20 gauge Goose Hunts

[flatwater bill]

For the last 25 years I have hunted geese and cranes mostly with a 20 gauge. I use a Browning A-5 with a fixed modified (lead) choke and a 28" bbl. When you're talking waterfowl and 20 ga, a 3" gun is a big advantage. Cranes are easy to kill, and that is partly because non-toxic shot is not required. But geese are much tougher. Our birds are mostly the Moffitt subspecies of Canada....the second biggest behind the Giants of the Midwest. 10 and 11 pound birds are common, and a few outliers up to 13 are taken every year. Complicating this is that large shot often does not pattern well in a 20. I have not found a steel load bigger than #3 that gives a uniform pattern in my guns. Plated #3 steel kills ducks cleanly over decoys, and it is my choice. But it is not effective on our geese. And so using a 20 means using expensive shotshells. I have had moderately good luck using Hevi-Shot #4 with 1 1/4 oz loadings and better results with Kent Tungsten Matrix (Impact) #3 shot throwing 1 1/8 oz. I purchased 10 cases of the latter at a good price a few years back. Wingmaster HD by Remington was spectacular. So good, in fact, that they discontinued it. While I have written extensively about the merits of TSS for bear defense, I am unwilling to pay $15 a shell for goose hunting. Are there any 20 ga waterfowlers that have used something I have overlooked, say copper plated bismuth or similar that could comment? Would like to hear how your goose season is going, or has gone........and what loads you use..........FWB

 

[UKHunter]

Any reason why you would not use a 12g for geese? Sorry, slightly off topic but would allow you to use steel and a larger shot size.

 

[AustinH48]

If you haven’t yet look into Boss shotshells. I use them exclusively for ducks and geese with the copper plated bismuth it allows you to downsize in shot size while keeping and improving the effectiveness due to more pellets equaling better pattern density and better lethality than steel. Quality American made product only downside to some is that it’s not sold in stores either buy it at the shop in Michigan or order online.

 

[503]

If you haven’t yet look into Boss shotshells. I use them exclusively for ducks and geese with the copper plated bismuth it allows you to downsize in shot size while keeping and improving the effectiveness due to more pellets equaling better pattern density and better lethality than steel. Quality American made product only downside to some is that it’s not sold in stores either buy it at the shop in Michigan or order online.

I just ordered some Boss online for a crane hunt I'm going on next week. Ammo got delivered in 3 days. They seem like a squared away company.

Cheers

503

 

[Red Leg]

For the last 25 years I have hunted geese and cranes mostly with a 20 gauge. I use a Browning A-5 with a fixed modified (lead) choke and a 28" bbl. When you're talking waterfowl and 20 ga, a 3" gun is a big advantage. Cranes are easy to kill, and that is partly because non-toxic shot is not required. But geese are much tougher. Our birds are mostly the Moffitt subspecies of Canada....the second biggest behind the Giants of the Midwest. 10 and 11 pound birds are common, and a few outliers up to 13 are taken every year. Complicating this is that large shot often does not pattern well in a 20. I have not found a steel load bigger than #3 that gives a uniform pattern in my guns. Plated #3 steel kills ducks cleanly over decoys, and it is my choice. But it is not effective on our geese. And so using a 20 means using expensive shotshells. I have had moderately good luck using Hevi-Shot #4 with 1 1/4 oz loadings and better results with Kent Tungsten Matrix (Impact) #3 shot throwing 1 1/8 oz. I purchased 10 cases of the latter at a good price a few years back. Wingmaster HD by Remington was spectacular. So good, in fact, that they discontinued it. While I have written extensively about the merits of TSS for bear defense, I am unwilling to pay $15 a shell for goose hunting. Are there any 20 ga waterfowlers that have used something I have overlooked, say copper plated bismuth or similar that could comment? Would like to hear how your goose season is going, or has gone........and what loads you use..........FWB

Any of the Tungsten alloys are superior to lead and bismuth is almost as good as lead. All that said, a 20 is not the best choice for geese. The big issue is shot string length. Even the heaviest loads from a 3" gun that may look ok on a pattern board but they will be too long to be as effective in the field as the same load from a 12 bore. Then, if we add choke, the respective strings get longer. That is of relatively little importance with a cloud of no. 8 shot on a rising quail, but can become very important at forty yards with relatively large shot on a sturdy target like a goose.

 

[503]

If I had to use a 20ga I'd shoot TSS at everything.

