duck hunting choke?
Moderator: Excalibur Marketing Dude
duck hunting choke?
just curious, what shot size and what choke do you use for duck hunting?
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
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
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.