Designated stocking areas?

[Get Some]

Some of the WMA's that are stocked are large and have many fields,some great distances apart.What protocal does the state use,if any when stocking the birds?Are some fields designated or do they drop them randomly?

[njgolfer]

I am really interested to see what others say.

I hunt Black River, Clinton and Assunpink and as far as I can tell they seem to open the trucks up in one location and let them scatter. I don't think they spread them around too much.

I am not one of the early hunters, by the time I'm around it seems as if everyone is hunting the same spot where the birds were dropped.

This is especially the case at Black River, where everyone seems to hunt within 100 yards of the parking lot - which is also unsafe.

I am naturally cynical and expect that some guys from the pheasant farm tip off their buddies about stocking locations.

[Get Some]

Some of the areas I hunt,you can see the fresh tire tracks and where they drop some of the birds.Other places,there is plenty of fields,some 1/2 mile or more apart,yet everyone is hunting the same central areas.Someone on here must know someone who drives the trucks:huh:

[njbowhunter]

In winslow and glassboro I think they just drop them in the road and let them go where they want.

[Uplandhunter]

I asked a warden about this once a couple of years ago. The reply I got was that they try to spread the birds evenly throughout the WMA, though they do go a little heavier around designated parking areas. I've also been told that F&W estimates fewer than 50% of the stocked birds are taken in the first two or three hours.

I recall instances long ago when it looked like many birds were just dumped in an easy spot and they remained there all night. I haven't seen that in more than a decade, though for the past five or six years I'm never there right at sunrise.

[Eddiep]

The release of the pheasants are through volunteers. I don't know exact protocal, but i doubt they release the birds evenly in each field.

I was asked through the state to drive a release truck, but i couldn't because of work.

[ice fish]

I have seen the trucks drive through the wmu in pa they have to stay on what ever road the game land has in it .so as for the birds they kick a few out here and there where ever the roads access is .