 

[eyedok]

BOSS is all we use from 20,16, or 12 - not a problem, we shoot alot of a birds, had the company ship them to our outfitters house in Maine last year for eiders, oldsqwaws, Canadians……

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I know a couple of guys who shoot geese with twenty gauge but they hunt from layout blinds. Because we are on the leading edge of migration route, most birds that show up from far north are not educated yet and fairly easy to decoy. Laying in the middle of the deeks it's not unusual to get point blank shooting ... if that's what turns your crank. I set my decoys out 45-65 yards and hunt from the edge of field. The spred is placed downwind so the geese have to come in over me. Pass shooting from my feet is a lot more fun than trying to shoot out of a coffin at birds almost on top me. Also, from cover I can hunt with two or even three dogs. But that kind of hunting is NOT applicable to twenty gauge. I shoot an A5 3" twelve gauge with steel BB, ounce and an eighth at 1550 fps. I need to go home and take a pill if I'm not batting 500. Many days I'll shoot a limit of five honkers in as many shots, and at least one if not several triples each season (key to shooting triples is hunt alone).

This day I was hunting from the cover of a fence line only (dogs stayed in the vehicle). Five geese in five shots. Not easy shooting from underneath a spruce tree. Actually, very challenging. A young lad was set up in a layout blind in the middle of the field and I was waiting for him to pull up his decoys when I snapped this photo of mine. Then I went to ER for heart attack symptoms. Turns out I injured a couple of ribs when I tripped trying to run down a crippled honker. Lucky I didn't kill myself! Fall the wrong way on cornstalk stubble and it can be lethal. Dogs are killed in that stuff fairly frequently.

The next day the geese moved to the adjacent field where about a third of the crop had been harvested. I hide in the standing corn. Lots of fun ... as long as I don't shoot anything that falls in the standing crop. Easy to lose them in there, especially cripples. This day I was trying to find a big honker that sailed into the stalks when I went face to face with a HUGE black bear. I think he was looking for the same bird. They are always in the corn and quite bold in spite of all the shooting. I've had dead geese get swiped from the pile when taking the dogs for a walk. There's always a couple of slugs in my coat pocket and one is usually in the chamber when I'm in the corn or trees. Not this day though, but thankfully no confrontation. He turned and left. And so did I. Stepped out into the stubble and there was the dead bird. I had marked it wrong, which is the problem shooting from corn. Lose all perspective.

 

[HuntingGold]

Just for a sidenote, and not to hijack the thread, there is a small group of guys going after our Canada geese with .410s and tss shells. They are die hard goose hunters and getting the birds close over decoys. As for species, it's also the Moffitts variety.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Just for a sidenote, and not to hijack the thread, there is a small group of guys going after our Canada geese with .410s and tss shells. They are die hard goose hunters and getting the birds close over decoys. As for species, it's also the Moffitts variety.

Hijacking a thread? Shame on you!

Those guys must be rolling their own shells. I have never seen tungsten 410 on the shelves (or these days ANY 410 ammo on the shelves).

 

[WAB]

I shot many a mallard over decoys with .410 bismuth when I hunted the Kenai river. One morning I limited in 30 minutes with the little gun.

 

[HuntingGold]

Keep in mind these are die hards and one factory reps for one of the tss manufacturers. He had plenty and gave a few to me which I used to kill a couple of wild turkeys.

 

[flatwater bill]

@Ontario Hunter Sure enjoyed your post. And the fotos. I think your relatively uneducated birds are a big advantage. I have hunted northern Alberta a few times, and the difference was amazing. Also made some triples there (one with a 16 ga) and was able to hunt sitting upright in a blind that I constructed in a few minutes. Not so here. Smart birds require a carefully laid trap. Random thoughts: What kills the dogs in the corn fields? I think a hefty load of steel BB from a 3" 12 would dissuade most black bears. I used to use a 28 on small water mallards when lead was legal. Thanks to all that posted. I will look at BOSS and other loads. Other suggestions appreciated. ..........FWB

 

[BeeMaa]

Apex TSS for turkey will sort you out quite nicely. Cost is about $8/shell and completely worth it. Anatomically a goose is very similar to a turkey and these loads are powerful enough to take them down at 40+ yards, probably 50 if you can manage a head shot.

