New Jersey
Pheasant and Quail Stocking
The stocking of pheasant has occurred for over 100 years in New Jersey. The Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Pheasant and Quail Program is funded by the sale of the Pheasant & Quail Stamp, and no state tax dollars are used. Upland bird hunters are also required to buy a general hunting license in addition to the stamp to hunt pheasant and quail. The sale of the NJ Pheasant and Quail Stamp generates over $500,000; each year. That is over one-half a million dollars, every year.
Benefit to hunters:
Benefit to the broader public:
Upland bird hunters spend considerably more than $67.50 each year. DOI data shows each upland hunter spends around $1,500, or more than 15 times the amount spent on hunting licenses and pheasant/quail permits. If upland bird hunting was to cease, not only would conservation funding be impacted, but so would local, state, and federal sales tax revenue and the businesses that hunters patronize which range from sporting goods dealers to gas stations to restaurants.
Ecological Benefits:
One of the most important habitat types are difficult to conserve because they are temporary habitats. They are temporary because they change over time. Wild Fires are one way that temporary habitat is maintained. However, people do not allow wild fires to run their course. In the past, people would operate small farms and when these farms became defunct they developed into excellent habitat. Now days, even if a landowner abandons land there is a buyer who will buy it and develop it. No wild fires and no farm abandonment means very little early and mid-seral habitat. However, the New Jersey Division of Wildlife currently maintains 3,721 acres of early seral habitat on 24 public properties used as pheasant or quail stocking sites. It should be obvious that these 3,721 acres would not remain in early stage habitat by magic. The Division has been managing this critical habitat through pheasant hunting for over 100 years.
Benefit to hunters:
- State Pheasant Stocking Programs provide enormous benefits to hunters; sportsmen do not have to ask anyone permission, travel out of state, lease land, or join a club. All they need to do is have a hunting license and a pheasant & quail stamp, obey the regulations, and they can go enjoy their state’s pheasant program.
- To illustrate the enormous benefit of New Jersey’s state pheasant programs to the sportsmen, here is a snapshot: In 2018; for $67.50; residents of New Jersey can attend a state-run hunting course; and access 24 public properties containing 3,721 field acres; on which 50,000 pheasant and 5,200 Northern bobwhite are released. Except for the second week in December, hunters can pursue these pheasant from November 10 until February 18; and Bobwhite until January 31. In addition, 880 Pheasant are stocked for dog training one month prior to hunting season on eleven of these public properties.
Benefit to the broader public:
Upland bird hunters spend considerably more than $67.50 each year. DOI data shows each upland hunter spends around $1,500, or more than 15 times the amount spent on hunting licenses and pheasant/quail permits. If upland bird hunting was to cease, not only would conservation funding be impacted, but so would local, state, and federal sales tax revenue and the businesses that hunters patronize which range from sporting goods dealers to gas stations to restaurants.
Ecological Benefits:
One of the most important habitat types are difficult to conserve because they are temporary habitats. They are temporary because they change over time. Wild Fires are one way that temporary habitat is maintained. However, people do not allow wild fires to run their course. In the past, people would operate small farms and when these farms became defunct they developed into excellent habitat. Now days, even if a landowner abandons land there is a buyer who will buy it and develop it. No wild fires and no farm abandonment means very little early and mid-seral habitat. However, the New Jersey Division of Wildlife currently maintains 3,721 acres of early seral habitat on 24 public properties used as pheasant or quail stocking sites. It should be obvious that these 3,721 acres would not remain in early stage habitat by magic. The Division has been managing this critical habitat through pheasant hunting for over 100 years.
How hunting stocked pheasant compares to hunting other game:
Division birds Vs. Private birds
The Division does NOT “plant” pheasant and quail, they release them.
Naturally, wild-hatched pheasant are even more difficult to hunt than stocked birds. However, stocked birds are much less predictable than wild pheasant which are tied to habitat and behavior patterns. An experienced hunter knows where he can find game based on their habitat and behavior. Not so with stocked pheasant. The only thing predictable about them is the general area they will be stocked. Once stocked they quickly disperse anywhere, making it a game of hard work and determination.
