New Jersey
62,100
Duck Statewide Harvest
14,000
Goose Statewide Harvest
7,900
No. Waterfowl Licenses Sold Annually
8.9
Ducks Per Hunter
3.3
Geese Per Hunter
$27.50
Cost of Resident Waterfowl Hunting License
$5
Cost of Resident State Stamps and Permits
$25
Federal Duck Stamp
Season $135.50; nonresident two-day small-game $36.50
Cost of Non-Resident Waterfowl Hunting License
$10
Cost of Non-Resident State Stamps and Permits
$25
Federal Duck Stamp
Forget Atlantic City. Waterfowl hunters should head to the swamps of New Jersey to strike it rich.
It might be tough to top the variety of waterfowl hunting choices in this state. New Jersey has hundreds of miles of ocean and bayshore coastline, plus many coastal and inland wetlands, ponds and lakes. You can find great wood duck shooting in the beaver swamps in the northern portion of the state, and thousands of greater snow geese use the vast salt marshes along Delaware Bay. More than one-third of the black ducks in the eastern United States and more than two-thirds of North America's Atlantic brant winter in New Jersey's salt marshes and coastal back bays.
That diversity is reflected in hunter success. Black ducks (13,959) were the most-harvested birds in 2021-'22, but hunters also shot 8,335 mallards and good numbers of gadwalls, buffleheads, wood ducks and green-winged teal. Canada geese topped the goose category, of course, but hunters also took respectable numbers of Atlantic brant.
New Jersey has many public wildlife management areas, including Cape May Wetlands WMA, which covers more than 17,000 acres in several parcels and features coastal marshes and other great waterfowl habitat.
— Compiled and written by Brian Lovett
Seasons and Bag Limits
