The snipe hunt

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
 
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 :)
 
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.
 
Oklahoma Snipe Hunt

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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