All the geese I’ve taken with TSS have had very little meat damage and only a few pellets found in the birds, most pass through.

https://www.mackspw.com/Apex-Tungsten-Super-Shot-20-Ga-3-1-5-8-Oz

 

[flatwater bill]

@BeeMaa I am also a big fan of Apex shells.....Their 3" 12 ga shooting 2oz of TSS size T shot won my "Bear Defense Test" over many other options. Sadly, their 20 ga waterfowl loads have always been out of stock (and still are), but the turkey load that you list above is in stock and looks like the best option ever.....in addition, the price is coming down a bit. Thanks for the heads up.................FWB

 

[BeeMaa]

@flatwater bill - Let me know how it works out for you. All the best.

Also, be aware that turkey season is right around the corner so you may want to act accordingly.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

---

@Ontario Hunter Sure enjoyed your post. And the fotos. I think your relatively uneducated birds are a big advantage. I have hunted northern Alberta a few times, and the difference was amazing. Also made some triples there (one with a 16 ga) and was able to hunt sitting upright in a blind that I constructed in a few minutes. Not so here. Smart birds require a carefully laid trap. Random thoughts: What kills the dogs in the corn fields? I think a hefty load of steel BB from a 3" 12 would dissuade most black bears. I used to use a 28 on small water mallards when lead was legal. Thanks to all that posted. I will look at BOSS and other loads. Other suggestions appreciated. ..........FWB

The dogs run into the stubble stalks bent over by tractor/combine and get impaled. You can see what I'm talking about in the photo. That stuff is wicked. Actually stubble was very much reduced in that field because the dairy farmer had also spread manure on it. The honey wagon has huge fat tires. Fortunately, we had a couple of downpours that leached most of the crap into the soil. Geese really go for those poop fields. Probably because the landing zones are better. There's also a lot of half digested stuff from the cows and/or barns. My dogs like it too.

Detoured to the pond for a swim before going home. Hot shooting that day. Geese were trying to land while I was staking the decoys. So why bother? No wind to blow them over. I was done in a half hour.

A couple of local guys were trying to shoot the bears. I wouldn't mess one up if they were after a rug. I only load up with slugs in thick stuff to protect my dogs. They have always been in control around bears but a sow bluff charging would likely escalate to out of control.

 

[flatwater bill]

@Ontario Hunter That last foto is a fine one.........who would not want to hunt geese there? Let me know if you need slave labor to help set up? ...@Red Leg Yes, shot string length in smaller gauges is certainly a concern and a limitation. A bird crossing perpendicular to the shot charge at 30 yard going 30mph with a shot string of 9 feet long and a velocity of 900 fps gives an easy example. From the time the first pellets reach the bird until the shot string passes is 1/100 of a second, and in that time the bird travels 5 inches. With the small killing circle of a 20 ga it is a factor, and at longer ranges and faster birds. in can make the difference. I use the pattern board a lot, but recognize it is a two dimensional representation of a 3 dimensional dynamic. I think that the hard round steel had a fairly short shot string, and that the long columns of soft lead had the longest. I'm not sure about the Tungsten matrix or Bismuth in that regard. I set up two decoy spreads. The first in the direction I expect the geese to arrive from, and on a bare high spot in the field.....the second, better looking spread on a further high spot about 100-150 yards away. Geese look closely at the spot they want to land, but not so carefully at the low spots in between. We try to shoot geese going away to the better spread as we lie in wait between. Bearing angle is minimized there, and the shot string length is less important. As a boy, shells were often advertised as "Short shot string"....So I think your point is quite valid. ..........FWB

 

[Hunt anything]

The only goose hunting I’ve done with my 20 has been done with 3” #2 steel blackcloud, it works okay on our giant resident birds, I don’t go out looking for them with the 20 but shot a few during our September teal season. My 20 patterns it well in both the modified and improved modified barrels of my o/u. I shoot the teal with #7 steel and take the #2’s to quickly change if I hear geese coming. I get them close and shoot them in the head and pass on any shot over 25yds.

 

[AustinH48]

@Ontario Hunter Sure enjoyed your post. And the fotos. I think your relatively uneducated birds are a big advantage. I have hunted northern Alberta a few times, and the difference was amazing. Also made some triples there (one with a 16 ga) and was able to hunt sitting upright in a blind that I constructed in a few minutes. Not so here. Smart birds require a carefully laid trap. Random thoughts: What kills the dogs in the corn fields? I think a hefty load of steel BB from a 3" 12 would dissuade most black bears. I used to use a 28 on small water mallards when lead was legal. Thanks to all that posted. I will look at BOSS and other loads. Other suggestions appreciated. ..........FWB

You may also be able to call the shop and ask for different shot sizes in one box for pattern testing I know they used to have this option if you called.