Common Snipe?

Used to hunt a lot of snipe. Would walk wet or damp areas on hayfields near big marshes when snipe were migrating throug. Usually mid October here in southern Manitoba. Difficult targets when they first flush. If you let them get out a bit to a point when they look almost to be out of range...as actually snipe will then be in good range...35 yards or so and shotgun patterns open up good..not too hard to drop then. Limits are generous at 10 birds/day. Would shoot skeet loads of 8 1/2 or 9 shot, 12 gauge or better yet a nice light upland 16. Have not hunterd snipe since non toxic shot became mandatory for them. As for taste they are good, dark meat with the texture and taste of chicken livers. Wrap them with bacon and grill..fantastic. Migratory hunting has never been the same since lead was banned IMO.
 
M12 shooter, unfortunately all things change from that which we were used to. The thing is to just adapt and overcome, yes it's true that migratory took a sharp curve with the introduction of non-toxic shot but much has changed and improved in the 16 or 17 years since these changes were forced upon us. Steel shot loads have improved dramatically, I'd say to the point that I kill outright as many birds as I did with lead. I don't get any more cripples now than I did 20 years ago shooting lead. There is also some amazing non-tox alternatives beides steel out there these days, yes some are costly but then what hobby isn't? I don't play golf and from what I am told it's very expensive. I don't drink or smoke either so what's a few bucks extra for some good cannon fodder? Peanuts! I don't mean any disrespect or criticism in any way and I hope I am not ruffling your feathers, I am just trying to point out that the the things we enjoy in life may still be enjoyed and that as time marches on and things change if we change along with them we shall remain in the game with just as much satisfaction as days gone by.
 
I shoot snipe every year, they are a wonderful wingshooting challenge and good to eat IMHO. Non-toxic shot is not an impediment, #7 steel target loads are perfect. I was very pleased to bag two snipe last week with two shots from my 16 ga, Not my average shooting - snipe have a way of humbling a shooter with their erratic and fast flight. I think that's why many people disdain snipe hunting. They just can't hit the little bleepers.
 
Longwalker said:
I shoot snipe every year, they are a wonderful wingshooting challenge and good to eat IMHO. Non-toxic shot is not an impediment, #7 steel target loads are perfect. I was very pleased to bag two snipe last week with two shots from my 16 ga, Not my average shooting - snipe have a way of humbling a shooter with their erratic and fast flight. I think that's why many people disdain snipe hunting. They just can't hit the little bleepers.
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#7 steel shot...in 16 gauge. Your a lucky fella. Here in Manitoba it's tough to find 16 gauge ammo in plain old lead anywhere.

Spank I hold no anger with regard to the lead ban as it had to come sooner or later. Just that I had hunted ducks for almost 30 years with good old lead and the switch was tough for me. Also IMO most "duffers" that shoot steel over water/marshes loose way more birds than lead shot would have. If a bird moves 40 or 50 yards without dropping on the uplands a recovery is easy. On cattail marshes this would most often result in a lost bird. Freeze up on our large prairie marshes is clear evidence of this with hundreds of crippled birds packed into ever shrinking patches of open water. Point here is that marsh hunters have to be somewhat careful and no reaching. Also steel became mandatory here in Manitoba around 1999 or 2000. A few years grace was given to duck hunters to "use up" any lead ammo they had. That's no 16 or 17 years according to my "guzintas"...

I have had best luck shooting #6 steel out of a IC 12 gauge at decoying birds inside of 35 yrds. Kills very clean but again "no reaching".

Have a good one!
 
Good post M12!
As a point of clarification, I can't find steel target loads ( or any target loads) to use in my 16s either. I was suggesting steel 7's for most shooters, who use 12's or 20's.
I handload most of my 16 ga. ammo. Snipe can fly between the pellets of 4's and 2's. The two birds in question were killed with Kent Tungsten Matrix 1-1/16 oz. loads of #5's. That's a really wonderful efficient duck load, but far from ideal for snipe.
I am of a different opinion than you about steel for ducks ( even though I shoot a Model 12 too! ) I have no issues with crippling if good steel shells like Kent Faststeel are used in larger sizes than you like - I find 2's close to ideal. Not all barrels pattern those larger steel pellets well. I have a good one, but for others who don't have the benefit of a good barrel/choke, steel can be frustrating.
 
