock are probably becoming more important to North American sportsmen, hunting mortality is still relatively unimportant.

An index of woodcock reproductive success in 1961 and 1962 was obtained from age ratios in the hunting kill as determined from wings. For both seasons combined, hunters contributed 25,426 woodcock wings.

Surveys designed to determine the population status of American woodcock indicate little change in recent continental breeding populations, but a continuing decline in production. The annual harvest of this species, meanwhile, continues to soar with an apparent upsurge in hunter's awareness of the woodcock's sporting qualities. Research activities continue to uncover information related to the reliability of singing-ground surveys while banding operations in Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, and West Virginia testify to the feasibility of expanding this very important program throughout North America. West Virginia has contributed significantly to this program through its improvement of the night-lighting technique which was developed in association with their primary objective of evaluating the importance of hunting as a mortality factor. Woodcock bandings and recoveries from the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge are being examined to determine more about the characteristics of this lightly harvested population and to better understand their use of various habitat types.

The continental breeding population of woodcock did not change from 1966 to 1967 as measured by singing-ground survery; however, the 1968 survey showed a decrease of 6.93 pecent. Woodcock wing-collection surveys indicated slightly lower age ratios in the 1966-67 harvest (-5.63 percent), but in 1967-68 the change was insignificant. The decline in hunter success of the two preceding seasons was halted in the 1967-68 season; the daily bag showed little change, but kill-per-season increased substantially (+17.5 percent). In a number of States, increased woodcock harvests in the 1967-68 season resulted from earlier opening dates. In the Canaan Valley of West Virginia, immature male woodcock were more mobile and vulnerable to capture and recapture than those in other age and sex classes.Of 85 male woodcock transplanted distances of 1/4 to 3 miles in Maine, 11 (13 percent) returned to their original capture sites; 11 others established new singing grounds at the transplant sites. A test of the reliability of hunter replies to mail questionnaires surveys in West Virginia indicated that the actual harvest of woodcock was substantially less than the survey showed.