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<  16ga. Ammunition & Reloading  ~  Guided snow goose hunt - need advice
16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 10:30 am  Reply with quote
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Location: massachusetts

df wrote:
My experience in hunting them in the Dakotas is that shots tended to be long. I would take a 3" 12 ga with steel BBs or tungsten #2.
Hope you get closer shots


This is good advice. Geese are tough as hell to bring down with steel shot smaller than BB shot. Tungsten shot is perhaps the best selection. Size for size, tungsten pellets are denser, harder, and weigh more, so the smaller sizes w/ less frontal area penetrate very well to the vitals through tough muscle tissue. Tungsten shot also holds on to it's velocity and energy far better.

Most goose hunting is done at longer ranges than puddle ducks over dekes. The birds have been migrating and have been in almost constant flight since they left their summer breeding grounds. Their breast muscles have been worked very hard and are much tougher to penetrate (the lactic acid built up in the muscles is the reason why wild goose meat tastes so gamey and must be marinated for so long).

Head and neck shots will bring geese down with smaller shot sizes, but geese are bigger and traveling faster than most folks perceive. Shots are usually out further and required leads are much longer. Less experienced folks usually don't lead them enough to put their shots frequently on the head/neck area. Longer shot strings of heavier shot loads of heavier pellets help quite a bit. That's where the 12 ga. mag comes in.
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AmericanMeet
PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 11:52 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 26 Apr 2010
Posts: 3172
Location: NCWa

Mark- since it's a guided hunt, the guide indicates shots will be available as fairly close range and that you are hunting Snows (probably Lessers) which go about half the size of Canadas, I wouldn't fret too much about the shot size. Years ago when my dad and I hunted Snows in the Sacramento valley we used what was called Duck&Pheasant loads. I doubt that the birds are tougher than they were in the 70's.
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 1:22 pm  Reply with quote
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Have you ever hunted w/ this guide before UDF? If not, then why not cover your bet. Bring both a 16 and a 12 ga mag w/ ammo for both. Better to have it and not need it etc. Good luck too. Hope it's a great hunt.

PS: years ago w/ duck and Pheasant loads meant lead #5 shot (or maybe #6 shot). No matter. Those days are over. It's either steel, tungsten based Heavy Shot and tungsten matrix, or bismuth shot. Of these, Heavy Shot is considered the best. It carries up well, tends to pattern extra tight, and the smaller sizes like #6 shot hit as hard and penetrate at least as well as #4 lead shot. Something to think about. Good luck.
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