Bassthoven
Inactive
Looking for experience on pass shooting geese, not opinions. I pass shoot geese with a 10 gauge browning gold hunter. Was using federal bbb steel, but recently started using some bismuth bb I rounded up. This is my first year waterfowl hunting, and we have a 12,000 acre public hunting ground 5 miles from me. Waterfowl hunting is permitted, but only from ground blinds set up surrounding the resting area. Not even close to the water. I am a rookie, but from what I have experienced, it is the very definition of skybusting. It is a very popular waterfowl area, opening weekends are drawn, opening day they stopped at 50 teams of 2 and 3 people...... I got drawn number 50 because I was hunting alone. Lol. I have been out there probable 20 or 25 times, dropped 1 bird. Most of it is tactical bird watching. So far from the water, only a smallllllll percentage of birds fly your direction. But, I have learned a lot. I have my duck boat pretty much completed, should get a lot of use next year. Problem is, there are wayyyyyyy too many conflicting opinions on ammo, 10 or 12 gauge, shot size, loads, etc, ethical shooting distance, blah blah blah. Fact is, I have witnessed first hand Hundreds of hunters, taking multiple shots, and so far, over 2 months into the season, the pigeon river fwa has had 82 geese taken thus far this season. I have personally heard thousands of shots while I have been out. Now I dont even want to get into the ethics debate, I have concluded that the state dnr has set up hunting guidelines that promote horrible hunting practices that don't only encourage, but disallow a fair chase. I can only imagine how many cripples there have been. It hurts to think I am taking part in this. So, I a fellow bird hunter, ask for your secrets. Please forgive my ignorance......Will a rangefinder work on birds flying way up in the sky? How much lead do you really give a goose at 50 yards? What ammo do you have experience with in a 10 that works.....and why? What does not? Im pretty sure my problem is probably innaccurately judging distance and lead. This seems to be the most widely varied set of answers and opinions on multiple forums that usually results in arguments and pisding matches. And I understand why, 1,000s of shots, hundreds of hunters and 82 geese. I'm not the only one who can't hit them. But there are people who can, seen enough videos online to prove it.