HI, I shot a snow goose today at what I would consider excessive height back in the old lead shot days. 870 modified choke, winchester steel 3"mag 1450 fps #3, blew the bird to ####, very little usable meat. This was my first experience shooting steel shot and this is cheap ammo, and man was it windy out there today. I heard nothing but bad press on steel years ago, but this one shot if not a fluke easily out-performed my old favourite, Imperial 3" mag #2 Hi-brass. So what is your upper limit on geese these days?
How high to shoot geese?
- Thread starter savagefan
- Start date
hmm.. not sure of any max yardage but at 50-60 yards you are looking at a pattern that a bird could almost fit through if in the right spot.. I shot a duck a couple years ago at im guessing 80 yd which was pure luck by the way as only 2 or 3 pellets hit him. Best way to find out is pattern your shotgun on chipboard or something cheap at the range in question.. measure the spacing
Sounds like maybe the wad didnt expand or something. You shouldn't end up with a shot up bird at an excessive range. What are we talking about here? 50y? or 80? Bartell and I tag teamed a goose at about 80y vertical last year and killed it well enough, but it surely wasn't ''shot up,'' I think I found 2-3 pellets in the breast.
- Location
- The land of eternal winter.
How high was it?
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Very few people can accurately estimate the height of a goose flying overhead. I shoot a LOT of waterfowl most years, but I can't judge height worth a darn. But I can cleanly kill geese with steel shot at 50 yards with some shot/choke combinations when they are low and coming in to the decoys. I suspect you may not have "estimated" the distance correctly.
Well you really contradict yourself. Distance up or across is the same if you know the size of your target. Seriously I didn't post this to brag, I shoot a lot of target, I'm pretty good at ranging, I'm just stating that this shell did a lot of damage to a goose at a height I would normally have considered ridiculous and am asking folks if their experience with steel shot is consistent with this.
canadian hunter312
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brant County
some people are great at estimating distance while others couldnt even get close using a range finder
anything out to 50 yards i am always within a yard or two. past that i am forced to use the range finder no matter how hard i try. its weird really. made a perfect shot last week on a feral animal with my crossbow. i guessed 36 yards and it was a lasered 37.
200ft is 60 yards or so i think. not a super long shot, but pushing the limits for most shooters especially when using steel.
I have shot a lot of very high flying birds and it does help if they are directly over your head.....but last year I shot a crow side on with a buddies homeloaded #2 lead.... it was easily then farthest sideways shot that I have ever made I killed the crow stone dead and when he fell he fell straight down....96 paces!!! an old stevens 311 with full choke!! but that said I have shot lots of high flying ducks....BBB and T's help so does a tight choke....you should always shoot and try them anyway????what do you have to lose???
- Location
- The land of eternal winter.
I shot a flying crow today. 70 or so yds with a scoped 300 RUM. It was awesome. That's like a hole in one....
Turkeyslayer 1300
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Russell, Ontario
You must be related to the guys who always seem to sit in the hedgerows when we set up for geese. You show more constraint than the guys that show up, the normally shoot at everything under 150 yards. I have heard you should never shoot at a goose if it is getting closer, why not just wait until the are 30 yards or so? Imagine how many take one or two pellets from your shell and continue on until they croak later.
- Location
- The land of eternal winter.
There is no way I could drop a goose at 200 yds. You guys must be a way better shot than me.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Savagefan, distance up or across IS the same, but judging distance up is a whole different issue from distance over the ground - because you do not have any point of reference. I've killed a lot of high birds myself, and seen a lot shot by others. I have never seen a very high bird (or a very far bird!) with shot up breast meat, no matter if shot used was steel, lead, bismuth or hevi-shot.
Only two possible explanations that I can see, your shot clumped together ( perhaps rust?? or the wad was not slit properly ) which is very unlikely or you mis-judged the distance, which is much more likely IMHO.
Only two possible explanations that I can see, your shot clumped together ( perhaps rust?? or the wad was not slit properly ) which is very unlikely or you mis-judged the distance, which is much more likely IMHO.
