Snow Goose Hunt: Semi-Auto 12 gauge? Recipes? Hunt Completed!

[bearpaw]

I'm going on a snow goose hunt in South Dakota. I only have pump shotguns and want to get a semi-auto for this hunt. I have been looking at three guns, a Browning Maxus II, a Franchi, and a Winchester SX4, they all feel pretty good when I shoulder them. I've read that the SX4 really is one of the best for low recoil and good patterns, I can't seem to find a reason to pay twice as much for the Maxus II other than it does look nice.

Do some of you guys have experience with these guns and recommendations?

Also, any good recipes for snow goose?

[huntingfool7]

Marinate the breasts overnight in Italian dressing.  Cut into steaks.  Wrap with bacon and run a skewer through them to hold it in place.  BBQ. 

[Kola16]

I have many friends with the SX4s and some with the Franchis. All have performed flawlwess when they hunt with me and all have had good things to say. None with the Maxus II, but multiple with the A5 who adore it. Another common one my friends have got is the A300 Ultima, but it cannot shoot 3.5" shells FYI. Since they are all good, reliable guns, it comes down to which one fits you the best. Which one is easiest to point, feels like an extension of your body, quickest to get on target in the store, etc. If you point the SX4 well, you should be very pleased with it.

For recipes, my mind went straight to reloading recipes for shells huntingfool7 has the proper interpretation of recipe I think. I like marinating the breasts multiple times, then cutting the breasts into long strips and making fajitas out of them. Any fajita recipe works as long as the meat has been marinating 24-48 hours. