NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/644631
18 NEBRASKAland • MARCH 2016 Snow Goose Hunting in March For hunters new to the light goose conservation order, keep the following things in mind as you venture into the field. Regulations • White and blue-phase snow geese and Ross's geese may be hunted statewide, but different regulations apply in each zone, including closing some areas to avoid disturbing other migratory birds, including ducks, cranes and other geese. • There are no bag or possession limits during the light goose conservation order. • Shooting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. • Unplugged shotguns and electronic calls may be used. Hunting Tactics • Scout, hunt, and then scout again. These wary birds will not stay in one place for long; be prepared to move often. • Many decoy spreads contain hundreds of decoys to fool snow geese. Use a combination of shells, full bodies, silhouette and rag decoys to afford these hunts. ■ By Julie Geiser Choosing a Turkey Choke By Jarrod Spilger Careful consideration should be made when choosing a turkey choke for spring gobblers. You'll need something much tighter than the full choke tube that came with your shotgun to get the dense patterns needed to place enough killing pellets into the head and neck vitals of a tom. On a standard 12-gauge with a .730-inch interior bore diameter, an Extra-Full .665-inch turkey tube is a good start. On overbored barrels with larger bores, a slightly more open .675-inch choke might be a better choice. You don't want a choke that's too tight, though. Over-constriction is almost worse than not enough, as it can cause pellet deformation and "blown" patterns with large gaps. There's a fine line between too little constriction and too much. The only way to determine if a choke is producing dense, uniform patterns is to shoot your chosen load at a turkey target. The conventional benchmark is 100 pellets in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards. However, you're not shooting at 10-inch circles, but rather at a gobbler's head and neck, which is much smaller. For that reason, I like to count only head and neck strikes when determining pattern effectiveness. While it's true one pellet in the right spot is all it takes, don't rely on luck. Twenty pellets in the head/neck vitals is good, 40 or 50 hits (or more) is even better. Do your homework this spring and pattern your shotgun before turkey season begins. That way, when you call a gobbler within range, you can pull the trigger with confidence. ■ PHOTO BY JARROD SPILGER PHOTO BY JULIE GEISER