Shot Shell Size For Geese??

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wildernessguy

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Hi folks, this year will be my first goose season in almost ten years and I am getting back up to speed with lots of things. I wondered what the most popular size is for geese in a 3" shell? Can't wait to fill up the sky with steel, and hope some dullard Goose flies into it! :D

Thanks a bunch
 
For geese alone I use 3" or preferably 3.5" BBBs, but if ducks are around...#2 and even 2 3/4" but will swap for something bigger if there is time and geese show up. I don't want any wounded birds and have been really limiting my range since steel shot was mandated as it doesn't do what lead could do at 40+yards.
 
I have had pretty good luck with #1 shot in both 2 3/4 and 3". A compromise between BB and #2. I only hunt geese so can't comment on ducks.
 
blasted_saber said:
How do you fair on small ducks like teal and buffies?
Click to expand...

As good as when I use anything else. My problem has always been (to my mind anyways) not having enough power to knock down birds when using small shot. I've used #4's on close in ducks, but I don't shoot over decoys much. I like to jump shoot or set up in the tall grass and try for the higher shots as the birds are moving between places to sit down. I've shot like that with everything from #4 to BBB. I found that while I may have a more open pattern, I actually have the power to knock down birds. As for the #2's, I think they must just be bad luck for me. True story, a couple of seasons back I had a nice SxS that I took for a walk looking for huns. I decided to bring a box of steel with just in case I came upon some ducks or geese. The left barrel was a full choke but the right was a modified so it should do just fine, or so I thought. I dug around and found a box of #2, 12 gauge 2 3/4 inch Winchester Dry lok loads, all I had in 2 3/4 steel. I was walking through some tall grass and noticed the sky to the south was turning black. There were litteraly thousand upon thousands of ducks coming right at me, I've never seen that before or since. I squatted down and waited, and when the cloud came they started cirling the lake, plenty low. All I could hear was quacking and whistling wings. I waited until the birds were low enough and I opened up. Each shot made a good hit, some feathers knocked off but the birds never came down. I can't remember how many times I reloaded that one barrel, but it was enough. I just gave up and finally watched them all continue to somewhere else. I never dropped a single bird, now maybe they took the pellets and flew off and died somewhere else. I had one guy lecture me about that, but none came down. I really believe the pellets didn't break through the feathers. I can't blame that solely on the #2 pellets I'm sure, but when shooting birds at even farther distances with my standard BB loads I've never had that happen to me. I have had similar results before too and now I just prefer the bigger pellet. It gives me more confidence and I feel better knowing I am less likely to have a cripple sail away into the sunset.
 
I have killed many Geese with non-toxic 7.5's all the way up to BBB and T. I would suggest 1's or BB, I like 1's because they bridge the gap between 2's and BB. I would love for a major compay to introduce B size pellets in a reasonable load.

You gain a bit of pattern density with 2's over BB's I don't mind them in the early season.

Avoid the Larger shot sizes unless you are shooting an Overbored 3 1/2 inch chambered gun. I haven't seen a gun yet that didn't throw awful patterns with T's.
 
Ed uses 3.5 " tungsten. One hit brings the goose down, he complains that the less expensive sttel actually costs more because some times the goos will asorb two or three hits before falling.
 
The fastest BB in a 3" you can find. 1500fps and keep the shots under 40. That what worked for me. I also used 3.5" BBB with success, but didn't see the payoff over the previously mentioned load.
 
I use 3.5" blackcloud #2 in 12ga and bb in my sxs 10ga. The 10 brings em down with ease. I use #6 steel for cripples and ruddies on the deck. It bounces off the water and rakes heads well
 
If you learn to judge the range of the birds properly you can easily take down all the geese you want with #2 steel, provided you can hit them of course.......:D

I use 2's almost exclusively for waterfowling. The only time I switch up is when I am after smaller species of ducks and then I go to #3's to fill in or densen up the pattern.
 
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