Any Snow Geese Hunters?

[Major Khan]

Sounds like a very interesting hunt....

Would a 1905 Greener SxS with 30" Roses steel barrels work? 12ga 2 3/4"

2.75 inch 12 Bore cartridges are all that I use for hunting our Bangladeshi Greylag Geese , IvW. I use AAA cartridges
. Can your William Wellington Greener 12 Bore shot gun safely use AAA cartridges ( English or American AAA ) ?

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

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Not exactly the same thing ... But our Greylag Geese in Bangladesh can often weigh more than 5 pounds . I shoot them quite a few times through out the year .
I shot the magnificent specimen pictured above , just last month .
I use my " Old Belgian " 12 Bore double barreled side by side shot gun , loaded with AAA cartridges .
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When fired through the fully choked left barrel and the modified choked right barrel ... the AAA cartridges completely make short work of the geese on the spot.
I originally used to use Eley Alphamax 2.75 inch 36 gram AAA cartridges for them . However , Eley no longers manufactures anything larger than BB cartridges these days .
For many years after that ... I used American AAA cartridges exclusively for hunting Greylag Geese .
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I personally prefer the Federal 2.75 inch 12 Bore cartridges ( right ) , as they hold 34 pellets .
However , the Winchester " Super X " 2.75 inch 12 Bore cartridges ( centre ) perform quite adequately , even though they only hold 27 pellets .

Recently ( as of 2020 ) .... I have begun to use Lyalvale Express 36 gram 12 Bore 2.75 inch English AAA cartridges . These hold 44 pellets to the cartridge ( albeit the pellet size of English AAA is slightly smaller , than American AAA ) .It is with these cartridges , that I successfully managed to bring down the specimen in the photographs .

Unfortunately major atleast in Canada and I believe all of North America steel shot is mandatory for hunting waterfowl, which I wouldn't recommend using in a quility double for fear of damaging the barrels.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I use 2 3/4 steel BBs by Winchester for geese and #2 for ducks.

 

[Major Khan]

Unfortunately major atleast in Canada and I believe all of North America steel shot is mandatory for hunting waterfowl, which I wouldn't recommend using in a quility double for fear of damaging the barrels.

Oh , my... I had completely forgotten about that , Skinnersblade .
Oh, well... That is where my other shot gun would come in handy .

My " Old Belgian " can safely fire Bismuth and Tungsten cartridges , however .
I have used them in Great Britain with great success , just a few years ago .
When I am hunting in Bangladesh , however ... I always use lead shot .

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Oh , my... I had completely forgotten about that , Skinnersblade .
Oh, well... That is where my other shot gun would come in handy .
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My " Old Belgian " can safely fire Bismuth and Tungsten cartridges , however .
I have used them in Great Britain with great success , just a few years ago .
When I am hunting in Bangladesh , however ... I always use lead shot .

Oh , my... I had completely forgotten about that , Skinnersblade .
Oh, well... That is where my other shot gun would come in handy .
View attachment 341326
My " Old Belgian " can safely fire Bismuth and Tungsten cartridges , however .
I have used them in Great Britain with great success , just a few years ago .
When I am hunting in Bangladesh , however ... I always use lead shot .

I know father and some of his buddies had a very difficult time getting acquainted with steel, it travels differently than lead.

 

[Major Khan]

I know father and some of his buddies had a very difficult time getting acquainted with steel, it travels differently than lead.

Why , yes . That is correct ,Skinnersblade. You need a far more open choke when using steel shot .... than when you are using a cartridge loaded with the equivalent in lead shot . I personally despise the stuff ( although , I can certainly understand why shikarees in many parts of the world are forced to use it ) . For me ... Lead shot reigns supreme.
Followed by tungsten and then Bismuth .
I have actually seen quite a few beautiful vintage side by side shot guns have their barrels sadly bulge ( or even burst ) after being used with steel shot cartridges .

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Why , yes . That is correct ,Skinnersblade. You need a far more open choke when using steel shot .... than when you are using a cartridge loaded with the equivalent in lead shot . I personally despise the stuff ( although , I can certainly understand why shikarees in many parts of the world are forced to use it ) . For me ... Lead shot reigns supreme.
Followed by tungsten and then Bismuth .
I have actually seen quite a few beautiful vintage side by side shot guns have their barrels sadly bulge ( or even burst ) after being used with steel shot cartridges .

