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/768942
16 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2017 Snow Goose Guns By Jarrod Spilger Spring snow goose season provides Nebraska waterfowlers more time afield. However, it takes specialized guns to bring down high-flying snows. Here are some ways to trick out your shotgun to save the tundra. Unplugged gunning of spring snows is allowed during the conservation order, so you aren't limited to only three rounds as during the regular season. Magazine extensions can up your shot count to seven, eight or even 10 rounds. Carlson's (choketube.com) offers affordable extensions for many popular shotgun models. So do RCI-XRAIL (xrailbyrci.com) and Nordic Components (nordiccomp.com), including hard to find extensions for Benelli's Super Vinci. A fast-shooting semi-auto will make the most of all those extra shots. Plus, there's the added benefit of reduced felt-recoil, especially with gas-operated models. That's an important consideration when rapidly firing multiple magnum rounds. After nearly two decades of spring hunting, long-lived snows have become extremely wary. Shots are typically long, even when birds decoy. Improved Modified or Light Full chokes provide tighter patterns than Modifed or Improved Cylinder. They also perform better with high-velocity loads and larger steel shot sizes, like BB or BBB, than a true Full choke. A Full choke can actually over-constrict high-speed non-toxic loads and create erratic, blown patterns. Try specialty tubes, such as Carlson's Cremator Long Range, Muller's Passing, or Rob Roberts' T3, for better downrange performance. The ultimate snow goose rig may be Mossberg's 930 Snow Goose. This gas-operated semi-auto is ready to go right out of the box and features white camo and a 13-round magazine extension. ■ PHOTOS BY JEFF KURRUS Common upgrades for snow goose guns include high-capacity magazine extensions and long-range choke tubes, such as these from Muller, Rob Robert's, and Carlson's. Feeding Birds By Julie Geiser The placement of feeders and seed type will determine the type of birds you will attract to your feeders. There are two things to consider when you wish to discourage certain types of birds at your feeders: food and feeder. Stop offering the food that the pest birds seem to consume most eagerly. For blackbirds this may be corn or mixed seed. For doves, it's mixed seed, containing milo, millet, wheat, and other grains. To discourage house finches, shorten the perches on your tube feeders, or order a special house-finch- proof feeder that has the feeding holes below the perches. Goldfinches and siskins will hang upside down to feed, but most house finches won't. As for feeders, stop offering food on the ground or on large platform feeders to discourage doves and blackbirds. Tube and satellite feeders are hard for them to negotiate. To discourage house finches, offer a limited amount of black-oil sunflower seed in a small satellite feeder, one that chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and goldfinches can visit one at a time. Goldfinches, siskins, and other finches love thistle or niger seed and black-oil sunflower seed. ■ PHOT PHOT PHOT PHOTOS B OS B OS B OS BY JE Y JE Y JE Y JEFF K FF K FF K FF KURRU URRU URRU URRUS p G m la T T b c a o A Northern cardinal on a platform feeder. Black-capped chickadee on a tube feeder.