Michigan Goose Hunting

[JDeko 792]

Thank you for such frank, easy to follow advice.

Edited November 28, 2015 by JDeko

[toothandnail 275]

First time ever hunting water fowl, yesterday shot 8 ducks, today 16 geese. There were 5 of us BTW

[JDeko 792]

Good on ya!

[saltydecimator 482]

holy f!!! just ate some goose last week and im hooked! clean easy, meat taste good, maybe i can use my vepr, will be kewl.... made some jerky on the weber kettle, all in all good times

[JDeko 792]

I wish you good luck. I've not had luck so far, but I'm a pretty new shooter so there's that. I have realized that the barrel and iron sights are kinda far apart on AKs as opposed to most shotguns that just have a nub on the barrel so you're more or less pointing a centimeter or so off the barrel with your sights. 

 

That and there is no feedback where your shot goes since its all going into the air, hence why I don't want to shoot skeet: same issues but not even the chance of a tasty goose falling out of the sky and paying extra money to miss at not-geese.

 

Wish Fiocchi was still making that tracer ammo. That would've helped a lot. 

[patriot 7,197]

Kill all those flying shit machines you can.

[JDeko 792]

Okay, so I checked my pattern at the range and its truly awful with my secondary hunting ammo [bB Win Super-X] and I doubt my Fiocchi T-Shot groups much better.

 

So it looks like I need a choke. Can I get by with a modified choke or do I need a full? I'm wary of getting a full since I like to shoot slugs at the range and taking the choke on and off repeatedly does not seem like a good time.

[gunfun 3,931]

Changing chokes only takes half a minute. Also nearly all commercial slugs say on the packages that they are safe to shoot through a full choke. Not all chokes are up to that.

 

I suggest you get the winchoke adapter, and a full set of chokes. Then you can work out the choke that suits each load. Chuck Hawkes' website has a system for patterning chokes that is both easier and more useful for determining what patterns meet your needs. 

[JDeko 792]

I was thinking of getting the double-ended one from CSS so I could thread my Mini-Monster back on. It liked to spin itself off until I put plumber's tape underneath which by now has probably melted itself in place. That is more of the hard part, I don't look forward to take my brake off alone, not to mention putting it back. 

[Gzus Kryst 53]

Buy a barrel nut and you wont need the tape. skeet shooting will help you learn to lead your target, only birds I have shot has been pest control and a Grackle is much smaller then a goose so took awhile to learn how to judge distance and lead, practice is all you can do.

[JDeko 792]

The pattern is really bad, even at 10yrds so even if I lead them correctly I doubt enough pellets were hitting to kill them. Plenty of birds I shot at flinched, faltered, even hovered in place, but except maybe one that I thought I saw nose dive over the "NO OCCUPANCY" area none dropped.

 

I always shot at the lead goose and with the long formations I doubt they'd all get by before the pellets got there, I mean maybe my leads were bad but I know my pattern is.

[read_the_wall 614]

I will use my Saiga up close on Snow Geese,,, but never on Canada's , but that's just my opinion
​Benelli Nova 28 " barrel   Mod. Choke     3.5 " B.B.'s  1625 fps  works well for me

[JDeko 792]

Do you guys think Black Cloud ammo is the ammo uber alles? I see it venerated as if its the greatest thing ever created and admittedly I'm willing to try whatever it takes to increase my chances after going home without a body all last season.

[Mullet Man 2,114]

No ammo is going to improve the skill of the "hunter".

[JDeko 792]

And no carry ammo is going to make you a better shot under pressure but its widely said Speer Gold Dot is a great carry ammo. I'm asking if Black Cloud is the Speer Gold Dot of waterfowling? 

[Mullet Man 2,114]

You don't actively hunt perpetrators while concealed carrying. That's a self defense issue.

 

I can load up my rifle with the greatest ammo known to that caliber but when I walk out into the woods upwind of what I'm stalking making noise and stinking of anything but nature, it ain't gonna do a lick of good, now is it?

 

Hunting, even geese, is more than just sticking the muzzle of your firearm loaded with the "best" ammo into the air. It doesn't make you shoot straighter, or improve your lead, or give you a better pattern.

You've had some good suggestions in this thread, so practice them.