New Jersey
40,800
Duck Statewide Harvest
12,900
Goose Statewide Harvest
7,800
No. Waterfowl Licenses Sold Annually
6.2
Ducks Per Hunter
3.2
Geese Per Hunter
$27.50
Cost of Resident Waterfowl Hunting License
$10
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
$15
Cost of Non-Resident State Stamps and Permits
$25
Federal Duck Stamp
Photo by Danita Delimont
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. Buffleheads (9,777) were the most-harvested birds in 2022-'23, but hunters also shot 7,477 mallards and good numbers of gadwalls, black ducks, wood ducks and green-winged teal. Canada geese topped the goose category, of course, but hunters also took respectable numbers of Atlantic brant.
