The snipe hunt

[HALL,AUSTIN]

Anyone ever been? I hear it is fun ;)
Please post your snipe hunting stories.

[mete]

I was showing a nesting woodcock to a group and telling them about the bird. I said woodcock is in the snipe family . A voice from the back of the group said "You mean there is actually such a thing as a snipe ? " :rolleyes::D

[HALL,AUSTIN]

I brought a friend once. Just seeing how many other cruelhearted people there are round here.

[egor20]

My wife's from England and had never heard of snipes. Took her on one when we came back to the states. My father told her the joke, and I ended up sleeping on the couch for a few nights. :p

[BIG P]

Shoot YA. Go all the time.Funny you say that had some for supper taste just like chicken. Ya'll come on down we'll get a sack full its better than KFC

:D:D:D:D

[johnmcgowan]

Yeah Ive been, way back when some 40 years ago when I was in the Boy Scouts.
A few "older" kids wanted to take several of us snipe hunting when we went on a scouting camp out. One or two to hold the bag and a few more to run around and scare the snipes into the bag:eek:
Luckily, I knew better and just watched the shananigins going on :D
Funny stuff !!
John

[mquail]

Some of us actually have hunted snipe

[bswiv]

Never could keep snipe and woodcock straight in my head.......

But then hunting snipe did serve as a excuse to get a girlfriend out in the.......no....better not go there. But then I did marry her.......

[aarondhgraham]

We moved to an island off the Upper Peninsula of Michigan when I was 4 years old,,,
In the bar/restaurant/grocery store/etc they had some jackalopes mounted on the wall.

My Grandfather, Dad, and an uncle or two told me how ferocious they were,,,
They would charge you and gore your ankles with their horns.

That evening they set me out on a picnic table near the rental cabins,,,
I had a blanket, a flashlight, and my Daisy BB rifle,,,
Mom did bring me hot chocolate after a while,,,
The men sat inside drinking and laughing.

Dad came and brought me in when I finally fell asleep out there.

They didn't tell me the truth for a month or so,,,
I stalked the danged things until then,,,
I think Mom threatened violence.

Aarond

.

[doofus47]

I'm still waiting to pull a snipe tag....

[hogdogs]

I have always known of the bird that gave it's name to sharp shooters the world 'round...

But I also know of the "snipe hunt"... when we were invited to go I respectfully declined... I told my buddies what the gig was but told them to go along with it... I was able to "cloak" their every move...

I am sure that to this day there are several men tellin' stories of unknown critters in the woods that chilly fall michigan night...;)

Brent

[Pahoo]

Some of us actually have hunted snipe
Yes there are and I'm one of them. I have hunted both species; the night dwellers and the daytime real "birds". Some folks can't tell the difference between a Snipe and Woodcock, so they call anything that looks like one, a Woodcock. There environment, food and habits are simular. .... ;)


Be Safe !!!

[zippy13]

I always thought there were two ways to hunt snipe: With a shotgun in the daytime (Beretta didn't make the "Silver Snipe" O/U for nothing), and trapping them at night. The daytime shooting is pretty traditional; but; trapping snipe after dark is subject to a great deal of situational improvisation and typically results in bagging something other than snipe.

[Pahoo]

trapping snipe after dark is subject to a great deal of situational improvisation and typically results in bagging something other than snipe.
That actually happened to us on a Scout camp-out. I use to be a Scoutmaster and this was a typical trick we would pull on the new kids. I usually stayed back in camp and listened to the kids up on the hillside. The older kids kept yelling and getting excited about seeing them and catching as well. It was a riot and then they came back to camp and were having a good laugh except for one kid who said he had one. We saw his bag moving and just stared at it and each other. We never really found out what he got as I took the bag back into the woods, opened it and quickly walked away. Asked what it was and I said it was a snipe, just like the kid said .... :eek:

That got everybody, thinking !!!

Be Safe !!!

[kraigwy]

Back in the 70s I was heavy into duck and goose hunting on the Palmer Hay Fats near Anchorage.

There were a lot of "snipe" there, I mean a lot, I figured why not, I'll get a few, using my Remington 870 I got a pot full. I got them home and my wife was going to fix them up for freezing. If you ever ate "snipe", they are like dove, you just pop the breat out with your thumbs, that's all there is to eat on those little suckers and it takes quite a few to make a meal.

Anyway I had them setting on the cabinet with a lid on the pot to keep wife's cats out.

So the wife gets all ready to fix the and removes the lid. One of the little suckes popped his head up "chirp, chirp"............aparently he wasn't quite "sniped" all the way.

Wife lets out a scream, and I sleep on the couch that night.

Sniping is a very dangerous business.

[jstgsn]

The older scouts gave us burlap bags had us line up and hold a rope and led us into the darken woods. Once in the woods, we were allowed to drop the rope but stay in line. We then opened the bags, bent over and began walking up the hill side with the open bags loudly saying "Beep" and a few seconds later "Boop". Near the top of the hill we turned around to march down again using the same method. The older scouts had flashlights, we walked into trees. One of the younger scouts began yelling "I got one" and everyone gathered round. You could immediatly smell the skunk and an older scout grabbed the bag and tossed it away from everyone. We then fled the woods to the comfort of the campfire. The older scouts explained the snipes must have been in the pasture tonight, but most of us had figured it out by then.
The next morning I was assigned the job of walking to the next farm house (about a mile away) to borrow their "left handed smoke shifter". The farmers wife told me they had just loaned it out, but consouled me with milk and cookies.
Good ole camp Cedar Hollow. the good days.

[Hansam]

In only ever went on one snipe hunt. I took my wife (then just girlfriend) on a snipe hunt at night. We never did find a snipe :p but of course we never made it further than the hood of my car...:D

[1hogfan83]

snipe hunting and cow tipping generally are saved for the yankees when they come down to the south. When I lived in Iowa I did ask some of the guys from the church if they'd ever been. Most rolled their eyes which was a good thing since a few were gullable. We never got to go though.

