I wrote the article in DGJ about railbird hunting ("Small Bores on The Rice Meadow', Vol. 14 Issue 3, Autumn 2006. My article dealt with Sora rail hunting, which means freshwater marshes ("meadows" of wild rice stands) that the birds favor.
The Sora is strictly a fresh water rail; below the salocline (where fresh riverine water meets salt water from the incoming tidal creeks) you will encounter the Clapper rail, a much larger bird.
The rail season opens Sept. 1 and goes to roughly the first week in Nov. by the book, but at the very first sign of a hard frost, the Sora are literally gone overnight. I have encountered hardy Clappers, however, as late as early January in bays behind the barrier islands.
Sora and Clapper rail hunting are very different; hunting rice meadows requires a true rail skiff (see the pics in my article), whereas almost any flat-bottomed wooden or aluminum boat will do for oceanside flats. I have even seen people poling Boston Whalers after Clappers, a true labor of love, believe me!
You can get out and wade the tidal flats for Clapper; not so for Sora, as the vegetation is nothing but a floating mat and won't support a thing (one reason you'll never see a dog in a rice meadow). Clapper hunting, however, lets you use your Lab or other retriever to good advantage as you wade the marsh.
The tide governs everything in rail hunting: strong equinoctal tides are good; high tides on a dark or full moon are good, but the best of all is a new moon tide driven by a full-blown Nor'easter, which produces the very highest levels of water in the marsh.
Guides still available in South Jersey are Ken Camp of Port Elizabeth and Capt. Dick Henderson of Elizabethtown. They are close to one another but hunt separate meadows along the Maurice River and thereabouts. CALL NOW for bookings as both have clients whose grandfathers hunted with their fathers. So a 2-month season with about one really good tide per week fills a season's bookings real fast! KBM