I agree with everything said by you both. Good loads mean clean kills and I am also of the school of not reaching. I shoot nothing but Federal loads in my Browning Silver 12, it just loves them, patterns superb in 1 1/4 oz. loadings of #2 shot and I have no issues whatsoever. I think the biggest factor in crippling isnt the type of shot but the type of shooter, most guys just cannot put the bird in the centre of a pattern and the farther they reach the worse it gets. I've watched many a person over the years and the biggest factor I think is lack of good basic shooting fundamentals and gun fit. If guys would learn good fundamentals and practice them it would be a different ball game. I shoot the skeet field alot with my duck gun as opposed to my target guns as my target guns don't go the marsh. I've heard so many say that shooting skeet is nothing like shooting ducks, TRUE, ducks are much larger but the vital areas are the same size!! And if you can't centre that claybird, good luck with a clean kill on something living!The other thing I have developed on the skeet field is judging distance....skeet houses are 41 yards apart face to face, look at the size of that clay target from one side of the field to the other, it's about the same width as a ducks chest. Thats what I hold as my maximum....40 yards. If its beyond that it lives to fly another day...not suffer

I have to look through my pics to see when we were first mandated here in Ontario to non-toxic shot. I know it was well before 99 or 2000, I am thinking maybe 94 or 95 so yes sorry I stand corrected my numbers are a tad off. Hope I am forgiven? I remember the first hunt like it was yesterday, birds poured in by the hundreds and 8 of us limited out in 35 mins tops. We were a surprised group after all we had read on steel. I think we expected everything to fly away wounded, LOL!
 
For those of you who may be interested.....there is a forum (US) mostly dedicated to Snipe Hunting. Very friendly folks and lots of images in there.

http: // thesnipehuntersforum.yuku.com/directory
 
Based on the replies so far, I really have to give snipe meat another try. I shot one a few years ago and quickly swore them off my game bird list -- I must have gotten a particularly gamey one, as I would have ranked it on the palatibility index as sitting right next to meat from a coyote that had been sitting in a leghold trap for a week. Yimminy but that was a nasty, nasty bird. :eek:
 
All good points raised here regarding steel shot and waterfowl...just that the original question was about hunting jack snipe. My point was that non toxic requirements for hunting shore birds such as snipe has all but ended this pursuit for the very few people that still did search out this fine game bird. I quit snipe as would rather fire high priced non toxic shells other than steel through my Winchester M12's and M21's at larger edible birds.

Woodcock are numerous here in Manitoba but not listed as game birds and thus are protected in this province. Anyone hunt woodcock in other provinces and is no toxic shot a requirement for these as well?
 
Winston Churchill's favorite breakfast: Snipe on toast with a glass of champagne. Definitely a winner for a Sunday morning.

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Damned annoying birds giving you crap and screeching at you whenver you walk within a hundred yards of their nest,drag their wings in front of you until they lead you to their buddies nest then they fly off and their buddy does the same damned thing!
 
sjemac said:
I bought an acreage with a 30 year old house on it (I'm tired):(.
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:D:D:D:D Okay, I am laughing with you.... really. My house is 97 y/o and requires constant attention. Managed to get 1/2 my summer projects done this year.

Okay, back to this thread topic - Snipe. I only ever see them when I am out looking for pheasants and shooting lead. Whenever I am looking for ducks I cannot find one to save my life. Sure look like they would be fun to hunt though.
 
Pudelpointer said:
:D:D:D:D Okay, I am laughing with you.... really. My house is 97 y/o and requires constant attention. Managed to get 1/2 my summer projects done this year.

Okay, back to this thread topic - Snipe. I only ever see them when I am out looking for pheasants and shooting lead. Whenever I am looking for ducks I cannot find one to save my life. Sure look like they would be fun to hunt though.
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I bought the place and within a half hour of possession I had a wall ripped out and all the flooring gone 3 hours later. So it began. Noone had cut a ####ing tree down in 10 years and then we got hit here with the horizontal tornado and the golf-ball sized hail storm within a day of each other. I wore out two chainsaws and need my roof and deck replaced. Oh well. I shot my Garand from my deck this evening. That makes up for it all.

With the snipe. I see them quite often in the duck marsh and keep some 7.5 steel in the pocket for them. Too bad the temp is hitting freezing just before my shoot this weekend -- I'll probably miss them.
 
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