Canadian Goose Hunting

[Eye-Bite!]

Ok, I have hunted Pheasants and love it. Now, I here trying Canadian Geese. Need some advise. What is an optimal distance for a good shot and how much lead do or should I expect to use? Using an O/U 12Guage with 3" Shells. Thanks. Oh, BBB Steel shot.

[Dave James]

You don't say if its over decoys with calls , or working water sheds and sky busting them as close as they come.

Now I use a 10ga, but its not that different, working over decoys I try and never go beyond the 35 to 40 yard mark on big honkers, not needed normally over decoys unless the shot isn't sure and doesn't ground them, they are moving faster then then look, for me I swing butt,belly,beak and then pull ahead half a body length, when I am the tail end Charlie for cripples it comes down to sky busten and the 10 will reach out to 50 yards and then a little,but have found that I have to lead them a full body length at that distance

Hope it helps a little , I know lead is difffornt for others and gun depending on pattern and speed

[Eye-Bite!]

Just "Sky Busting" them. Great info. They have been coming down off a field all week till today...Now there way up there etc. Been trying to call them down with no luck. I'm aiming at the head are with my swing. Guessing they are still to high. They were about 40-50 Yards up till today. Ugg!

[octagon]

Goose hunting is one of life's great pleasures, I used to go with my Dad at the gulf coast in Texas. We used 10 and 12 gauge guns with 36 in barrels. We loaded extra hot shells and colored the primers black so as never to use them by mistake on doves as these shells would knock your hat off when they rang your bell. These birds fly so fast and high that you have to lead them twice as far as you would think. There was a family of Blacks that had a bird cleaning service where they had big scalding kettles. We would drop off the geese and they would have them clean before we got back from lunch. We were hunting in Wharton Texas, very fine memories. I will have to take the Boy there when he is big enough to shoot a 12.

[Larkbill]

Just for the record, They're Canada Geese. Canadian goose hunting would be hunting geese in Canada, not that there's anything wrong with that.

BBB is too small for pass shooting at the ranges you have described. You need F's or T's. Better yet you need decoys and to learn to call. The fellow who taught me to waterfowl hunt was from Newfoundland, and would not let us shoot until they were withing 40 yards. And that was in the 60's when #2 lead would do the job.

I had a 10 ga for about 10 years, on paper it should have an advantage over a 3 1/2" 12ga, but in the field it doesn't appear to. On top of that all the hyper speed shell development has been on the 12. Again, on paper pushing round pellets past the speed of sound looks like a loser. In the field it kills more birds. Get a Mossberg 635, buy the best (fastest) 3 1/2" shells you can afford. Shoot as much skeet as you can afford to with it, but not with those expensive shells. No one can tell you how to do it, you just have to learn how it looks and feels. Most infrequent shooters I've shot clay birds with do all the classic wrong things. Lifting their head, stopping the gun, flinching... The only way to shoot well is to shoot often.

My favorite thing though, is duck hunting from my home made boat:

[PriseDeFer]

Nice sneakboat.

[DennisB]

Just for the record, They're Canada Geese. Canadian goose hunting would be hunting geese in Canada, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Thank you. Almost the same words I was going to post. I too thought this was about hunting geese in Canada.

Dennis.