Seems like this program may look good on paper , but it sure doesn't work if you hunting pheasant. Most of the birds are being stocked in only a few fields this year and many fields that held birds last year are getting nothing. Should make for interesting hunting on Saturdays when everyone will be trying to hunt the same areas. Maybe this program should be re-evaluated as most of the hunters I have talked to are upset that the pheasant don't seem to be getting stocked in more fields. Last few yrs it seemed more hunters were satisfied with the stockings , but this year only after 2 days it isn't looking very good. Hope this program takes a turn for the better...soon.
Pheasant Allocation Program
Sportsman1
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lol nice try...poor guys are crying already about their fair share of box chickens. No need to falsify evidence...
BTW i’ve Seen them stock assunpink using a flat bed piled high with crates/boxes
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I hope you had 12 guys with you, because that looks like a lot of birds for two guys. LOL.
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I hunt Clinton exclusively and I am there every Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday during the season. I don't live that far from Rockport either and I see the trucks leaving. On the heavy days, the trucks are loaded and might have a trailer too. I believed the stocking numbers as there are always lots of birds, hunters and shots. I few years back I attended the open house at Rockport and they told me they hand catch every bird in the one barn and know exactly how many birds are put into each box (That's what they said).
The only way to find birds consistently is to have a dog, otherwise you are shooting the ones someone else misses or random flushes . I realized this about 9 years ago and I got my first dog. Now I have two and it way more enjoyable. I always see at least one or two birds and if I were a better shot I might get my limit every time opt, but that's another matter.
As for safety, Clinton at sunrise is a pretty crazy. If you feel safe there you must be hunting off hours.
BTW, when the cages collapsed there were plenty of birds in the WMA along Route 57 in Mansfield and off Hazen road.
Enjoy it for what it is and be safe.
i have been a member for years of NJH but rarely post anything but i want to add my 2 cents here. i purchased my first pheasant stamp this season since 1998 . prior to that i purchased one every season from 1983 to 1998. from 90 to 95 i didn't miss ONE stocking date , in 96 97 and 98 i hunted most dates.
I decided to go this season after a family member asked me several times to join him , his friend and their German short-hair opening day at Black river....i have since hunted the 14th at Berkshire Valley. The 16th at Flat Brook and the 18th at Flat Brook and DWGNRA.
to my disbelief its like NJ doesnt even make an attempt to place the numbers of birds they claim
in the past WMA on stock day sounding like a machine gun battle for the first 10 min on the weekend and during the week the shooting was steady for the first hr.
this yr. opening day at Black river. our lot had 52 trucks in it. there at least 80 hunters plus 15 or so dog. i heard 8 volleys of shots out of our area. . we heard maybe 15 or so from the lot across the river . when back at the truck at 1035 we spoke to several hunters , some with dogs that had left other lots to come by us figuring all the birds where in our area do to lack of shooting whee they just were
ok tues at BV....22 hunters . SIX dogs , no tire tracks beyond the gate. i hear 3 volleys of shots way way back far from the field. i heard one other shot very far away. ( first shot was 27 min after legal time) at the truck i saw 3 other groups of hunters coming in, one with a dog ,all told me nothing in thier lots.
on thur at Flatbrook. was raining and a lil windy. cars in every lot. lots of dogs . i might have heard 25 shots. we were in across the from the rifle range and shots were all around so they must have put maybe 2 crates out.
Saturday am....we went by the skeet range in FB.......looked like a normal saturday 25 years ago. sea of orange dogs cars etc.....i might have heard 45 volleys in total ,but we can just about hear every lot from their ......we left at 815 ..hunted the federal lands till one.....ppl and dogs at every spot....heard 3 volleys in total. ppl at every lot all bitched about lack of birds
NOW, based on my comparisons from 83 to 98........this system is horrible......shots counted dont lie.........we always heard tons of shooting.....we always got shots...we always so birds .....many days 3 of us limited out.....we didnt always take a bird but their was always action ..... now i just shake my head and wonder what happened.
i get the safety part. i get spread the birds out....i get the hunt......i dont care if i take a bird.....BUT with the limited amt of shooting vs the amt of ppl and dogs thier .....their are FAR fewer birds put out in areas that historicity received lots of birds.... i wont purchase a stamp in 2018 . and yes i did email FGW.
I decided to go this season after a family member asked me several times to join him , his friend and their German short-hair opening day at Black river....i have since hunted the 14th at Berkshire Valley. The 16th at Flat Brook and the 18th at Flat Brook and DWGNRA.
to my disbelief its like NJ doesnt even make an attempt to place the numbers of birds they claim
in the past WMA on stock day sounding like a machine gun battle for the first 10 min on the weekend and during the week the shooting was steady for the first hr.
this yr. opening day at Black river. our lot had 52 trucks in it. there at least 80 hunters plus 15 or so dog. i heard 8 volleys of shots out of our area. . we heard maybe 15 or so from the lot across the river . when back at the truck at 1035 we spoke to several hunters , some with dogs that had left other lots to come by us figuring all the birds where in our area do to lack of shooting whee they just were
ok tues at BV....22 hunters . SIX dogs , no tire tracks beyond the gate. i hear 3 volleys of shots way way back far from the field. i heard one other shot very far away. ( first shot was 27 min after legal time) at the truck i saw 3 other groups of hunters coming in, one with a dog ,all told me nothing in thier lots.
on thur at Flatbrook. was raining and a lil windy. cars in every lot. lots of dogs . i might have heard 25 shots. we were in across the from the rifle range and shots were all around so they must have put maybe 2 crates out.
