The hunting of the woodcock and its future.
Salvation from Minor!
We no longer present Michel Gélinas ; he is a key figure of the Woodcock Scolopax Minor in Quebec.
For more than 35 years, he rings from April to June mainly chicks, but also a few nesting females. ; after having found the nests thanks to the help of its remarkable French Braques, specially trained for this activity.
Michel hunts Woodcock from mid September to early November, the beginning of the post-nuptial migration period, taking very little for many years, preferring videos, photos and recordings with a dictaphone.
His notes and observations show for several years, a downward trend of Minor on his hunting grounds.
During my recent trip to Quebec, I responded to his kind invitation for the 2018 opening.
Not " guns Only our eyes and cameras. Accompanied by his ten-year-old dog Diva, he made me discover for the first time the biotopes of the Woodcock Minor as well as its behavior in front of the dog.
I immediately found the favorable biotope with dense soil vegetation about one meter high, still moist and spongy soil. Several hardwood and softwood species of different heights ; a pleasant terrain to hunt.
The American Woodcock is more " sociable »Than the European. It is poor (more and more according to Michel) but ends up letting itself be blocked, flies off near the hunter and the dog, snapping well at the start of a rapid flight. The discounts are relatively short, rarely exceeding 100 meters.
However, you need a large woodcock to put on the show. Diva la Braque Française by Michel is one of those. I enjoyed watching it evolve.
It allowed me to observe 3 birds. The first magnificent with its orange feathers shining in flight under the sun. The second that she sank, came to trample up to two meters from me, a smaller bird that disappeared in a tangle of birch trees.
The third particularly piet, asked all the experience and tenacity of the bitch to be blocked. It bursts out starting against, but by an arabesque which the Woodcocks have the secret, it literally rushed over me, brushing against my head, almost removing my cap.
It was Minor's greeting to a Rusticola lover.
During this hot outing (28 ° at 11 am), we talked a lot with Michel, about our common passion on both sides of the Atlantic. Protection of the bird, defense of its sport hunting with dogs, reduction of samples.
We agreed. Could it be otherwise ...
Philippe Vignac
November 2018