Richard Camp
New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore
The Bayshore Center at Bivalve’s Oral History program is dedicated to preserving the oral history and culture of New Jersey’s Bayshore region by saving for posterity the oral histories and material culture connected with the Bayshore region, by creating a repository of recordings and data that can be used for research, by preserving, treasuring and celebrating the environment, history and culture of the Bayshore region and by sharing the heritage of the Bayshore region today and with future generations through program related activities serving visitors, students and scholars.
Pat Moore, Museum/Archives Volunteer
Richard Camp is a third-generation railbird pusher (guide). He is the son of Kenneth Camp and grandson of Hise Camp, a well-known family who live along the Maurice River in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, and operated Camp's Farm Market until 2015. Richard started pushing when he was fourteen or fifteen years old in 1970.
Scope and Content Note
Richard Camp tells his story of his family’s business of Rail Bird Hunting. He discusses railbird hunting past and present, equipment and technique, wealthy clients, and changes to the environment and ecology along the Maurice River. He describes the habitat necessary for the Rail Birds to feed and what types of boats and guns are necessary and allowed by law. He shares family stories of how the business was run and what family members were involved. Today, because of the loss of habitat caused by the takeover of the wild rice marches by the phragmites, there are no longer any families in the Rail Bird hunting business in the Maurice River area.
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