Hunting season
Waldschnepfe Community of Madrid
The Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), in German Waldschnepfe, is a pigeon-sized, mainly crepuscular forest wader with a long, sensitive bill and superb bark-coloured camouflage. In Germany it is huntable feathered game with a short autumn and winter open season.
— Closed today
When may Waldschnepfe be hunted in Community of Madrid?
Open ranges are highlighted. Closed (Schonzeit) months show as empty rows.
Exact dates
Becada · Modalidad: Al salto · Becada
- 2025-10-08 → 2026-01-31· Forbidden weekdays: mon,tue,wed,fri
Queda prohibido el empleo de hurón en toda clase de terrenos cinegéticos, salvo en aquellos casos expresamente autorizados por la Consejería competente en materia de medio ambiente.Con carácter general, se prohíbe la práctica de cualquier actividad cinegética entodos los terrenos de aprovechamiento cinegético común, conocidos como terrenos libres, en la Comunidad de Madrid. En cualquier caso, si se produjeran daños graves verificables en los cultivos agrícolas de grandes áreas de superficie, se podrá mediante Resolución de la dirección general con competencias en materia de caza suspender esta limitación en los términos municipales afectados, a instancias de sus Ayuntamientos.
Becada · Modalidad: A rabo · Becada
- 2025-10-08 → 2026-01-31· Forbidden weekdays: mon,tue,wed,fri
Queda prohibido el empleo de hurón en toda clase de terrenos cinegéticos, salvo en aquellos casos expresamente autorizados por la Consejería competente en materia de medio ambiente.Con carácter general, se prohíbe la práctica de cualquier actividad cinegética entodos los terrenos de aprovechamiento cinegético común, conocidos como terrenos libres, en la Comunidad de Madrid. En cualquier caso, si se produjeran daños graves verificables en los cultivos agrícolas de grandes áreas de superficie, se podrá mediante Resolución de la dirección general con competencias en materia de caza suspender esta limitación en los términos municipales afectados, a instancias de sus Ayuntamientos.
Becada · Modalidad: En mano · Becada
- 2025-10-08 → 2026-01-31· Forbidden weekdays: mon,tue,wed,fri
Queda prohibido el empleo de hurón en toda clase de terrenos cinegéticos, salvo en aquellos casos expresamente autorizados por la Consejería competente en materia de medio ambiente.Con carácter general, se prohíbe la práctica de cualquier actividad cinegética entodos los terrenos de aprovechamiento cinegético común, conocidos como terrenos libres, en la Comunidad de Madrid. En cualquier caso, si se produjeran daños graves verificables en los cultivos agrícolas de grandes áreas de superficie, se podrá mediante Resolución de la dirección general con competencias en materia de caza suspender esta limitación en los términos municipales afectados, a instancias de sus Ayuntamientos.
About Waldschnepfe
The woodcock inhabits richly structured, multi-layered deciduous and mixed forests with damp clearings, rides, small streams and a soft, humus-rich litter layer. It needs cover-rich, somewhat untidy stands with deadwood, dense herb layer and adjacent feeding grounds, where at night it probes with its long bill for earthworms, insect larvae and other soil invertebrates. By day it presses itself motionless into the leaf litter and relies entirely on its rust, brown and black mottled plumage, which makes it almost invisible on the forest floor. Only when a hunter or dog is a few steps away does it flush noisily and in a sharp zigzag, which is why it is regarded as a secretive bird that is hard to spot and hard to identify on the wing.
In spring the woodcock performs the famous Schnepfenstrich, its evening and dawn courtship flight. Males patrol in straight lines above clearings and forest edges with a low croaking call and a sharp whistle, advertising themselves to females on the ground. For centuries this spring flight was hunted as the classic Schnepfenstrichjagd and is deeply rooted in Central European hunting culture, literature and painting. In Germany spring hunting on woodcock has been banned for decades to protect the breeding population, but the tradition lives on in writing, story and in the simple observation of the flight at dusk.
Today lawful and ethical woodcock hunting in Germany takes place almost exclusively in autumn and winter, within the statutory open season, mainly during classic rough shoots and when bushering with a well trained pointing dog. The dog locates the tightly sitting bird, points it and reliably retrieves after the shot, with minimum disturbance to the surrounding habitat. Woodcock are also occasionally taken on driven small-game hunts. Because the species is sensitive to habitat loss, drainage and disturbance, quiet hunting practice, careful species identification and the protection of damp mixed forest stands are an essential part of responsible woodcock hunting throughout the DACH region.
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Source & disclaimer
All information without guarantee. Hunting and closed seasons are sourced from the state hunting associations. Spotted an error? Email us at info@hunterco.de.