duck hunting choke?

[Benooneb]

just curious, what shot size and what choke do you use for duck hunting?

[DuckHunt]

Benooneb,
To provide the best answer I would need a little more information like the gauge of shotgun and whether you are pass shooting (longer shots) or hunting over decoys (shorter shots)?

If you are asking for my personal use, I prefer 3 1/2" magnum Federal Premiums in #2 steel from my 12 gauge with a full choke. It works great for jumping wood ducks and geese from a canoe. If I am hunting strictly Canada geese, then bigger is better. I prefer T, but BBB or BB will work as well.

Overall for ducks #2 steel is probably the best all around shot size for a 12 guage. As for the choke most hunters are best to stick with a modified choke. It provides the best combination of range and forgiving pattern.

DuckHunt

[Bill T]

I use steel only. For larger ducks I find that an improved cyl choke with #4s is the ticket, except for teal which #6 gives better pattern density on. For Geese I use BBs and once again I use the imp cyl choke.

[Bill T]

In my experience if you go to a fuller choke than IC with steel your pattern becomes so small that you need to be a better shot than I'll ever be. I believe that steel loses steam pretty fast due to it's low density, so I go to smaller shot for better pattern density and a reasonably open choke and try to keep my shots close. You could maybe reach out a bit farther with a tighter choke, but if they are 40 yards or less they are goners if you hit them, and if they are farther I usually can't hit em anyway. Back in the lead shot days I always used #5s with a mod choke with deadly results, and #4 steel with IC seems to pretty much duplicate both pattern density and size.