what loads for geese?

[ivorytip]

ok, I'm still learning here.... In the morning I'm going to be targeting geese, I know where a bunch like to hang out at. while fishing they keep rolling through and they are forced to drop down between cliffs to get to water so I should be getting some good close shots. ill include pic of spot ill be in to give you an idea. I just picked up some 3in supersoninc steel 1 1/3oz 2shot. for 12 gauge. will this be gun enough? ive heard good and bad on the supersonics, had a guy tell me itll mess up my 870. this true?

haha, hypersonic, not supersonic. lol

 

[dustin ray]

that will work i like 3 1/2 Remington nitro BBB for geese
if your 870 is old you might have a problem hypersonic #2

 

[ivorytip]

mines not the mag so have to stick with 3. and its a new gun. thanks for response!

 

[ivorytip]

geese flew off when I approached water. Couldn't walk to fav fishing hole without a rod!

 

[ElkTrout]

Ivorytip I am not familiar with the hypersonic shot. I use Winchester #2 steel shot all season long for duck and goose! Never have an issue. But we also are shooting birds in decoys! I don't think #2's are an issue at all as long as shots are relatively close! Best of luck!


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[Hilltop]

I love BB for close to mid range geese and BBB for jump shooting or pass shooting. I shoot a 3" 870 and kill a pile every year. I will go to #2 shot when decoying snow geese in the spring- they seem to fall a little easier than Canada Geese.

 

[ivorytip]

whats the diff between shot and BB?? ill tell ya what, I blasted that teal with the hypersonic 2 and it ripped the poor guy apart! next time I decide to shoot birds down there ill use ear protection!!! shooting at bottom between to big cliffs sure does amplify that blast.

 

[Hilltop]

Shot sizes going from small to large starting with 6.... 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BB, BBB, T, F. BB is just a bit larger than #2 shot so it carries a bit more energy at longer range. The downside is you have fewer pellets.

 

[sneakypete]

I like 1's, BB's even 2's

 

[ivorytip]

thanks! learning alot

 

[sneakypete]

I like to shoot kent fast steel and keep the same load speed 1560 for like 1 's 3" and BB's 31/2"

 

[kidoggy]

that will work i like 3 1/2 Remington nitro BBB for geese
if your 870 is old you might have a problem hypersonic #2

my thoughts
on messing up barrel. just my oppinion ,no more no less.

is it really a big deal if your barrel only lasts 20 years instead of 25? 870s are only about $300 BRAND NEW so if it wears out ,simply go buy a new one

 

[7mag]

I like Black Cloud 3 or 3 1/2" BB for geese if im feeling rich. If im hunting over decoys and they are coming in close ill change to 3 inch winchesters to keep the cost of shells lower and they dont tear up as much meat.

 

[Fink]

I've been shooting the hypersonic 3 inch 2's or 3's for the last 2 years, for all my big ducks and all geese. Inside 40 yards, it gives the birds the business. I think it kicks a little hard, and it will mess guns up, some guys I hunt with all shoot remington autoloaders and hypersonic steel, those guns get hunted about every day from August until February and they show it by the end of the season.
For us normal folk, I think you'll get a lot of usage out of them before they start messing up a gun.

I really like shooting the Black Cloud Snow Goose load, 3 inch 2's. It patterns well, and kills ducks and geese stone dead, but its sooooo dirty, I always get burnt powder in my eyes if I'm shooting an autoloader. It's not bad out of an over under, but I rarely shoot an O/U at waterfowl

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I've shot 100's of honkers and the only steel shot I will use is T's. penetrates their feathers/down better and usually will pass thru completely and break wings easily.. used to use bb's on lead shot. for snows I use bbb's.

 

[Fink]

I've shot 100's of honkers and the only steel shot I will use is T's. penetrates their feathers/down better and usually will pass thru completely and break wings easily.. used to use bb's on lead shot. for snows I use bbb's.

We used to shoot a bunch of BBB and T shot. It does a nice job of breaking wings, and penetrating the chest/body. But it's hard to beat shooting 1's or 2's at geese over decoys. With the higher velocity stuff, the smaller pellets still penetrate really well inside 40 yards, and you get 2 or 3 times more pellets, which equals pillowcasing more birds!

 

[D.Turvey Jr]

3" #2's is my go to all around load but if I am targeting geese only, I shoot BB's.

 

[gypsumreaper]

I usually hunt a lot of decoys and load #4, #2 and bb. I target mainly ducks but when the geese wanna come in we know our limits of distance. If I am targeting geese only I'll load bb 3.5". Usually my load is 2 3" #2,#4 and then a 3.5" #4.


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[Dark Mavis]

Geese only, BB is the smallest I would use. BBB and T is even better. 3's or 3 1/2's.

Geese/ducks, #2's at a minimum. 3's. I've watched to many geese soak up #2's, and keep flying. I don't like it, so I shoot BB a lot more than I used to.

 

[sra61]

Back when we killed them by the 100's we learned to only shoot BBB. We killed some at some long ranges too. We only used steel. I'm sure the new Hevi Shot loads are probably much better. I think the Black Cloud work pretty good too. When they first forced us to steel shot we all went to 10 Gauges. In those days we could only find the old Mossberg bolt actions that we had to get rechoked for the steel because they only had full chokes. Then as the 10's became more in vogue we went to the Browning BPS with the screw in chokes that was quite a step up. We killed a lot of geese with those cannons. We were on a good spot one day with a friend who had one of the new "at that time" Benelli Super Black Eagle 3.5" guns. We were killing lots of geese and he couldn't kill anything, so I took his Benelli and let him use the " Magic 10". It turned out that I still killed just as many as with my 10, and hes till couldn't hit a thing! I decided then that the way lighter Benelli was the way. I found a Super Black Eagle 2 a few years later on Gunbroker for a good deal and never looked back. Still got that big 10 though, I tried packing it for turkeys a while back and couldn't believe how damn heavy that thing was!