2016 rail bird hunt

greg setter

greg setter

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After a really hot and mostly rail-less Friday afternoon push, I got a call yesterday telling me there was an open spot this morning as someone had canceled. So I said sure, I'll do that instead of going to the office. We weren't 20 feet into the wild rice before the first rail jumps. It was about 70 and a little cloudy with a 10-12 mph Northeast breeze. That wind always pushes a little more water into the Delaware Bay marshes, and that is good for this activity.
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This is some real fun when there are birds around and flying.
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And here are the boats and some of the Camp's

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See them all the time while hunting ducks but always out of season. Have been curious if people actually get out and hunt them still and I guess I have my answer. One day I'll take my aqua pod down and pole through some weeds at high tide. Thanks for sharing
 
Always a favorite and ONE DAY I'll get to do it in the place that it all started....and in fact where the birth of American Sport Hunting occurred....

Steve
 
I had no idea what it took to go rail hunting. Glad you had some fun. Thanks for those pictures, Greg.
Al
 
dcahilly, now that is a riot. And I do appreciate you going and looking for me. Small sized steel shot is not easy to find in NJ. I'm going to cook all 16 of them tomorrow night, I have had them in a bowl in the fridge with some salt and pepper for a few days, they should be aged pretty good by then. There is not much meat on a Sora rail, probably half the size of a dove. But it is very good!
 
The Sept. 2016 issue of Field & Stream has a good one page article about Rail Hunting and a very good photo of a Sora. You just don't see articles about Rail hunting in many publications these days. That article, and your post are very refreshing. Enjoy!
 
Neat. A lot different grass than where I would rail hunt and a lot thicker. Then I used a kayak to paddle through and flush em uip. Neat though to see the poling
 
Rich, they are so small it isn't really worth it to get the legs, so I just pull the breast off. The whole thing is one bite sized piece, although since there is a breast bone, you have to cut it off after they are cooked. Dani, that is all wild rice we are being poled through. They get Sora's and Virginia's(later in the season) in that area. Clappers are in the brackish section of marsh, but I have never hunted them. I have never seen anyone else hunting clappers either, but there are a ton of them around and they can put up quite the racket on a hot day. The only way to do this is to be poled through the rice. I am not saying you couldn't do it on your own, but you wouldn't get much shooting in. They jump and rarely get more than a few feet off the marsh, and then usually drop back down and start running again quickly. I covet the one or two "pushes" I get every fall.
 
Back when I was going to Missouri and hunting Sora's with Mark Schupp and Ira McCauley I would bring home a full possession limit of breast after each trip....clean them with the bone in and then fillet it off to cook....so an entire skillet of bite sized medallions that got maybe 30 seconds of heat per side in butter garlic and a little white wine....did them for hors at the big Duck Boats duck hunt we did at Agency Lake.....wasn't nearly enough for a very appreciative crowd....

Our hunting was pushing in heavy immergant moist grass managed areas, heavy on smartweed and millet and other stuff planted for ducks, in fresh water....no tide so it lasted as long as you wanted it to.....

Not exactly the same as traditional but still a grand adventure......the marshes in NJ is one of my bucket list hunts.....

Steve
 
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