It was opening day of goose season here, and me and a couple buddies were out. We were using 3" #2 Winchester steel....with decent success, but still had a few we had to finish off, and a couple fly aways...I tried out some 3" T's, and I hammered a Canada 3 times at less than 25 yards, only to watch it fly away...
I am new to waterfowl, and I really hate to watch an obviously injure gbird fly off to die...is there any loads that work better than others? I am not into skybustign and keep my shots to less than 30 yards. What should I be using?

Hevi-shot is one, if you want to spent the cash.

were are you hitting the birds? best is lead enough for head, or concentrate on the arm pit or wing pit if you wish.

I see this a lot... Here is what you do.. Two things.

First and foremost, Pattern your gun! Every gun shoots each load a little different. My 870 shoots 3" number 4's Kent Faststeel very well!

Second- Don't skyblast... It's just not worth it. get em in close! It's much more rewarding that way anyway.

I use 3 in BB our BBB with impovemode choke work well for me in 3 in in 3.1/2 I use 2 or BB 13/8 shot @ 1500 fps or 1450 fps work great on late season birds

Black Cloud BBB

BB's or BBB
Pattern your gun to see how a load shoots
If you can't get it to pattern well
Trade or give away the rest of the shells


OH Shoot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't count the number of guys bitch about not killing birds
And when you ask how much they shoot
They may have shot a few clay targets in the last 6 months
But way to many guys never shoot all off season

Shoot
I shot 14,000 round this year at trap , skeet , sporting clays and black birds

And I rarely miss when I shoot at ducks and geese

John

black cloud is the way to go you can use 4's or bb with a mod choke tube .like the others say pattern your gun to see how the pattern is with different shells

BLACKCLOUD....


Another thing is flock shooting. Whenever we have new guys join us they get all crazy when a flock of birds come in a go ape-crazy on the them. All three shells gone and now birds to brag about.

Pick out a bird and make sure that one drops, then maybe move onto another if within your comfortable range.

Keep your gun moving.....................


If you are hitting them in the body, they will fly off, maybe even to die later.



A direct hit to the head and neck, they fold !!!



98% of the misses are behind..............it's all about the follow through !

if you use a follow through lead you will kill em every time! once you figure this lead out you cannot miss! i swear too it...sustained lead is about the most inconsistent way to shoot birds especially ducks and its what most people do...a follow through lead is where you start out behind the duck and pull through to in front of the duck...as soon as you think the bead is on his nose you pull the trigger, by the time that registers with your mind and you pull the trigger you have a perfect lead...it the duck is moving fast, yyou have to pull through quicker therefore giving you a longer lead and if they are moving into the wind or going slow well ...you get the picture try it on clay pidgeons and see if this fails you i guarantee it wont