Waterfowl shot size

[Sask hunter]

2’s all year for everything and I prefer 1.25 oz loads. I find the pattern on my gun in BB a bit thin. I really like little slower loads like 1400 or so the ballistics data I have found have shown no ballistic difference between faster loads and the 1400 fps loads.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I shoot #3's at ducks and carry BB for the occasional goose. Mostly like the 3 shot because they pattern good for me.
Demolished a wood duck with 6.5 shot dove load this year FWIW

That dove load steel shot?

 

[OntarioHunter]

I'm not shooting from a layout blind so I need to reach out a bit. BB @ 1550 fps. Anything smaller or slower for honkers is money thrown away. Hunting from a layout blind up here for fresh geese is a different story. I know two guys with layouts who do very well using 20 gauge #2. But they also shoot trap and skeet every week. And geese arriving right now are fresh from arctic circle with little exposure to hunters. With that setup and these honkers, twenty yard shots are the rule. Across the border the birds are more educated.

 

[F250]

Been using 1 1/4 oz of Kent Fasteel, #1s, 3" loads for many years. My two "go-to" waterfowl guns are both choked Improved Cylinder. I spent many hours on the patterning range before deciding on this load. The results in the field proved the choice, for me, was correct.

 

[Nick87]

If I’m doin the switch and shoot game it’s typically 3s and BBs… if I’m going one and done for whatever comes in, these are my go-to’s! Just grabbed another 5 boxes today as a matter of fact . I’m finding like to just use one load more all the time!

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Yup, my brother swears by these exact loads for ducks/geese.

 

[Scott85]

If I was a better shot I would shoot these.

 

[WestKyHunt]

That dove load steel shot?

Yes lol
All the places I dove hunt require steel, only lead in my safe are skeet loads and 30-30

 

[CPAjeff]

Regular steel, 4s for ducks 2s for geese. Try an IC or even SK choke.

If your shooting TTS, I like 7.5 or 9s.

The VAST majority of these geese were killed with Hevi-Shot 2 3/4” #4:

 

[corndog1]

I like three inch four shot for ducks

 

[blackbeard]

2 3/4 2 shot and 3" 2 shot, either Kent or hevi shot

 

[Deleted member 28227]

That’s solid all around

I hunted waterfowl in MT a decent amount and after experimenting with lots of sizes that’s what I settled on for everything… little much for teal but whatever

 

[Runnin_Chupacabra]

4's will work in early season, my favorite are the Kent Faststeel 3 shot for the majority of the season.

 

[RyGuy]

Early season I’m shooting 3” #4 shot at ducks. Later I always switch to 3” #2 shot. Geese I prefer 3.5” BB but only on days I’m not shooting much if I plan on lots of shooting I’ll go down to the 3” BB’s.
If I was shooting geese at close range I’d definitely go with 2’s though.

 

[jt13]

In my limited goose hunting experience, a lot more of them started falling out of the sky when I switched from #2s to BB. Started with 3.5" then downsized to 3" with no noticeable loss in performance.

If I were to be hunting both ducks and geese at the same time? Probably #2s

 

[JShane]

I'm shooting Bismuth so take that for what uts worth. But for wood ducks, teal, ringneck ducks I'm shooting 6's. All the "big" ducks we get enjoy a healthy dose of #4 or #5 short.

 

[D4570]

We reload. We use 3" 1 1/4oz #1 X B 1400 fps

 

[brockel]

If I’m doin the switch and shoot game it’s typically 3s and BBs… if I’m going one and done for whatever comes in, these are my go-to’s! Just grabbed another 5 boxes today as a matter of fact . I’m finding like to just use one load more all the time!

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Grabbed 4 boxes of these the other day. They pattern phenomenal. Won’t be hunting opener but I took Sunday off work so hopefully will have some look

 

[millerkiller77]

My local Walmart clearanced (red tag) all of its
3 -1/2 shells quite a few years ago. The area I live in has extremely limited waterfowl hunting and even less hunters. The inventory was a two year accumulation and priced at .88 cents per box on clearance.
I ended up needing a flat cart to haul all of it out, it was well over 200 boxes in 3 different offerings. Winchester Drylok and Xpert is my go to waterfowl and geese load for the rest of my life. Lol

 

[DFS]

Being new to the waterfowl game and finally a year where you can find lots of different shotgun shells on the shelves what’s your guys favorite 12 gauge shells and shot size for a mix of ducks and geese over decoys?

Sheesh the deer hunting must be rough where you live.

 

[brockel]

Sheesh the deer hunting must be rough where you live.

Glory years. #waitinonarutdumb30incher