Saturday am....we went by the skeet range in FB.......looked like a normal saturday 25 years ago. sea of orange dogs cars etc.....i might have heard 45 volleys in total ,but we can just about hear every lot from their ......we left at 815 ..hunted the federal lands till one.....ppl and dogs at every spot....heard 3 volleys in total. ppl at every lot all bitched about lack of birds
NOW, based on my comparisons from 83 to 98........this system is horrible......shots counted dont lie.........we always heard tons of shooting.....we always got shots...we always so birds .....many days 3 of us limited out.....we didnt always take a bird but their was always action ..... now i just shake my head and wonder what happened.
i get the safety part. i get spread the birds out....i get the hunt......i dont care if i take a bird.....BUT with the limited amt of shooting vs the amt of ppl and dogs thier .....their are FAR fewer birds put out in areas that historicity received lots of birds.... i wont purchase a stamp in 2018 . and yes i did email FGW.
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Jesus Christ dude remember your own bitches ...
you said the amount of birds running around looked no where near the 20,000 the state said they lost . I was merely explaining to you where the majority of the lost birds were and they were crushed under the nets .
Tell me me why do you think the stare needs to lie about the number of birds they put out.
Get yourself a good gun dog and spend the time training him... you will never go home empty. I missed opening day and got out 2 days after a stocking and still got my limit. Link up with someone with a good dog- most guys would love for you to join if you arent a jackass. More birds for the dogs! The people I see that are struggling- guys with no dog hunting after the orange army goes nuts at first light and the guys with house pets that run wild "hunting". I'm not bashing either. I love that people are out there and enjoying the outdoors. Jst dont bash the state stocking program that is great and dirt cheap.
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I stay away from the "popular" WMAs and take the drive a little further. I have not come home empty handed in the past 2 years. I went out with a buddy a few years ago and loved it, went out a bought a bird dog. I think most of the guys complaining are the ones that are going in the early morning with the orange army, I don't start before 9 and will hunt every day but Sunday. Most days I find myself wishing I had more guys with me to shoot more birds for the dog.lol
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I find this comical on so many levels.....I heard for YEARS on this site and others when I posted pile pic after pic(of real birds) that “it’s not all about amount of birds you kill” “it’s not all about limits” “You got to enjoy the sunrise man” “ it’s about being with friends” “I’m happy to get out” “It’s about Camaraderie” I knew then just as I know now that it’s absolutely anything but ...and the amount of whining and crying I’ve heard the past two years proves it. And you guys are crying over birds stuffed in a freaking crate that some Dude making $10 an hour put out 12 hours before...Just proves to me that 90% of “hunters” in this state are all about pulling the trigger and that’s it....Coming home empty-handed a few times is absolutely not an option. Maybe they should just leave the birds in the crate and you guys can take turns sticking your barrels in there....
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You da MAN!!! What an amazing sportsman!
I suppose dropping a bag of corn 20 ft. from your stand is OK?? They used to call that baiting...and it used to be illegal. I suppose that is sporting also. Or setting out a flock of plastic birds and blowing through a very expensive wooden tube to entice ducks to come in and land so you can shoot them after they land in the water is great sport also. Do some of those plastic birds have motors to make them act like real ducks??
And don't get me going about folks dressed up in full, head to toe camo sitting in a thicket rubbing a stick on a flat stone to make squeaky noises so the can shoot the head off a butterball.
Have I offended just about everybody on this thread except the folks who pursue state stocked pheasants and enjoy doing so. I certainly hope so.
It is real easy to make fun of someone else. I just did and it was quite painless for me.
If you are an egotistical A**hole it even might make you feel superior. That would be an error.
It is a whole lot harder to be inclusive and understanding of different folks situations, needs and desires.
When I was a young man, it was ALL about a full game bag. If I didn't limit out on birds...it was a lousy day. Slowly but surely it became more and more about the dogs and the dog work for me. These days I get just as much of a rush popping a cap gun over a dog's point as killing the bird. I still enjoy taking game, but for me, it is incidental to my enjoyment of the sport and more for the dog than for me.
To each their own. Enjoy your sport.
RayG
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Ray, your comment has little to no relevance to this discussion. I’m not talking about what people should or should not “enjoy”. I Merely stated two PERSONAL observations over the last few years. (1) The amount of complaining (2) The hypocrisy that was levied on me over the years.
