Possible hunting trip to south jersey and upstate ny

J

Josh Sorrell

Member
Greetings, I've been a long time lurker. This is by far my favorite sight. Hope everyone is having a safe and productive season. I live in North Carolina, but have a friend who lives in south jersey who wants me to come up and take him duck hunting. Millville to be exact. He's never duck hunted up there, so we would be striking out blind. Which is good. I like figuring out new areas. I assume we Will be hunting the bays and costal rivers. My main concern is hunting pressure. I'd rather not deal with towing my boat and tolls if I'm going to have someone set up on top of me every time we hunt. This trip will be on the way to visit my in laws for Christmas. They live in Albany county. Any info on the hunting pressure there would be appreciated. I know it's weather dependent but i would assume all the small water would be locked up in upstate NY by Christmas? Thanks for any help, josh
 
Welcome abaord Josh.
Millville , NJ is a very ducky area. Lots of places to go. I'm sure someone from south Jersey will chime in and give more info.
Good luck with your hunts.
 
If you go during shitty weather or during the week you will be fine. Saturday you may end up close to someone but there is plenty of space for everyone to have there own area get in early and keep your flash light on most will steer clear
 
Josh~

You are right about the small waters being iced up by Christmas - at least in the average years. I live and hunt about an hour northeast of Albany. We move to the rivers and creeks when the ponds and marshes close up.

Since you'll have your Sneakbox with you, you can probably find a way onto the Hudson itself - just be ready for some big "seas" from the barge traffic. I have not hunted the Hudson near Albany so have no local info that could help you.

All the best,

SJS
 
John, I agree it's very ducky. I've been up there 3 times now. Recently in the spring and was amazed at the duck numbers. Actually pretty excited about it. I love costal duck hunting. Thanks for the help, josh
 
Chris, that's what I figured. I usually avoid weekends here too. If people up there still move off from a flash of the flashlight, we might have to re name this whole southern hospitality concept. It's a rare day down here when that works. Thanks, josh
 
Steve, thanks for the help. Wife family is in feura bush. Small little town near the alcove reservoir. I understand it's off limits but one can dream. Seen a couple nice flocks of bluebills on there over the years. Us southerners have no idea that NY isn't all NYC. If it wasn't for the cold weather and taxes I could see living up there. Best luck this season, josh
 
Watch your tides in NJ. Places that you can get to at high tide you may get stuck during low tide. Also watch getting out of the boat the NJ mud can get deep.
 
I hunt that area Josh (South Jersey) and can help you out some. There are a lot of places to go and you should not have a problem having a place to yourself. Having a boat is everything, your walk in options are limited. Does your friend have familiarity with any of the waters in the area from fishing or crabbing? Send me a message a week or so before you go, but let me know about the former question here so I can think about some options for you. there should be a couple of others that can chime in on this too. You would be best to hunt 2-3 days in the same general area so can get a sense of exactly where the birds are in that marsh and when you can get close to them with the tide if need be. Some places you can hunt either low or high and some are high only, those would be tough to pinpoint for you, but you can see that by hunting and then moving toward where they are. Travel light, big numbers of decoys are not necessary and are a hindrance when you have to move around.
 
Thanks for the tips. I'm familiar with hunting tidal areas. Plenty of experience with waist deep mud and boats high and dry. Greg, my friend has been out striper fishing a couple of times. He's a bit of a workaholic, so not much experience. I'll definitely let you know before the trip. He's still trying to work out his schedule. Very kind of you to help out. Have a good one, josh
 
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