1st Goose

[Fish Monger]

Had my first experience goose hunting... what tough little buggers!
I found myself wishing I had my deer hunting rifle

 

[DahFISH]

Had my first experience goose hunting... what tough little buggers!
I found myself wishing I had my deer hunting rifle

:beer: Congrats on your first Goose, when I'm not bass fishing I'm goose blasting. They can be hard to bring down, I am using a browning 10ga. and at times I think I can hear them laughing at me as they fly off #-o. Are you using ground blinds or off a boat?

 

[Jim]

Very cool Monger! :beer:

 

[Fish Monger]

This was very last minute so I made a quick blind out of reeds and grass.
If I was going to pursue geese on a regular basis I would definately have to invest in a new gun. My Mossberg 12 gauge pump just isn't going to cut it!

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

you got my pants! and my same gun! haha. what model mossberg do you have? and let us know how you cook that sucker, im hopeing to bag my first one in the next couple weeks as they're flying threw

 

[DahFISH]

When I started hunting I got a Moss 500 combo, figuring that was going to be the only gun I would ever need :roll:. It is great for ducks, small game and as a slug gun for deer, but for geese it is not the best. Since then I've added the 10ga., a 30-30 and a 338. With these 4 I should be able to take down anything that walks on 4 legs in North America.

Yeah I would like to know how you are going to prepair it as well. I usually get mine smoked, it come out just like ham. =P~

 

[Quackrstackr]

Congrats on the first one. =D>

We used to kill loads of them around here until the things got lazy and decided to quit migrating back in the mid 90's. We used to run a spread of approx. 1100 decoys.

There have been literally millions of geese killed with a 3" 12 gauge. You don't need an anti aircraft battery to kill them. :lol:

I shoot 12 ga. 3 1/2" BBB's at Canadas normally but have killed a ton of snow geese with 3" 1's to T's just because they are cheaper to shoot (and you shoot a lot when hunting snow geese).

If they are in close, you just need to aim in front of that white cheek patch and you could kill them with 7 1/2's. They can take a lot of punishment when trying to get through those breast feathers.

Here's a pretty good recipe for geese:

Slice breasts lengthwise into 1/2" (or less) strips.

Marinate strips in a ziploc bag for 45 minutes (or longer) with equal parts soy and worchestershire along with garlic powder and dried onion flakes or powder.

Liberally season flour in a seperate bag with your favorite Cajun or Creole seasoning.

Take strips directly from marinade and coat with seasoned flour mixture.

Deep fry in vegetable oil until floating and golden brown. Takes about 3 minutes depending on oil temp.

 

[DahFISH]

=P~ That sound good I will try that this season. I do agree that you dont need any AA battery, My buddy shoots a moss 835 and does fine with the 3 1/2". I just never felt that the 3" 500 had the knock down power, so when my wifes uncle offered me his Browning 10ga. for $300 I knew I wouldnt have to worry about knock down power any more 8)

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

Creole seasoning

hands down, the best seasoning in the world :mrgreen:

thanks for the recipe, ill give'r a shot if i can ever shoot one. everybody tells me things things are too tuff to bother killin, but with grocery store prices now adays, ill shoot anything i can eat

ive got the 835 ulti mag. you recon 3.5 turkey shells would do the trick for a goose?

im fixin to order a slug barrel for it, cant wait to see the hole it'll put in a deer with these expense 3.5 mag slugs i got layin around i cant shoot

 

[Quackrstackr]

ive got the 835 ulti mag. you recon 3.5 turkey shells would do the trick for a goose?

I suspect that they would work great but you would get a federal ticket if you get caught. You can't use lead for waterfowl and the only non-tox turkey shells that I know of are the super expensive hevi-shot type stuff.

I'm glad to hear you say that you can't shoot slugs through that regular 835 barrel. Those are backbored/overbored and shooting a slug down one would be like throwing a bowling ball down a hallway. I have managed to stop a couple of people that were getting ready to cut a few loose through the factory smoothbore. :shock:

 

[DahFISH]

I suspect that they would great but you would get a federal ticket if you get caught.

Yep, I was checking that out before I posted.I didnt want to put bad info out there.

Hey Quackrstackr,
Do you breast them out, or do you leave the skin on? and if your leaving the skin what is your method of getting the feathers off. I usually take the skin off and not worry about the feathers when we smoke them. I would like to leave the skin on and try roasting one up sometime, but I can not stand plucking feathers.

 

[Quackrstackr]

I take the skin off. Too much trouble for me to pluck the things.

I have heard that dunking in hot paraffin or scalding works pretty well. I have also heard that those rubber fingered bird pluckers work really well.

 

[switchback]

Congrats on your first.

I have cooked a few and some ducks with this recipe and they were really good....

start off like Quackrstackr says with the slicing and marinade ..

then cut onion and bellpepper (red or yellow bellpepper) into slices about as wide as the strips of meat..

take meat and lay a piece of onion on one side and bell pepper on other side and wrap with bacon..

pin together with tooth picks and grill til bacon is the way you like it.

 

[dedawg1149]

:beer: congrats on you first

 

[DahFISH]

I have also heard that those rubber fingered bird pluckers work really well.

I've been looking at those and not sure if its worth $100+. They may work on geese but I bet they would mess up a duck or phesant.

 

[Quackrstackr]

I have also heard that those rubber fingered bird pluckers work really well.

I've been looking at those and not sure if its worth $100+. They may work on geese but I bet they would mess up a duck or phesant.

I have heard that they work well on ducks but I have never heard anyone say anything about pheasants.

You can purchase those heads that fit into a drill for less than $100, I believe.

 

[Fish Monger]

I haven't cooked this one yet, but I only cut the breast meat out, no skin. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of each breast half! poking around inside and I would say it is the same thing as a duck, the rest has essentially no meat and not worth the effort to pluck.

And to the earlier question, it's a model 500A Mossberg. I'm wondering if I can get a longer barrel than the one I have.... that might help????

 

[Captain Ahab]

And to the earlier question, it's a model 500A Mossberg. I'm wondering if I can get a longer barrel than the one I have.... that might help????

I do not believe that a longer barrel will help you very much. I suggest pattern testing your gun with a few different loads. In my experience (I used to goose hunt on a regular basis) the shells that you choose make a huge difference. For jump hunting over ponds steel shot was pretty worthless for geese - even out of a 3.5" shell

Try using tungsteen or other "hevi" shot as it really gives you much more knockdown power.

Here is how to pattern test your gun:

How to Pattern Test Your Shotgun
Select an area with a safe backstop, and secure a 40" sheet of paper to a target stand. Mark an aiming point in the center of the paper, and set the paper up at the distance you want to test. The distance should be the anticipated distance between you and the clay (or bird) when taking a shot. Next, shoot at the aiming point from a steady rest.

To analyze the pattern, draw a 30" circle around the densest portion of the pattern. Check the pattern for evenness and uniformity. There should be enough pellets in the circle to make a clean kill, but not so many that the game would be destroyed. Experiment with different loads, chokes, and distances to find the right combination for the chosen game.

 

[Quackrstackr]

With today's ammunition, the only thing that a longer barrel is going to do for you is improve your shooting form.

Like Ahab said, it will have pretty much zero impact on your range.

 

[Fish Monger]

Hmmmmmmm, I've patterned it using turkey load magnums, but haven't put any steel on paper. Maybe I should try that and see if it's changing a lot from the lead.