But let’s stay on topic and look at the comments in this thread. Over 80% of the comments look like they’re from people who are not “enjoying” pheasant hunting the last couple years. Complaining about lack of shooting, complaining about lack of birds, accusing the state of lying over total stocking numbers. Accusations of lying about bird allocation. Complaining about the price of the pheasant stamp, Accusations over stamp money allocation...in short complaining about not pulling the trigger, not coming home with a limit NOT SHOOTING BIRDS Basically to quote one of my favorite movies “not getting a guarantee on the box”
Putting aside the tens of thousands I’ve spent on boats decoys & gear...Have I criticized the complaining, yes. Have I made light of the Situation, yes. Have a poked fun at the cost of a pheasant stamp, absolutely. Think about this, every year the cost for me to waterfowl is the same, actually it has increased the federal stamp went from $15-$25. Some years I shoot as little as 100 birds, Some years nearly 300(divers, puddlers, brant & geese) I can’t rely on crates a stocking truck predetermined dates....So yeah I find a lot of the griping to be comical like I said. And yeah it shows me that most sportsman in this state maybe not YOU in particular are hypocrites. When one guy is getting his fill of stocked birds it’s aboutcgood dogs and sunrises and holding hands with his buddy. When another guy isnt shooting birds, isn’t hearing shots & isn’t seeing birds. well, then it’s a giant state conspiracy. So if we use this thread as an example and try to extrapolate the percentages To the overall average pheasant hunter. One could surmise that more than half are complaining about the new allocation program. YES?
So, stay on topic I’m not firing vindictive personal insults towards “pheasant hunters” I’m just observing this from a waterfowlers Perspective where there are no “guarantees”. And like I started with in the beginning pointing out two personal observations.
carry on....
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That was response # 18
lol nice try...poor guys are crying already about their fair share of box chickens.
That was your most recent, on topic response,#25
So tell me again how you were not being demeaning and denigrating, but instead were sticking to the topic.
I call BS. Deal with it.
Nobody likes to have their version of their sport belittled by others who think they,somehow, are "above" that sort of thing or to have their level of sportsmanship called into question because they do not have the time, or money, or desire to pursue their sport in the same way as others do.
Nobody...not me... not you and not some one who can only afford a slide action shotgun, who has no dog, doesn't belong to a club, and so has to hunt the state WMA's.
And FWIW, the money you have spent on duck hunting very likely pales in comparison to the money I have spent, and continue to spend on field trialing. Horses, trailers, dogs, training birds and everything that goes with each of those items.
For example...Horses need saddles and tack and feed and hay and care twice a day. They need a couple acres of pasture each. They need to be ridden. They need to have their feet cared for by a farrier every six to eight weeks. They need shots a couple times a year and they need their teeth floated by a horse dentist at least once a year... and that is if nothing goes wrong. I could continue....
And I do all of this to fire a cap gun at the birds my dogs point. The only "reward" is a little bitty piece of colored ribbon... and that is FAR from guaranteed because to get that piece of ribbon, your dog has to put down a performance that is better than almost all the other dogs entered.
But as you say, back to the topic. Enjoy your sport.
RayG
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Ray, perhaps you missed the excerpt of my post where I openly admitted to poking fun and criticizing this entire subject???? Taking those 2 post only makes light of me trivializing this entire matter, which is EXACTLY what I‘ve aimed to do. You can’t blow the “i gotcha” whistle, on something I’m not trying to hide.
And yes I think guys that get all tweaked out over pen raised birds are lame....saying you “hunt” something that was shoved out of a crate and is walking around with out netting surrounding it for the first time in its sad little life while trying to process WTF just happened is lame too...But then complaining about it! That’s a whole other level of lame....
whoa(pun intended) you do field trials??(i have a box filled with ugly ribbons too, who cares) Although mine involve actually teaching a dog to do complicated tasks not holding its tail up for six months while it points(just joking) I know at least at some level the costs involved in actively competing “a dog” in the retriever world...but not multiple dogs or the cost’s of running a pointer in FT’s especially with horses I’m sure that’s extremely expensive
you own horses!!! That’s actually pretty cool I love horses, seriously....always pull over on 539 even with the boat in tow when the horses are out across from cream ridge.
Anyway I’m not going to cry when it’s 60 tomorrow I’ll just wait and hope Mother Nature (not some intern for the NJDFGW) blesses me with north winds a strong flight and maybe some ice and take it from there....
enjoy your (not really) a sport
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Ive been hunting for over 37 years in NJ and have seen just about everything there is in these woods and have taken plenty of game in my time ...when it comes to the pheasant stocking program I have never had an issue with it, for many years I walked around and flushed birds ,If I didnt' get anything.... o'well , another great day doing what I love ,being outdoors walking around with my friends , family and a gun in the field...Now I have 3 dogs that do a great job finding birds and I love watching them enjoy the outdoors as they truly do....and If I don't get a bird its no big deal , for me its about the freedom of being out there and walking around the woods and to put $40 out for the chance to get a few birds over a few weeks I don't mind .
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Just the 2 of you took all those birds ?
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