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NWTF Success Stories

New Jersey WITO Hosts New Opportunity on National Refuge

The NWTF New Jersey Women in the Outdoors Chapter held its first-ever women’s mentored goose hunting event in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

David Gladkowski September 27, 20222 min read

The event – held in two parts throughout September at the USFWS’s Wallkill River and Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuges – provided eight women new to goose hunting the opportunity to learn all about hunting the species, including best safety practices, ways to optimize success on the hunt, the proper equipment to use, ways to cook after the harvest and more. 

The event brings the work of NWTF volunteers in the Garden State full circle, from habitat enhancement to hunting opportunities.

“We started our partnership with the USFWS in 2014, donating seed for conservation projects on the refuges,” said Cristina McGannon-Jones, a dedicated NWTF volunteer in New Jersey for over a decade. “The USFWS is now letting us bring our Women’s Deer Camp event to the refuge system later this year and is providing us with this new early goose hunt opportunity. It is exciting to marry our conservation work with our outreach work in one location; it really brings it full circle for me.”

Both the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge were established to conserve and enhance wildlife populations and their habitats, protect and enhance water quality and provide opportunities for wildlife-dependent recreation and research.

The first group of the NWTF WITO hunters hunted the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to being a first-time goose hunt for the New Jersey WITO Chapter, it was also the first time that any goose hunting was allowed in Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. 

Photo courtesy of Cristina McGannon-Jones.
Photo courtesy of Cristina McGannon-Jones.

The WITO hunters were accompanied by a duck dog and its handler and said they had an enriching experience and were happy to be able to harvest a goose. The hunt on the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge was also a success.

“We are immensely thankful for our partnership with the USFWS,” McGannon-Jones said. “We look forward to watching this partnership, and all the good it brings, grow.”

Follow NWTF New Jersey’s WITO chapter on Facebook to learn more about the chapter. To learn about NWTF programs in your area or how you can volunteer, visit: https://www.nwtf.org/who-we-are/programs-outreach

Filed Under:
  • America's Colonial Forests
  • Healthy Habitats
  • Healthy Harvests
  • Hunting Heritage
  • Learn to Hunt