My first Snipe

[MTA]

I have hunted on my neighbor's property for the last 7 years. It is about 20 acres or prairie/oak woods, nestled between farm fields and other undeveloped properties. Most of the hunting I do there is for small game, doves, squirrels and cotton tails. Over the years I have seen woodcock & snipes on this property but always when I am hunting with a centerfire rifle or its out of season. Yesterday I was taking the shotgun for a walk looking for late season squirrels and ended up kicking this snipe up in a low grass field about 20 feet in front of me. 7.5 with a full choke out of my workhorse, Beretta A300 Outlander

My normal taxidermist doesn't do birds anymore so I had to find a place that does birds.. none of them have ever done a snipe before so I took the chance on another shop. I have high hopes as their other bird work is very good.

Has anyone else (Texas or elsewhere) ever hunted these? I know they are typically flushed via dog... size 13 muck boots work in a pinch apparently

 

[randallhebert]

I have hunted on my neighbor's property for the last 7 years. It is about 20 acres or prairie/oak woods, nestled between farm fields and other undeveloped properties. Most of the hunting I do there is for small game, doves, squirrels and cotton tails. Over the years I have seen woodcock & snipes on this property but always when I am hunting with a centerfire rifle or its out of season. Yesterday I was taking the shotgun for a walk looking for late season squirrels and ended up kicking this snipe up in a low grass field about 20 feet in front of me. 7.5 with a full choke out of my workhorse, Beretta A300 Outlander

My normal taxidermist doesn't do birds anymore so I had to find a place that does birds.. none of them have ever done a snipe before so I took the chance on another shop. I have high hopes as their other bird work is very good.

Has anyone else (Texas or elsewhere) ever hunted these? I know they are typically flushed via dog... size 13 muck boots work in a pinch apparently


View attachment 660879

We hunt them all the time here in Louisiana. Very good eating

 

[Hunter-Habib]

My father absolutely loves to hunt jack snipe. 93 years young and he pursues them 7 months of the year in the marshes of the rice paddy fields around our family home.

I bagged this magnificent brace on Saturday morning with my 12 gauge 3" Magnum Beretta Model 626E and a pair of Eley 32 Gram Super Trap # 7 1/2s.

Those of you who have read my autobiography, will recall a photograph from a day when I bagged 58 golden snipe with one shot in 1988 (yes, 58 !).

During my childhood & teenage years in the 1950s & 1960s (back when the concept of sporting ethics had not dawned upon me and game regulations were practically non existent), I had learnt a highly efficient but cruel trick on how to hunt large numbers of snipe from the Santaal tribesmen. I used to get into the water with a life preserver that I would camouflage with water hyacinth plants. I would rest the shotgun over the life preserver & swim up to flocks of unsuspecting golden snipe and fire at the flocks while they were in the water. On my "Worst" shot, I "only" bagged 13. But my father would always give me a sound scolding for this practice, because many of the golden snipe would escape wounded... only to die a lingering death later on.

These days, I obviously only shoot them on the wing. Their unique zig zag flying pattern makes them a really challenging target.

Snipe excrete in the midst of flight, so the innards don't need to be removed. In our part of the world, we typically deep fry them in clarified butter after marinating them in tandoori spice mix. We all consider it to be a great delicacy. During my youth, I could eat seven or eight tea snipe (the smallest species of snipe) in one sitting.

 

[MTA]

We hunt them all the time here in Louisiana. Very good eating

The amount of folks in my area scratching their heads, replying "you shot a what?" made me think these birds were a rarity, like quail in some areas. Glad to hear it was a wrong assumption on my part

 

[MTA]

My father absolutely loves to hunt jack snipe. 93 years young and he pursues them 7 months of the year in the marshes of the rice paddy fields around our family home.

I bagged this magnificent brace on Saturday morning with my 12 gauge 3" Magnum Beretta Model 626E and a pair of Eley 32 Gram Super Trap # 7 1/2s.
View attachment 660916

Those of you who have read my autobiography, will recall a photograph from a day when I bagged 58 golden snipe with one shot in 1988 (yes, 58 !).

During my childhood & teenage years in the 1950s & 1960s (back when the concept of sporting ethics had not dawned upon me and game regulations were practically non existent), I had learnt a highly efficient but cruel trick on how to hunt large numbers of snipe from the Santaal tribesmen. I used to get into the water with a life preserver that I would camouflage with water hyacinth plants. I would rest the shotgun over the life preserver & swim up to flocks of unsuspecting golden snipe and fire at the flocks while they were in the water. On my "Worst" shot, I "only" bagged 13. But my father would always give me a sound scolding for this practice, because many of the golden snipe would escape wounded... only to die a lingering death later on.

These days, I obviously only shoot them on the wing. Their unique zig zag flying pattern makes them a really challenging target.

Snipe excrete in the midst of flight, so the innards don't need to be removed. In our part of the world, we typically deep fry them in clarified butter after marinating them in tandoori spice mix. We all consider it to be a great delicacy. During my youth, I could eat seven or eight tea snipe (the smallest species of snipe) in one sitting.

Thank you for sharing! Tandoori Snipe sounds excellent to me

 

[Red Leg]

Way back when we would regularly hunt snipe on the way back from the duck blind at Johnson's Bayou on Louisiana's southwest coast. The marsh we hunted for ducks was divided from the actual coast by raised ground about a quarter of a mile wide. The interior edges were wet pasture for cattle and were full of snipe in December and January. We would separate by 25 yards or so and walk that edge jump jumping them. As I am sure you noticed, they are a very challenging target. Depending on the concentration on a particular morning we would go home with a dozen or so.

They are also wonderful eating - far better and milder than any dove that ever flew. Tandoori sounds fabulous, though we did gut ours. My favorite recipe was to soak them overnight in a marinade of Wishbone Italian dressing, dust with white, red, and black pepper (it was the Cajun South) and baste lightly with butter while grilling or baking.

 

[fourfive8]

Dang! No wonder I never got one. I always hunted them with a bag and flashlight at night.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Dang! No wonder I never got one. I always hunted them with a bag and flashlight at night.

Did you ever learn how to properly call them so they would fly into the open bag?