Goose Hunting

[Thankful Otter]

We head up to Sachs Harbour in May every year for a little goose hunting. Might get a new shotgun. What do you fellows use when hunting geese ?

 

[big rifle man]

When living up North (Connecticut) Canadian geese were plentiful and were hunted with a Remington 1100. Load was either a 2 3/4 express with No#2 shot or a 3 inch with 2's. Modified choke worked better than full. I got my fair share and they did taste good.

 

[SJB358]

I know you'll be totally surprised by this but I chose a......... Winchester SX3 as my all around shotgun. 3.5" buckshot for deer and whatever else I'm hunting that requires a shotgun. It points where I look. It functions with anything I put in the tube. It's fairly light as well so I'll carry it all day without whining. Shotguns are even more personal than rifles but the Winchester was a great pick for me.

 

[Europe]

Like Scotty with his Winchester, you know I am going to recommend the A-10 Connecticut. It has certainly served me well. However if your headed to Banks, what you use does not really matter. Just shot in the air and two or three will fall to the ground. You were not even born yet when I was there, but I have never seen that many geese in my life

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not a serious shotgunner, but I've had a Benelli M2 for a number of years and it works well. Never thought much of 3.5" 12ga guns...they seem to string really bad for not much practical gain over a 3" chamber.

My M2 is ugly, but it kills birds. I'm pretty jealous...we don't get a spring goose season here, and the ponds and lakes are just lousy with them!

 

[truck driver]

I used a M1100 3" mag with #4 buck shot. #2 wouldn't penetrate really well and would ball up in the down. Regular #4s worked also.

 

[Europe]

I'm not a serious shotgunner, but I've had a Benelli M2 for a number of years and it works well. Never thought much of 3.5" 12ga guns...they seem to string really bad for not much practical gain over a 3" chamber.

My M2 is ugly, but it kills birds. I'm pretty jealous...we don't get a spring goose season here, and the ponds and lakes are just lousy with them!

Hodgeman, I agree. My A-10 is a 2 3/4 and I never felt I needed anything different. It does come with 5 choke;s however. I have always preferred the over and under shotguns

 

[Thebear_78]

I'm still really happy with the affinity from franchi, basically a rebranded m2 Benelli.

BBs have always worked well for me on geese.


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[JD338]

Remington 870 12 ga 3" loaded with Federal BBB steel shot loads.

JD338

 

[IdahoCTD]

I use a Benelli SBE2 for all my waterfowl hunting. BB for geese and #2 or #4 for ducks all in 3". I have some 3.5" but rarely shoot them because it kicks a lot more and doesn't really kill any better. I use to shoot my 10ga a lot but since the new steel shot shoots so much faster it's really not needed. 1500-1700fps steel shot kills quite well even at long distances.

 

[Elkman]

Geese? I recently traded my last real shotgun (Model 12) for something worthwhile (home defense shotgun) to end my 50 year war with a weapon that typically lacks adequate sights. While I am probably not the worst shotgunner on the planet my inability to shoot anything with a shotgun is legendary. As I draft this note I have two tom Turkey's strutting and screaming at each other in the front yard, knowing they are safe, even if I did have a shotgun. They are annoying, early in the morning and then again late in the afternoon, making all that noise. Perhaps I could snare one?

 

[Polaris]

I do a lot of waterfowling here on the prairie of MN and ND. For the last 3 years I have been using a Stoeger 3". It ain't pretty, but it has been rock solid reliable in all sorts of ugly weather and conditions. Relatively light for a waterfowl gun. Swings, balances and shoots as well as the high end Berettas and Benellis. When you break it down, it's basically a bargain Benelli. Made in the same plant, similar but slightly different operating system. I actually think it balances better than the Benellis with the guts being in the forend.

For loads, I like Fiocchi or Kent Faststeel. 3" #1s for Snows/blues, BBs for Honkers. I will also carry Black Cloud BBs in case the shooting is longer on any particular day. I generally push them through a Mod choke, sometimes a specialty "70%" waterfowl choke from Carlson. This choke really throws a tight goose pattern, but it's a bit tight for closely decoyed birds. I've found with a load of BBs or 1s through a Mod, I can reliably crumple geese to 40 yards.

 

[HTDUCK]

I waterfowl hunt alot and have three primary guns.
A Benelli SBE, a Beretta 390 and a Browning Gold 10.
For geese I prefer reloads using Hevi Shot 2s through an IMod choke in the Benelli or the Beretta.
I have killed Greater Canadas and Sandhill cranes cleanly with the 3 inch Hevi-Shot reloads out to 70 yards.

I use the 10 on Snow Geese and typically shoot 3 1/2 BBs as they are much harder to decoy than Canada geese

 

[Thankful Otter]

HT duck. I am afraid that 10 gauge would be more shotgun than I can handle

Scotty and april---neither of you surprised me with your choice (-; however I can afford to buy the one Scotty recommended. Seriously April, I would love to have a Connecticut A-10, but I don't have enough hides available to trade for one.

Hodgeman we have a spring season which is May thru June and we are allowed to bag 50 snow geese per day. We usually just hunt one day. Banks is also lousy with Muskox and sometimes if we are in the mode for that type of meat we will take one while we are there, but not always.

thank you gentlemen, your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I have been using a Remington 1100 since the 1970's & if it was stolen I would buy another 1100 or a 11-87. Another from the Mississippi River. Have a Great Hunt

 

[Guy Miner]

Geese? I recently traded my last real shotgun (Model 12) for something worthwhile (home defense shotgun) to end my 50 year war with a weapon that typically lacks adequate sights. While I am probably not the worst shotgunner on the planet my inability to shoot anything with a shotgun is legendary. As I draft this note I have two tom Turkey's strutting and screaming at each other in the front yard, knowing they are safe, even if I did have a shotgun. They are annoying, early in the morning and then again late in the afternoon, making all that noise. Perhaps I could snare one?

Elkman - nothing wrong with putting a red-dot sight or a low-powered scope on a shotgun... Even for use with shotshells...

Just food for thought!

Guy

 

[sask boy]

I have been shooting the Bennille SBE-ll for many years in my opinion you can't get any better :wink:. We have some of the best migratory bird hunting in the world here in Saskatchewan & the SBE-ll has always done the job.

Blessings,
Dan

 

[Polaris]

Almost forgot, don't overlook the Benelli Nova if you favor a pump. Although I prefer the Rem 870 Wingmaster in that regard, the Nova I had shot really well. A piece of tape over the magazine cutoff button fixed the problem of it cutting off the magazine loading at the worst time. Was very reliable, but then I found an Ithaca M37 featherweight in 12 for my walking gun.

The Stoeger m3000 I got a few years ago was an impulse buy. On clearance at a local shop and my cousin had good luck with his. I really like it.

 

[DON]

I've hunted geese extensively in the past using Rem 1100 12 ga. Modified choke. Killed geese over decoys out to 50 yards with Federal 3" BB and BBB. After moving to Colorado I found Remington Nitro Steel in 3" BB to be superior to the latter mentioned. It just brought the hammer down on those birds.

Don

 

[tecumseh]

Franchi 12 GA over under #2.