How to lead a goose

[Missy Skeeter]

For incoming shots, angle make a difference.
If the bird is coming in but the angle is 45 degrees or less, butt, belly, beak, bang!
If you wait too long and the bird is directly overhead, a much greater lead is required.

 

[Ravenanme]

Any target whether bird or clay can be a successful shot by , matching the speed with (barrel) an hard focus on the front edge (OR) the head of a bird !
This allows the muzzle to be in-sink with the Brain and your sub -conscious to feel the required lead or forward allowance ! There isn't any method
other than this , that's more consistent and once you learn to perfect your insertion point , you'll understand , how fast the barrel needs to be moved
to be on the right line to break/ kill it ! IMHO

 

[NJ219bands]

I

At 20 yds crossing , if the bird is doing 30mph (44 fps), and the shot will take about 0.05 seconds +/- to get there, you are looking at a 2+ foot lead at that distance. A shot at the head will probably ensure a body kill.

I clocked a Canada goose flying at 88 fps in NJ. It is very difficult to pass shoot them.

 

[LA in ATL]

Swing with bird. Tail, Beak, Boom

In Alabama I learned Butt/Beak/Boom, same technique, more alliterative.

 

[Uncle Fuzzy]

You can't lead a goose too far. Keep increasing your lead until yo see him pull his head back. Then you'll know you lead him too far. Another method I use is to shoot at a spot in the sky and hope he flies into it.

 

[Rick Hall]

Another method I use is to shoot at a spot in the sky and hope he flies into it.

That appears the most common approach.

 

[bill cooksey]

That appears the most common approach.

I thought the most common was to shoot up amongst ‘em.

 

[Rick Hall]

I thought the most common was to shoot up amongst ‘em.

Uncle Fuzzy referenced a single "he". Don't see it so much with geese, but might bet something nice a most green-wing flocks are "Marcel Ledbettered".

 

[Fogie]

Pass shooting geese isn’t much different than ducks for a pass shooter though the ranges are typically much longer, often extreme and as such can involve elevating as well as leading. Shells are available again that are reliable...TSS has been awesome.
Leading is instinctive as always and the birds are flying level and steady…no beak/bum and certainly no concentrating on anything.
Won’t try to take more than one usually, that is invariably the lead bird. When they scatter and evade it’s a no go unless they are in generally accepted close range. Can’t remember the last time my one shell was wasted.

 

[KwickLabs]

The ideas that work for me are 1) make sure they are in range, 2) pick out a goose
toward the back of the incoming geese, 3) swing through each shot, firing as I pass
each (shot or not) goose. If you miss..keep the "swing" smooth on into the strung
out flock.

I manufactured a theory based on a hunt several years ago. The first goose shot on
on a "swing through" progression was a 20+ year old, double banded reward goose
from Ontario. The old ones let the young, eager and naive geese "run interference".

In addition, this allows you to swing on into geese that are not flaring shots...as much.

https://www.kwicklabsii.com/goose-bands.html