Re: Virginia Rails
[Re: Northof50]
#7611178
06/23/22 06:56 PM
06/23/22 06:56 PM
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 683 SD
Tray
OP
"Wilson Jr."
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OP
"Wilson Jr."
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 683
SD
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Their down fall is they like rolled oats, and the old bander would put the drop-traps inside boat houses along the Delta marsh. After a week of addiction...he would set the traps in the evenings to live trap them. That way the blackbirds were not out a consuming the oats if they found them.
40 years ago a trip in Minnesota learned how to hunt them but that is another story. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to bait during nesting season, might really mess with territorial boundaries. Have thought about trying it in fall when yellow rails are migrating thru and see if I could photograph one that way.
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Re: Virginia Rails
[Re: Tray]
#7611309
06/23/22 09:10 PM
06/23/22 09:10 PM
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 16,512 Oakland, MS
yotetrapper30
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 16,512
Oakland, MS
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Nice pics. I don't believe I have ever seen one.
~~Proud Ultra MAGA~~
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Re: Virginia Rails
[Re: charles]
#7611328
06/23/22 09:32 PM
06/23/22 09:32 PM
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 683 SD
Tray
OP
"Wilson Jr."
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OP
"Wilson Jr."
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 683
SD
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Thanks for all the supportive feedback. I had cattails in a marsh behind my house. Full of redwing blackbirds every year. Learning the calls they make is probably the easiest way to find and ID rails, you should have the possibility of 3-4 different rails in your country.
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Re: Virginia Rails
[Re: Tray]
#7611431
06/24/22 12:07 AM
06/24/22 12:07 AM
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101 Northern Michigan
J.Morse
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
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Cool photos of a cool little gamebird. I haven't hunted them in several years (20+!), but we used to go after them in the September wild rice beds. I have taken many more Sora rails than Virginias. I even have one mounted under a small glass dome with a small amount of habitat. Maybe I'll sneak out in the pole barn and get a photo of it to post. They are usually long gone by the time waterfowl season opens up, although occasionally we'd still have a few hanging on in the first part of October. I paddled my All Purpose Boy all over in the rice beds of a huge marsh near home and he whacked a near limit of Soras one fall when we happened to be out in September during the 2 day "Youth" hunt.
Last edited by J.Morse; 06/24/22 12:08 AM.
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Re: Virginia Rails
[Re: Tray]
#7612281
06/25/22 07:59 AM
06/25/22 07:59 AM
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 8,120 Manitoba
Northof50
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 8,120
Manitoba
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One of the methods of hunting them is to use a 2X4- 5 inches long painted blaze orange. Once you hit one, you throw the block in the area the bird went down in the wild rice paddy. Never use a dog as their feet get entangled in the long vegetation trying to retrieve. They normally flush at 5 yds and land at 25 yards away, so you have to be fast wing shooting at least there is no trees in the way like Woodcock shooting
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Re: Virginia Rails
[Re: Tray]
#7612498
06/25/22 03:08 PM
06/25/22 03:08 PM
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101 Northern Michigan
J.Morse
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
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This mount was done 25 years ago, or longer! I can not even remember exactly where I bagged this bird.
Last edited by J.Morse; 06/25/22 03:08 PM.
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Re: Virginia Rails
[Re: Northof50]
#7612661
06/25/22 07:05 PM
06/25/22 07:05 PM
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 683 SD
Tray
OP
"Wilson Jr."
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OP
"Wilson Jr."
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 683
SD
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This mount was done 25 years ago, or longer! I can not even remember exactly where I bagged this bird. Very cool mount, I like that idea. One of the methods of hunting them is to use a 2X4- 5 inches long painted blaze orange. Once you hit one, you throw the block in the area the bird went down in the wild rice paddy. Never use a dog as their feet get entangled in the long vegetation trying to retrieve. They normally flush at 5 yds and land at 25 yards away, so you have to be fast wing shooting at least there is no trees in the way like Woodcock shooting Hunting them would be interesting, we don’t have a season for them. I don’t see many by the time our waterfowl season opens so not sure if other states have special timeframe for their seasons.
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Re: Virginia Rails
[Re: Tray]
#7612731
06/25/22 09:01 PM
06/25/22 09:01 PM
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101 Northern Michigan
J.Morse
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
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Tray, the seasons are set up within a timeframe established by the Feds, just like ducks and geese. I can't imagine why S.D. doesn't allow you to hunt them. The seasons are always earlier here than regular waterfowl season, mainly because they do, as stated above, migrate real early. I would think, based on the numbers of cattail filled potholes I've seen in your sate, that there would be bunches of them there.
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