[BigMikey76]

I remember taking some younger scouts on a snipe hunt once. We told them snipe were attracted to bright white, so the bag holders had to strip down to boxers and undershirts. Then we went out in the tall grass and started making a bunch of noise and rustling around. We finished the hunt by tossing the couple of dozen water balloons we had hidden in the grass earlier that day... ahhhh, good times.

[sc928porsche]

Of course there are Snipe! Where do you think the term Snipe-er came from??? Remember that the next time you hear the term sniper rifle. :p

[Art Eatman]

I read B. A. Botkin's "Treasury of American Folklore" before I joined the Boy Sprouts. I therefore knew about the fabled Snipe Hunt. A couple of years after joining, I went to summer camp. Some of the older guys suggested I hold the bag for a snipe hunt. I agreed.

So: I spent the afternoon collecting a jar full of good old Texas red ants.

We did the usual after-dark routine, and the guys went away, giggling. I dropped the bag, blew out the candle, and via a shortcut, beat them back to the cabin area.

Many sleeping bags got a dozen or so red ants. Then came "Taps" and lights out.

I was already quite comfortable out in the brush, well hidden--and enjoying a rather high db level of entertainment. :D

[mrawesome22]

I went snipe hunting around the age of ten.

Spent the night with my cousin and my uncle had one of his buddies over and they were drinking beer and got hungry so they asked us to catch some snipe and bring them back so we could eat some of these great birds.

So we headed off into the woods, pillow cases and flashlights at the ready whispering " here snipe, here snipe".

Stupid jerks :)

[HALL,AUSTIN]

Sniper was coined off an english term for one who snipe hunted with a rifle... When I was younger and got grounded I had to watch the history channel alot. So now I like history channel, but thanks for the tip anyways.

[OkieGentleman]

When my two girls were about 12 and 8 we used to camp and fish at the Buckhorn camping area on Arbuckle Lake by Sulphur Oklahoma. I started talking to some teenage boys that were spending the weekend sleeping in the back of their pickup. The wife and I had taken pity on them and invited them to supper.

The subject of snipe hunting came up and 2 of the 4 boys had never heard of a night time snipe hunt. Well the other 2 boys were all for having a snipe hunt on this beautiful evening, it was about 9PM with a cloudless moonlit sky.

Being the friendly fellow I am I recruited the two "wiser" boys to help me find the necessary paper grocery bags and properly sized sticks for tapping the bag. I also went to all of the other campsites, introduced myself and announced the organization of a snipe hunt.

As my two daughters had never been on a snipe hunt before and they wanted to go, though my suspicious minded older daughter was looking at me out of the corner of her eye, when mom passed, as she was comfortable in her lawn chair.

We must of had 30 people of all ages show up with paper bags and a stick with about half that number as drivers trying not to snicker out loud. The rules were explained and the catchers were lined up with their back to the water in a flat grassy area where everyone pulled their boats up on shore.

The beaters proceeded to drive the snipe toward the catchers and were amazed that none had been caught. This required that the beaters go back and do another drive toward the catchers, somehow all of the beaters retired to their respective campsites to rest from their labors. The roars of laughter that came from various campsites over the next 45 minutes were fun to hear. My two daughters showed up about 5 minutes after daddies butt hit the lawn chair with "I am going to get even expressions on their faces". Still funny 30 years later.

[dwright1951]

Used to hunt them in south Alabama in the Mobile river delta, hard to hit at first, fast fliers & lots of dipsy doodles but if you flushed them and then waited hidden in the grass they would usually come back for a easier shot. Had a friend who had a dairy farm with a large wet area that was loaded with them, good eating also. Also used to hunt timber doodles (woodcock) had a friend who used to say that if you weren't careful you'd screw yourself into the ground trying to shoot them, used to drive my brittany's crazy.

[mnhntr]

I hunted snipe in Fl for years. I went to ND to duck hunt and the woman I bought my license from on the phone assured me I had all the licesnes I needed for migratory birds. I shot a snipe while duck hunting and when we returned to the truck the warden was waiting to check us. When i showed him the snipe he says he needs to take the bird due to me not having a small game license and I would have to pay 25 dollars for the license. I explained the game and fish lady on the phone sold me ALL the necessary licenes and he said it was no big deal. The next day he showed up at our camp and gave me a 1000 dollar fine and told me it could be worse because the type of snipe I shot was a protected bird. He then said he had to look it up in a guide to identify it but there is a couple of feathers that are different for the common snipe and it cannot be seen in flight. I asked how a guy is supposed to tell when hunting and he says "nobody really hunts them here" even though there is a season. I asked a lot of questions to which I got no real answers. DO NOT SHOOT SNIPE IN ND is the moral of the story.

[dwright1951]

Years ago my dad was quail hunting, parked the truck on a dirt road just off a main paved road crossed the fence onto land that he had permission to hunt on and walked a few feet and started to load his shotgun when a game warden came rollin up and hollared at him to come here. Dad went to him and asked what the problem was the warden said that he had a loaded gun too close to a road. He wrote him a ticket and was on his way. Dad paid the ticket but was talking to the county sheriff (a hunting buddy) and told him the story. Well the sheriff who was sort slow to anger got real ****** off and told my dad that the warden was a new warden and was making questionable calls on lots of his tickets and that he would take care of it. A few weeks later he got a letter in the mail from the game & fish comission with a check saying that they were sorry for the miss understanding and assured him that he had broken no law and that the warden was being retrained so that he would not make the same misteak again. The people who work in LE, weather they are police, game wardens, etc. don't always get it right.