Snipe

These shy, secretive little migrants have an astonishing breadth of distribution. Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) can be found, at certain times of year, from Ireland to Japan, Siberia to the Horn of Africa and most of North and South America. In the United States, where in 2002 they were renamed Wilson’s snipe (Gallinago gallinago delicata), they have a summer breeding range across the whole of North America, through Canada and up into Alaska, migrating to the West Coast, southeastern states, and to Central and South America as soon as the first hint of frost hardens the ground. During the season—15th September to 10th February—the southeastern states of America have some of the best snipe shooting anywhere in the world, whether in the coastal swamps of Louisiana or the rice fields of Carolina. Aficionados quickly become hooked and one of the greatest snipe shots of all time, the southern Louisiana plantation owner J.J. Pringle, abandoned a career in the navy to devote twenty years to pursuing snipe through the swamps bordering his land. Between 1867 and 1887, Pringle shot 78,602 with his own gun, before retiring to write what is still considered to be the definitive work on the subject, Twenty Years Snipe Shooting.