Bird hunting is an exhilarating and great way to spend time outdoors. The quote “You only get out what you put in” is very fitting to bird hunting though. It becomes an obsession for most, with countless hours of preparation and lost sleep to be successful. Albeit, it is very rewarding, but if you are just dipping your toes into bird hunting, snipe are a great opportunity to have some fun, harvest a few birds, and hone in your shotgun skills. Here are five tips that will help you shoot your limit next time in the field.
Find the Right Habitat
Snipe are small birds, brown, white, rust and black in color, with elongated beaks. The key to finding these birds is finding mud filled, wet, dark soiled areas. Using their long, skinny, beaks, snipe are able to root through this saturated soil with ease, digging out bugs and worms with ease. Flag ponds, marshes and anywhere with soft soil will hold snipe.
Walking through these areas is all it takes to flush these birds. With a quick and erratic zig-zagging escape, snipe make a very distinct “mreenk” sound, when flushing. If you didn’t hear that, or the bird is flying slower than average, chances are it’s not a snipe, rather a killdeer or sandpiper, don’t pull the trigger on those.