Contrary to belief, pheasant fly considerably faster than ruffed grouse and woodcock, and even some ducks. In fact, once they get off the ground, they are as fast as a mourning dove, capable of flying 55 mph. At that speed they travel about 80 feet in one second, meaning in two seconds they are out of the effective range of a shotgun, that is if they flush at your feet. If not, they are too far in less than two seconds.
Grouse, quail, woodcock do not fly as far as a pheasant, including stocked pheasant, when flushed. It is often possible to follow up on those birds if you miss, but not so with pheasant which will fly 10 times as far.
And, once they land they usually run, unlike other game birds. As a matter of fact, no bird has the strength to run through dense grass or brush full speed like a pheasant, even if it tried. And sometimes they run for over 200 yards.
Wild Pheasant in NJ
Only sea-level rise will extirpate wild pheasant from the Hackensack Meadowlands, but hunting them there is another story. This mix of tidal marsh and fields is around the Newark Bay through the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers. The Division has been trapping pheasant there and releasing them in other areas of the state. Undoubtedly there are scattered pheasants in many areas of NJ, but they are probably only secure in the meadowlands. If the Division determined that a sufficient amount of suitable habitat existed to attempt a restoration effort, such a proposal would be met with stern opposition due to competition for available funds and because non-native game species are no longer deemed an asset. It is also possible that the Division may not be able to leverage Pittman Robertson funds for pheasants as readily (or at all) because they are not native to the USA.
Although the state stocks around 50,000 pheasant per year, in 2015 NJ hunters reported harvesting 100,616, more than double the number stocked. Although, that may include privately stocked birds, that would be due to hunters not following directions for reporting. Assuming that it is not failure of many people to follow directions, quite a few wild birds or privately stocked birds that wander off, are harvested. 2005 was not an unusual year, the data across decades shows considerably more pheasant are harvested than are annually stocked.
The Division does NOT “plant” pheasant and quail, they release them.
Naturally, wild-hatched pheasant are even more difficult to hunt than stocked birds. However, stocked birds are much less predictable than wild pheasant which are tied to habitat and behavior patterns. An experienced hunter knows where he can find game based on their habitat and behavior. Not so with stocked pheasant. The only thing predictable about them is the general area they will be stocked. Once stocked they quickly disperse anywhere, making it a game of hard work and determination.
Contrary to belief, pheasant fly considerably faster than ruffed grouse and woodcock, and even some ducks. In fact, once they get off the ground, they are as fast as a mourning dove, capable of flying 55 mph. At that speed they travel about 80 feet in one second, meaning in two seconds they are out of the effective range of a shotgun, that is if they flush at your feet. If not, they are too far in less than two seconds.
Grouse, quail, woodcock do not fly as far as a pheasant, including stocked pheasant, when flushed. It is often possible to follow up on those birds if you miss, but not so with pheasant which will fly 10 times as far.
And, once they land they usually run, unlike other game birds. As a matter of fact, no bird has the strength to run through dense grass or brush full speed like a pheasant, even if it tried. And sometimes they run for over 200 yards.
Wild Pheasant in NJ
Only sea-level rise will extirpate wild pheasant from the Hackensack Meadowlands, but hunting them there is another story. This mix of tidal marsh and fields is around the Newark Bay through the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers. The Division has been trapping pheasant there and releasing them in other areas of the state. Undoubtedly there are scattered pheasants in many areas of NJ, but they are probably only secure in the meadowlands. If the Division determined that a sufficient amount of suitable habitat existed to attempt a restoration effort, such a proposal would be met with stern opposition due to competition for available funds and because non-native game species are no longer deemed an asset. It is also possible that the Division may not be able to leverage Pittman Robertson funds for pheasants as readily (or at all) because they are not native to the USA.
Although the state stocks around 50,000 pheasant per year, in 2015 NJ hunters reported harvesting 100,616, more than double the number stocked. Although, that may include privately stocked birds, that would be due to hunters not following directions for reporting. Assuming that it is not failure of many people to follow directions, quite a few wild birds or privately stocked birds that wander off, are harvested. 2005 was not an unusual year, the data across decades shows considerably more pheasant are harvested than are annually stocked.
Woodcock
These are great game birds and although from a continental landscape perspective their populations are sliding, they are abundant from a hunter’s point of view. In 2015, NJ hunters harvested 14,342 woodcock. You are required to register in HIP to hunt woodcock, so do not forget to do that.
