"We're hearing people are seeing good numbers of them,'' said Ted Dick, the DNR's ruffed grouse coordinator. He said ruffed grouse hunters have reported flushing decent numbers of woodcock last weekend.
"I think it should be good,'' Dick said. Minnesota's population, based on spring surveys, were up 21 percent from last year.
An estimated 12,000 hunters pursued 'timberdoodles' in 2009, bagging about 35,000.
WISCONSIN HUNTING
Wisconsin's woodcock season also opens Saturday, and some 14,000 hunters are expected to pursue them. Woodcock numbers are expected to be similar to recent years.
Wisconsin's duck season in the northern zone also opens Saturday. DNR officials are predicting good things.
"Wisconsin waterfowlers should have a good hunting season," said Kent Van Horn, the DNR's migratory game bird ecologist. "Overall, continental populations of waterfowl game species are healthy and abundant."
Many of the ducks harvested in Wisconsin come from birds that breed in the state's wetlands. The four most abundant ducks in Wisconsin's fall hunting harvest are mallards, wood ducks, green-winged teal and blue-winged teal, Van Horn said.
