Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

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swellcat
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Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by swellcat » Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:34 am

Image
— Photo by and courtesy of Sherry Abad

Good-looking, well-marked bird, woodcock-like but far less rufous.

What patterns do you like with snipe?

What have you used as substitutes?
Bazzer69
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by Bazzer69 » Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:23 pm

Snipe is not all that scarce either here in the USA or from the U.K. so why look for a substitute, but I’m sure there will be a time when it to goes on the prohibitive list!
B
Love both fly fishing and fly tying, been doing it for a while
But not much good at either
daringduffer
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by daringduffer » Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:55 am

That would be an easier target than they normally are, as far as I know. They are supposed to be a lot easier to miss than to hit. Somebody mentioned recently that the word sniper comes from successful snipe hunters.
Purple Snipe and Yellow Snipe is all I have tied. I haven't used any substitutes so far. I have two snipe skins, one procured from Northern Ireland William a couple of years ago and the other from Cookshill much earlier. Both are Common Snipes, I haven't bothered to get a Jack Snipe. For some reason that is a bird I am uncomfortable to see killed. Some people are strange...

dd
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Old Hat
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by Old Hat » Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:55 am

I have a snipe that purchased from Jim the first time I met him. Like DD, snipe and purple and yellow snipe is all I think I have tied with it. I have never found it all that special a hackle fishing wise, but it makes for nice spiders to donate to events.
I hate it when I think I'm buying organic vegetables, and when I get home I discover they are just regular donuts.
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wsbailey
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by wsbailey » Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:48 am

Harold Howorth’s Henthorn Purple uses teal lesser coverts as a substitute for snipe. He found them to be more durable.
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swellcat
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by swellcat » Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:22 am

. . . Henthorn Purple uses teal lesser coverts as a substitute for snipe.
That's good. I have an abundance of blue-winged teal.
That would be an easier target than they normally are, as far as I know. They are supposed to be a lot easier to miss than to hit.
Easy for me to miss . . . the only one I've ever fired upon in anger.

It was an incidental flush, unexpected, while pursuing pheasants in northeast Kansas with a borrowed pump shotgun while having 40 years of muscle memory using a semi-automatic. Border of a lovely cornfield with a wood-lined stream very nearby. No dog; no warning. White-bellied snipe blew up on full afterburners, approximately mach 3, away and to the right (my weaker side for cross shooting). Got off one wee crack, woefully behind and to the left—not even close. Managed to eject the hull, but failed to even close the chamber fully.

Image
Road on western border of the NE KS WIHA

The snipe lived on to reproduce and have her great-great-great grandchild pose on a post for Sherry Abad in Alberta, Canada.
wsbailey
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by wsbailey » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:24 am

I’m surprised that no one has brought this up yet (unless I missed it).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe_hunt
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swellcat
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by swellcat » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:34 am

I’m surprised that no one has brought this up yet (unless I missed it).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe_hunt

Probably better known than the actual fowl . . . which makes it harder to discuss hunting the real birds. They should've named the joke version "unicorn hunting" or something.
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tie2fish
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by tie2fish » Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:25 pm

wsbailey wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:24 am I’m surprised that no one has brought this up yet (unless I missed it).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe_hunt
From 2012 ... viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3392&p=40510&hilit= ... unt#p40510
Some of the same morons who throw their trash around in National parks also vote. That alone would explain the state of American politics. ~ John Gierach, "Still Life with Brook Trout"
zen leecher
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Re: Snipe: Sherry Abad Photo

Post by zen leecher » Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:31 pm

I shot at a number of snipe when I lived in western WA. I wish eastern WA had the same abundance. We have them here as they travel south, our pond edges aren't all that marshy so they don't stick around and usually sometime in November things begin to freeze up. What I would like to do is find a mid-western woodcock hunter and get some skins.
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