Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2B
December 9, 2009
Reporter
Monroe County Outdoors
Woodcock season opens Dec. 19
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G :
i
eorgia’s parade
of hunting sea
sons began
way back in
August and
will come to an end when
the Woodcock Hunting
Season opens statewide
on Dec. 19 and closes only
30 says later on Jan. 17.
Hunters can legally bag
three woodcocks per day.
The American woodcock
is one of our most unusu
al and least understood
North American
game birds.
Although biolo
gists classify it as
a shorebird, don’t
go to the beach
looking for one.
The American
woodcock, also
known as the tim
ber-doodle,
prefers to spend
most of its
time in
moist fields
and young
forests.
It is rough
ly the size of a quail and
has a long bill.
Outwardly both sexes
look identical; however, a
hunter can easily tell the
sex of a bird in the hand
by measuring the bird’s
bill against the width of
a dollar bill. If a wood
cock’s bill is longer than
a dollar bill is wide, it is
a female. On the other
hand, if it is shorter than
a bill is wide, it is proba
bly a male.
One unique facet of the
woodcock’s bill is that it
has a flexible tip. The
bird feeds by probing its
bill deep into the damp
earth. When it finds a
worm, the bird is able to
open the tip of its bill
and seize the wriggling
morsel without ever hav
ing to open the entire
bill.
Earthworms comprise
the bulk (75%) of the
bird’s diet. Woodcock
searching for earthworms
will often stamp the
ground with one foot try
ing to coax hidden worms
to move. When worms
cannot be found, the
birds will also dine on
spiders, insects and occa
sionally on kernels of
corn.
Woodcock prefer to feed
at night. Consequently,
they typically rest
throughout the day in
shrubby woodlands until
sunset. Then they fly to
feeding areas such as
harvested fields, pastures
and the edges of swamps.
Here they will feed until
around 11 p.m. they will
then rest until about an
hour before sunrise when
they begin feeding again.
As the sun’s first rays of
light pierce the darkness,
they return to their day
time haunts.
The woodcock has
remarkable eyesight. Its
eyes are set so far back
on their heads that these
remarkable game birds
can actually
see in a full
circle without
ever moving.
The wood
cock is a slow
flyer, averag
ing only 13
mph in sus
tained flight.
When
flushed, their
wings
often
make a
twitter
ing
sound
as they fly straight up
before leveling off.
Although a small num
ber of woodcock can actu
ally be found in the coun
ty throughout the year,
woodcock populations
swell in the fall and win
ter with the arrival of
northern migrants. Most
of these birds have flown
southward in flocks rang
ing anywhere from four
to a thousand birds from
their primary breeding
grounds in the Maritime
Provinces and New
England.
During migration wood
cock show up in some
strange places such as
city parks, and residen
tial backyards.
For at least three
decades wildlife biolo
gists have been con
cerned about the future
of the American wood
cock. During this time
woodcock populations
declined a little more
than 1% per year. This
prompted the state and
federal wildlife agencies
to join forces with the
Wildlife Management
Institute, The Ruffed
Grouse Society and other
to form Woodcock Task
Force in 1991. This group
formulated and has
implemented the
American Woodcock
Conservation Plan. The
group’s goal is to halt
declines in woodcock
numbers by 2012 and
have the woodcock popu-
A female American Woodcock. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service)
lation begin to climb
upward by 2022.
Two of the main prob
lems facing the woodcock
are habitat related. First
of all, each year thou
sands of acres of prime
woodcock breeding areas
are being converted to
backyards, roads, shop
ping centers and the like.
The second problem is
that the young forests
that are prime woodcock
breeding areas are get
ting older. These older
forests don’t suit the
needs of the woodcock
and the birds abandon
them. Habitat manage
ment initiatives in both
Canada and the United
States have been put in
place to help alleviate
this problem.
Fortunately there are
indications that these
efforts are beginning to
make a difference. For
example, the results of
the 2009 breeding ground
surveys suggest that the
2009 breeding population
is similar to that sam
pled in 2008. In fact, this
marked the sixth consec
utive year that no popu
lation declines have been
detected.
This is good news to a
small but dedicated
group of woodcock
hunters. Although bag
limits are low, and find
ing woodcock is often dif
ficult throughout much of
its range, during the
2008-2009 Hunting
Season hunters managed
to bag some 538,000
woodcock. To put harvest
in perspective, consider
the fact that last year
hunters took over 17 mil
lion mourning doves.
Locally, few hunters go
woodcock hunting.
