Both are good guns. I have a question though. Everything you listed does not require a 3.5 inch chambered gun. Just a thought, but couldn't you save some dough and buy a 3 inch instead? Just my .02 . I am a Mossey man for the record. My son has a Browning BPS waiting on him to get old enough to use it. Both Mossberg and Browning BPS opperate about the same. I wanted him to have a better gun than what I shoot but I still wanted it to be easy to teach him to use it. I would pick the gun that opperates closest to your Stoeger and try it out at the gun shop. Play with it for a while and see if it is a good fit. You dont want to get out in the feild and be fumbling for the safety.

Sorry about thwe 3.5 question. I missed the "duck and geese part" . Carry on.

I run 870s, but an 835 would be welcomed into my possessions if I felt the need to buy another pump gun. Hard to go wrong here IMO.

The last shotgun that I bought was an 870 turkey gun. I've always wanted an 870 so I had to have it. I love the gun and for turkey or deer it is great. For small game hunting I hate the safety. When I'm walking I like to place my trigger finger in front of the trigger guard to protect the trigger. It's awkward for me to take the safety off when a bird flushes. The Mossberg's tang safety is way better.