To my understanding, and I am speaking only on hearsay as these debates were before my time. The reason they banned the use of lead was ducks picking pellets up from the bottom of lakes and marshes. Thus giving themselves secondary lead poisoning.

I too know of several nice vintage pieces destroyed by steel shot one a Parker hale sxs.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I wonder that myself, because the ones we hunt in Fall and early Winter down here in Texas taste like moose shit pie. And it isn't because I don't know how to cook wild game.

I've hunted snows twice, both times around El Campo, TX. The first year, we had a great hunt and limited out fairly quickly, three days in a row. You would see thousands of geese as they really liked the rice fields. Goose crap everywhere. The second year, went back to the same place, same guide. Didn't get a single one that year, hunting for 3 days.

As far as cooking and taste, a guy gave me a great recipe. Take a breast and wrap it around a jalapeno pepper, then wrap a strip of bacon around the breast and stick a toothpick to hold it all together. Throw it on the grill and cook slowly until the bacon looks done. After serving it, you pull the toothpick, eat the bacon and jalapeno and throw away the snow goose breast. Use the toothpick, as needed.

 

[sgt_zim]

I know father and some of his buddies had a very difficult time getting acquainted with steel, it travels differently than lead.

Steel is much harder than lead (of course), and only about 2/3 as dense.

 

[BRICKBURN]

For steel shot use I bump up the size of shot. BB for ducks and T for geese. (Passing shots.)

 

[Firebird]

N0t a snow goose but here is a local canada on a nest sporting a lovely yellow necklace.-Surprised the local kids haven't nicked her with a rifle and taken that collar yet. . .Hevi Bismuth manufactered by Hevi Shot is made specifically for old firearms-"safe for modern and classic firearms." I use it in my 16gauge winchester. It is very expensive, probably wouldn't use it for snow geese, but for a trophy waterfowl trip it is excellent stuff.

 

[flatwater bill]

"Non Toxic" shot is required for waterfowl now.....I think in all of North America............but steel is only one of several options. There are non toxic waterfowl loads advertised as safe for older doubles. Don't give up on the Greener until you have researched it a little.....FWB

 

[40inarow]

There is an easy way to make geese delicious. Take the goose, skin it and boil it with Louisiana crab boil. When the meat is falling off the bone pull off all the meat and make jambalaya out of it. The crab boil takes the gamey taste out and the meat tastes like roast beef. Makes a great jambalaya!

 

[Firebird]

The previously mentioned collared Canada apparently has a collared mate. They brought their babies off nest this morning. You can see one of the babies just behind the hen (bottom bird).

 

[Firebird]

Client is coming to pick these up so here is a quick pic from the basement wall-would love To keep this one and display it on a proper vaulted wall

 

[curtism1234]

If they are laying down near a levy, it's possible to crawl to the top and start blasting. Problem with that is you will end up with 50 dead snow geese but also a half dozen ducks. The feds want the snow geese gone but I'm betting they won't look so favorably on the collateral damage.

 

[Joedad]

I haven’t hunted snows in years. Folks around here call them “sky carp”. They say if you mix them 50/50 with pork they are edible. 50/50 that’s 1 goose and a 300lb hog

 

[curtism1234]

I haven’t hunted snows in years. Folks around here call them “sky carp”. They say if you mix them 50/50 with pork they are edible. 50/50 that’s 1 goose and a 300lb hog

My brother and his friends make deer sausage every year and I normally have them make it for me too. One year they also made snow goose sausage at the same time. Well they were all drunk by 9am and somehow managed to not label the batches correctly. So I got like 40 pounds of snow goose sausage...which I promptly threw in the garbage after tasting it

 

[Areaonereal]

In central illinois we normally have thousands in the Spring...few hunters for them and referred to as sky carp...no one, I mean no one I know eats them. Quite a sight to see thousands in a harvested corn field in early spring...a sea of white covering many acres. Always attracts a lot of curious drive by onlookers. We also have great numbers of Canadians hanging around all winter then nesting in spring. Currently have over thirty with five different pairs and 3 to 7 young ones to each pair in my backyard coming off our 5 acre backyard pond. Quite a sight but droppings everywhere.

 

[Firebird]

I crock pot the breasts in chili sauce and they are awesome-awful lean but delicious just the same