Wisconsin · MigratoryAmerican woodcock

Season is statewide, but the Wisconsin All-Bird Conservation Plan's dedicated species account (an independent, DNR-data-based reference;) is explicit that breeding density is heavily skewed: more than 80% of woodcock habitat sits in the northern third of Wisconsin, ranked among some of the most productive woodcock breeding habitat in the United States. The account names the specific Breeding Bird Atlas ecological units with the highest concentrations, Central Sand Plains, Northwest Lowlands, North Central Forest, Northern Highland, and Southeast Glacial Plains, and, within those, names the public land anchors documented as important breeding areas: Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest, Black River State Forest, Kettle Moraine State Forest, Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, Wood County Wildlife Areas, and the Douglas, Jackson, Lincoln, Price and Washburn County Forests. Required habitat is young (under-20-year) second-growth aspen adjacent to moist alder-shrub feeding cover, the same early-successional forest mosaic ruffed grouse depend on, consistent with the two species being commonly hunted as a mixed bag in Wisconsin.