Quail in New Jersey
Technically, these birds are no longer known as quail or bobwhite quail, but are now called Northern bobwhite. That piece of trivia will be useful if you decide to look up information about them from a credible scientific source, which will always refer to them as such or in Latin.
We have personally observed both bobwhites and even courtinix quail hatched in incubators and raised in pens that are exceedingly wild and strong fliers. For example, we have acquired some that would instantly burst out in flight if you opened the transportation container the width of a half dollar coin. These birds actually flew much higher and faster than purely wild bobwhites.
In 2002, the hunting season for quail was closed. The only exception is that they can be hunted at two properties; Greenwood WMA and Peasely State Forest. The Division stocks 5,200 adult quail on these properties during the hunting season, and has for decades.
The Division is undertaking an effort to recover wild Northern bobwhite populations and although this bird was once common across most of the state; there is not enough or as much, suitable habitat and the focus area for quail restoration is the Pine Barrens. That effort has three components: habitat, population monitoring, and release of wild-hatched quail obtained from the state of Georgia.
We are not optimistic that a hunting season will be reinstated if the populations recover even if they could sustain hunting, however. That does not have to be the case though. If sportsmen reignite an interest in this valuable game bird and take an active part in the restoration effort it would be easier to justify reinstating the hunting season. The direction this has gone, and is still going has bird watching organizations only partnering with the Division. The narrative can be predicted: “you hunters wiped them out once, and now you want to shoot them all up again”; “You hunters keep saying you pay for conservation so you are entitled to kill, but you ignored this situation while we footed the bill so this time it’s OUR bird”; And “it’s a small song bird, there is no meat on it to eat and it sings a marvelous “bobwhite, bobwhite, it’s a song bird not a game bird”……. Then they stoke the ego of the deer hunters and instigate that real hunters like them ‘only go after the big stuff’…. ‘We can count the number of people interested in hunting quail on one hand’, ‘there is a lack of interest among hunters’…..
Problem is, very few of the young and middle aged hunters can relate to quail hunting and have no idea what they missed out on. That situation is nearly incorrigible and the antis know it, that’s how they operate – attrition and confusion.
One of us has hunted many game birds and rates the Northern bobwhite as a game species higher than ruffed grouse, woodcock, prairie chicken, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasant, gray partridge, and mourning dove. Each of these birds has its own better attributes as game, but overall, the Northern bobwhite is superior. A case could be made for other quails: Gamble’s, mountain, California, scaled, and mearns. Or wild chukar. But those birds are restricted to the western states not the northeast.
The Heath Hen is a grouse that used to be common in the Pine Barrens but is now extinct. Let’s get involved with the quail recovery effort and make it happen.
These are great game birds and although from a continental landscape perspective their populations are sliding, they are abundant from a hunter’s point of view. In 2015, NJ hunters harvested 14,342 woodcock. You are required to register in HIP to hunt woodcock, so do not forget to do that.
Quail in New Jersey
Technically, these birds are no longer known as quail or bobwhite quail, but are now called Northern bobwhite. That piece of trivia will be useful if you decide to look up information about them from a credible scientific source, which will always refer to them as such or in Latin.
We have personally observed both bobwhites and even courtinix quail hatched in incubators and raised in pens that are exceedingly wild and strong fliers. For example, we have acquired some that would instantly burst out in flight if you opened the transportation container the width of a half dollar coin. These birds actually flew much higher and faster than purely wild bobwhites.
In 2002, the hunting season for quail was closed. The only exception is that they can be hunted at two properties; Greenwood WMA and Peasely State Forest. The Division stocks 5,200 adult quail on these properties during the hunting season, and has for decades.
The Division is undertaking an effort to recover wild Northern bobwhite populations and although this bird was once common across most of the state; there is not enough or as much, suitable habitat and the focus area for quail restoration is the Pine Barrens. That effort has three components: habitat, population monitoring, and release of wild-hatched quail obtained from the state of Georgia.
