Railbird Shooting.....

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I've been awhile posting these pictures. This was two falls ago, my friend Don Kaas managed to wrangle me an invite on this venture and it was a day to remember. We were shooting on the Maurice River in New Jersey with the Camp Family as our pushers. September is coming quick and that's railbird time......

1. First thing was a trip to "The Girls Place" an all female owned and operated bait shot to purchase our non-resident one day Jersey license.

2. Then it was off to the farm market to await the arrival of our gang of pushers.

3. All the boats in the water.

4. And off we go!

5. Pushing through the long grass, this is where the birds are at high tide.

6. My pusher who I'm happy to say only fell in the water once and it wasn't really my fault....

7. By bag for the afternoon.

8. And finally one of your faithful reporter just to prove I was really there.

This was only a technical Parker trip for me as I was shooting Dad's old Stevens. There were Parkers in the field though!

[Rick Losey]

looks like a bluebird day Destry, and a lot of fun

and love the boats just saw one just like them for sales on craigslist in NJ listed as a duck boat but I did not recognize the style

[charlie cleveland]

what a hunt... only destrey could find an all girl bait and license shop...youre looking mighty trim big boy... charlie

[Destry L. Hoffard]

The best days are when there's a hurricane tide pushing in off the ocean. The higher the water the more birds you see. Roger Giles and I got lucky and caught one when we were shooting clapper rails down in Virginia. It was a once in a lifetime experience, I doubt I ever get that lucky again.

DLH

Few More Pics:

1. You start out just as the tide starts to make, you can see how hard my pusher is working to make the boat go forward. This is why hardly anybody does this work anymore, it's more work than most modern folks want for the money they can get.

2. Tide starting to make, my first few birds and the butt of Dad's old gun.

3. I got lucky and caught a pigeon shoot on the way home. You can just see the bird starting to come out of the center trap, I believe I killed that one.

[Stephen Hodges]

Destry, please excuse my ignorance, but do you eat the birds? Or is it just for the shooting?

[Mills Morrison]

Sure looks like fun.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

You eat them for sure.

The sora type (what we were shooting here), is very small so it takes several to make a meal. They're very tasty, Brother Kaas and I cooked up a batch the evening after the shoot.

The clappers are hit and miss, sometimes they're fantastic and sometimes they're very fishy. First time I ever ate them they were literally some of the best wild game I've ever had. Another time (same recipe) they were as fishy as merganser. Just depends on what they've been feeding on I'd imagine.


Destry

P.S. I'm assuming you meant the rails. We don't eat the pigeons after the pigeon shoots.....

[Ed Blake]

Clapper rails and then pigeons. Sounds like a great time. What were you using on the pigeons? I'll second you on the clapper rails. I've shot them on the Va. Eastern Shore and my host's mother fixed them with dumplings. Pretty good.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I was shooting my big #3 frame DHE at the pigeons.

Add dumplings to any equation and you've got a fair meal. That's what I had for supper last night actually, substitute chicken for rail bird.


DLH

[CraigThompson]

Now that looks like my kind of bird hunting !

I can sit while someone poles me around !

If it were me I think I'd have a small cooler in the front of the boat with a couple drinks and a sandwich or two :cool:

Supposed to be pretty decent Rail shooting down on the eastern shore of Virginia also !

I think the place is called "Wachapreague" I am sure the spellings not correct .

[CraigThompson]

What should a fellow expect to pay for a normal outing of this in New Jersey ?

[James Brown]

Some rail bird shooting on the Georgia coast.

[Mills Morrison]

Those are great photos. Where on the Georgia coast were you? Our house is on the marsh, but I am not sure the "gun free households" around us would appreciate me blasting away at marsh hens and ducks.

[James Brown]

We left a public landing on Blythe Island, went east under I-95, turned left half mile or so past the paper mill. We could see at a distance the Court House in Brunswick. If you go to the search function and put in "marshes of glenn" you should see a post with pictures of some more rail shooting just out in front of the Jekyll Club hotel. I don't know how to post a link.
James

[Daryl Corona]

James;
Great photos. Looks like you were shooting a smallbore Parker. Care to tell us what it was?

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I've shot at Wachapreague actually, that's all clapper rails. There was one group of pushers left down there, a black family named Stranton. All were well along in years, the oldest brother was over 80. I've not hunted with them in several years and I wonder if they're still at it.

As far as booking a shoot in Jersey, you really can't do it. I called every September for about 6 years and never could get them to make a day with me. They've got a group of multi generational clients and pretty well all the days of huntable tides are taken up long in advance. I got lucky and Don got me in with a group he goes with who have been hunting with the Camp family for three generations.

Booking with the Stanton family wasn't too hard, you just had to catch a good tide. It's not nearly as much of a tradition in that area and most of the locals don't do it. It's not nearly as classic as the Jersey shooting, they pole you around in Carolina style skiffs.

You don't really need a cooler and lunch, a couple hours is about the longest you'll ever hunt. Once the tide peaks and turns, it's over. The birds stop flushing and you head back to the dock.


DLH

[James Brown]

James;
Great photos. Looks like you were shooting a smallbore Parker. Care to tell us what it was?

The gun in the pictures is a CHE .410 (whose parents were not married when it was born) which I no longer have. It helped pay my daughter's tuition. The two pictured here I still have and use as often as possible.
James

[David Hamilton]

Out of the valleys of Habersham, down to the Marshes of Glynn.

[John Marscher]

Mills this is just behind Daufuskie

http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/tt176/marscherj1/PA131535.jpg (http://s609.photobucket.com/user/marscherj1/media/PA131535.jpg.html)

[Mills Morrison]

Very cool. I am going to have to try this out. I have never hunted rails before.

[charlie cleveland]

shoot one of them birds for me too...looks like fun as long as you dont fall out of the boat.. charlie

[Destry L. Hoffard]

The problem with Virginia and New Jersey is that you have to shoot non-toxic shot at them. I'm assuming that lead is still legal in Georgia if you were using a .410

DLH

[James Brown]

[QUOTE=Destry L. Hoffard;114761]The problem with Virginia and New Jersey is that you have to shoot non-toxic shot at them. I'm assuming that lead is still legal in Georgia if you were using a .410

DLH[/QUOTE Unless there is a recent change I'm not aware of, lead shot is legal in Georgia for rail and snipe in any gauge up through ten. The reason I was given is rail and snipe are of the group "rallidae" not "anatidae" and are therefore not considered "waterfowl" instead are considered "shorebirds" and therefore are not covered under the Federal ban.
James

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Yeah, they aren't covered in the federal ban, when they're non-toxic only it's a state issue.

DLH

[Dean Romig]

In MA regardless of the species hunted, any wetland or marsh, tidal or not, east of US Rte 1 is non-tox only. This excludes slugs for deer and the like.

[ed good]

rail shooting by ab frost, circa 1896.

[charlie cleveland]

mighty nice ed.. charlie

[Herb Hewlett]

WOW!!! I just shot Sora Rails on Merrymeeting bay yesterday for the first time . Stopped at ten [limit is twenty]. Hired a young man to pole me around and it was great fun. Can't wait till next year to do it again. Season ends oct. 8 in Maine. but with getting ready for grouse[northern Maine in a tent for a month] I have no more time.If anyone in this area wants to try it .
www.reddogbirdfarm.com Caseyis the guide. He only charged me $70.00 for about four hours of high tide. I could have easily shot my limit but since I've never eaten them before stopped at ten. Herb

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Good to know there's another pusher working out there somewhere. They're a rare bird in themselves.....

DLH