RE: What steel shot size?
My dad used to shoot the ducks when he was pheasant hunting. Now that with nontoxic shot only, we considered going with the upland steelbecause we have jumped wood ducks while going along a swamp on some public land we hunt while hunting for pheasants but we never jumped enough of them that we didn't find it to be worth switching over to steel. Plus my dad shoots Belgium Browning shotguns so that would mean he would have to switch guns too because the special steel they used to make those guns would be damaged from the steel shot.
I hope I find some place good to hunt for ducks someday. The beginning of my hunting life consisted of some duck hunts. I like the smell of going through a swamp heading to the blind before sunrise.
I am mainly a pheasant guy at that time of year, so the only time I would go out for ducks is opening day on Columbus Day, the saturday after is when pheasant opens up and that is if a hunting club I belong to isn't having a game preserve hunt for pheasants.
So far the total number of ducks I have shot is 1. haha. Not hard to forget when it was my only one.