5 Big Birds with Little Shells

[Jerry Harlow]

We never hunt these birds with guns that are not 3 1/2" 10s or 12s due to hunting being ruined for a decade by the bad experiment of steel shot. But decided today to try the 1936 12 GA VH 30" 2 3/4" choked .033 & .041. Needless to say it did the job including two doubles. A good day. Thank goodness for Hevi-shot and all the other substitutes for steel.

[charlie cleveland]

looks like you had a fine day... and yes we all have been led to believe it takes a 3 1/2 inch gun to killbirds with glad you have broken this spell..ha truly a nice lookin gun and what a day youmust of had...only thing wrong i wernt with you.... charlie

[scott kittredge]

nice shooting, you don't need a big gun if your shooting a parker :bowdown:

[Tom Roller]

What shells were you shooting?

Even though hevi-shot, tungsten, etc. are superior I still think steel has come a long way since it first came out.

[Jerry Harlow]

I'm a real fan of all Hevi-shot products for all larger birds, especially turkeys in the spring. Their 6s are deadly on head shots and I like the birds at 25-30 yards when shooting a tube designed for the stuff. Shoot 4s at geese. Was reloading the regular Hevi-shot for the big guns until the shot got to $170/10 lbs. Now it's cheaper to buy it already loaded. I'd rather shoot one expensive shell and get the bird instead of two cheaper ones and lose him to the scavengers miles away. I can't tell you how many goose doubles with one shot I have made with Hevi-shot, shooting at one bird and in addition to it another beside it falls. Never had that happen with steel in all the years of using it.

[Theodore LeDurt]

It's a shame that the reloading prices are so high. When Bismuth original came out, they were going to offer their reloading shot so that shell cost would be around $1- a piece, however when Bismuth was approved and came to market, the reloading shot was not made available for a long time and when it was the price was tripled from their previous quoted price.

[King Brown]

Good shooting! Geese over decoys, with all the work entailed, I use my lightest: 20 ga o/u SKB three-inch 1 1/8 ounce Kent Tungsten Matrix. Itchy finger under control, results satisfactory. Haven't lost a cripple yet. Get too eager, doesn't matter what gauge.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

The short 12 gauge stuff will certainly kill geese as will even smaller guns. I just like the versatility of the bigger bores and longer shells. Sometimes I'm waiting till everybody is done shooting before I get unlimbered and can kill a goose at 50 or 60 yards with them whereas I wouldn't even think about firing if I was shooting a light load. Right over the decoys you can kill geese with small guns and light shells but you've got to pick your shots and really be careful.

Destry

[calvin humburg]

Nice work J.A. 1 of thoes should go in parker of the month top 1 maybe. Interesting tree forked so close to the ground. ch

[Dean Romig]

Interesting tree forked so close to the ground. ch



Calvin, every one of the giant White Pines at my place in Maine that are at least five feet thick in the trunk are forked into two, three, or four leaders about fifteen feet off the ground. I figure it must have been a severe ice storm about 150 years ago that snapped the main stem off.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

P.S. to Early: If you want to go Saturday let me know, the late season in Ontario is opening up. Hopefully the goose gods will be as good to me as they were to you. *wink*


Destry