“Shrill cries the snipe beneath the friendly moon,

Wand’ring to find the springs, constrain’d to quit

The long frequented marsh, who’s rushy pools,

Lock’d up in ice, repel his searching bill.”

— Excerpt from John Vincent’s “Fowling, a Poem (In Five Books)”, published 1808

This passage describes beautifully how closely snipe shooting is associated with winter in northern climes.  Even with the summer-like spring we are having here in Oregon now, the mind and heart wander periodically back to the marsh in winter.