We are not optimistic that a hunting season will be reinstated if the populations recover even if they could sustain hunting, however. That does not have to be the case though. If sportsmen reignite an interest in this valuable game bird and take an active part in the restoration effort it would be easier to justify reinstating the hunting season. The direction this has gone, and is still going has bird watching organizations only partnering with the Division. The narrative can be predicted: “you hunters wiped them out once, and now you want to shoot them all up again”; “You hunters keep saying you pay for conservation so you are entitled to kill, but you ignored this situation while we footed the bill so this time it’s OUR bird”; And “it’s a small song bird, there is no meat on it to eat and it sings a marvelous “bobwhite, bobwhite, it’s a song bird not a game bird”……. Then they stoke the ego of the deer hunters and instigate that real hunters like them ‘only go after the big stuff’…. ‘We can count the number of people interested in hunting quail on one hand’, ‘there is a lack of interest among hunters’…..
Problem is, very few of the young and middle aged hunters can relate to quail hunting and have no idea what they missed out on. That situation is nearly incorrigible and the antis know it, that’s how they operate – attrition and confusion.
One of us has hunted many game birds and rates the Northern bobwhite as a game species higher than ruffed grouse, woodcock, prairie chicken, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasant, gray partridge, and mourning dove. Each of these birds has its own better attributes as game, but overall, the Northern bobwhite is superior. A case could be made for other quails: Gamble’s, mountain, California, scaled, and mearns. Or wild chukar. But those birds are restricted to the western states not the northeast.
The Heath Hen is a grouse that used to be common in the Pine Barrens but is now extinct. Let’s get involved with the quail recovery effort and make it happen.
Ruffed Grouse
All wildlife experiences population fluctuations, but ruffed grouse, muskrats, rabbits and hares, and others have especially cyclic populations. All of the above have about a 10 year cycle. At the beginning of the cycle, the populations are low then it gradually builds up to peak high numbers and then by the tenth year it goes back down to low numbers temporarily.
In 1978 NJ hunters harvested 65,640 ruffed grouse. However, the last estimate in 2015, only 216 grouse were taken. Most of the grouse were taken in Sussex and Warren Counties. Most were probably taken on the Delaware Water Gap National Park and 3,000 acre Hudson Farm Complex in Sussex County. In the year 2007 1,952 grouse were harvested and in 2009 the grouse take in NJ was 2,335. Thus, if the harvest of 216 grouse in 2015 is attributable to normal population cycles, it might be assumed that when the population peaks again, harvest will be around 2,000 birds. That is if nothing changes in the grouse hunting community, including loss of hunting/shooting skill due to old age.
Speaking of old age, if you hunt, you have probably have heard old timers, and not so old timers talk about in the past there was a lot of grouse and now there are virtually none. Regardless of the base population of grouse, if somebody hunts for 30 years, they will experience 3 peaks in grouse populations and 3 lows, so if somebody starts hunting during the high cycle of grouse populations, and then quits 5 years later because he is not seeing as many grouse, it is possible he is drawing the wrong conclusions from his observations. The same applies for muskrats, cottontails, hares and some other game.
All wildlife experiences population fluctuations, but ruffed grouse, muskrats, rabbits and hares, and others have especially cyclic populations. All of the above have about a 10 year cycle. At the beginning of the cycle, the populations are low then it gradually builds up to peak high numbers and then by the tenth year it goes back down to low numbers temporarily.
In 1978 NJ hunters harvested 65,640 ruffed grouse. However, the last estimate in 2015, only 216 grouse were taken. Most of the grouse were taken in Sussex and Warren Counties. Most were probably taken on the Delaware Water Gap National Park and 3,000 acre Hudson Farm Complex in Sussex County. In the year 2007 1,952 grouse were harvested and in 2009 the grouse take in NJ was 2,335. Thus, if the harvest of 216 grouse in 2015 is attributable to normal population cycles, it might be assumed that when the population peaks again, harvest will be around 2,000 birds. That is if nothing changes in the grouse hunting community, including loss of hunting/shooting skill due to old age.
Speaking of old age, if you hunt, you have probably have heard old timers, and not so old timers talk about in the past there was a lot of grouse and now there are virtually none. Regardless of the base population of grouse, if somebody hunts for 30 years, they will experience 3 peaks in grouse populations and 3 lows, so if somebody starts hunting during the high cycle of grouse populations, and then quits 5 years later because he is not seeing as many grouse, it is possible he is drawing the wrong conclusions from his observations. The same applies for muskrats, cottontails, hares and some other game.