Traditional woodcock
hunters hunt the birds
with dogs that flush or
point the long-billed
game birds. However,
FFA places at lawn mowing and
nursery landscaping event
Mary Persons FFA trav
eled to Fort Valley on
Nov. 17 to participate in
a lawn mower driving
and nursery landscaping
contest. Cody Ham repre
sented Mary Persons for
lawn mower driving and
placed first. Ham will go
on to compete in the
state contest.
Senior nursery land
scaping members were
RJ Hay, Bake Bottomley,
Trey Lane, and Ethan
Boyd. RJ was second
high individual at the
contest out of 32 other
contestants. Blake placed
third, Trey placed fourth
and Ethan placed sixth.
This team placed first
out of seven other teams.
The junior nursery land
scaping members were
Jessica Williams,
Matthew McAllister,
Cierra Nopen,
Christian Sawley, and
Kendra Necastro.
This team placed
fourth overall for the
junior contest.
Right: Blake Bottomley,
RJ Hay. Not pictured:
Ethan Boyd and Trey
Lane
Cody Ham
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Call or Visit Us on The Square
don’t let the fact that you
don’t have such a highly
trained dog stop you from
going woodcock hunting.
You can “walk up” the
birds. If you are looking
for an alternative to sit
ting in a deer stand, or
sitting in a cold duck
blind, this might be the
change of pace you are
looking for. If you do
flush and bag a timber-
doodle or two, I’m sure
you will understand why
woodcock hunting is such
a special sport.
Terry Johnson is the
retired Program Manager
of the Georgia Nongame-
Endangered Wildlife
Program. He is currently
Executive Director of
TERN (The Nongame
Wildlife Section's Friends
Group) and conducts
wildlife research and sur
vey projects, presents pro
grams and writes about
wildlife. Email him at
TJWoodDuck@aol.com.
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Pharmacy &
By Jep Castleberry
Prevention & Treatment for Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacte
rium tuberculosis. This bacteria primarily infects the lungs,
although other parts of the body can be infected. Signs and
symptoms include fever, chest pain, cough, and muscle aches.
Tuberculosis can be transmitted from person-to-person
through coughing or sneezing. The spread of tuberculosis can
be prevented by early detection and treatment of infected
persons who have not yet developed active tuberculosis, but
are infected with a latent from of the disease. The tuberculin
skin test is a screening test that is commonly used for the
diagnosis of tuberculosis. The test material is injected under
the skin, and then the area is observed for interpretation of
results 2 or 3 days later. The TB test is typically recommended
for persons who may have been exposed to a person with TB
or people with symptoms of TB.
Medications for treatment of TB must be taken every day
for six months or longer. Initially, a combination of the follow
ing four drugs is recommended: isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazin-
amide, and ethambutol. These medications are all bacteri
cidal, and work to kill the bacteria. Ethambutol is more bacte
riostatic, and works to prevent bacteria from multiplying.
CASTLEBERRY DRUG CO. LLC
N. Lee St. • 994-2051
Dr. Craig Caldwell
and
Dr. Jeremy Goodwin
Not ready to adopt? Still want to help?
DONATIONS:
P.O.Box 933, Forsyth, Ga 31029
Saving lives since 1998.
‘‘Committed to Patient Care & Health”
(478) 994-1010
97 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive Forsyth, GA. 31029
Monday thru Friday, 8:30am - 5:00pm
Internal
V/ Medicine Associates
of Middle Georgia
Please visit our website at
internalmedicineamg.com
"II51IPI
OPIR£T!©M ^^4
UIE SMItD BEHIND 0UH SOLDIERS «
Volunteers are collecting goods in Monroe County to send to the
48th Georgia National Guard and the Forsyth-based 148th support
battalion, which are both in Afghanistan.The next shipment is set to
go out later this month so it will get there by Christmas.
What our soldiers need:
• white socks
• men's flip flops
• bar soap
• tooth brush/paste
• dental floss
• deodorant
• baby wipes
• Q-tips
• shaving accessories
• hard candy/gum
• beef jerky/Slim Jims
• mixed nuts
• extension cords
• phone cards
• batteries
(AA preferred,
no lithium)
No liquids please.
Drop zones:
• ERA Connie Ham
Middle Georgia Realty
at 78 N. Lee Street
• 1 st Franklin Financial
at 109-D Patrol Road
• Walker Chiropractic
at 255 Tift College Drive.
To help pay for shipping,
mail checks to:
P.O. Box 1
Forsyth, GA 31029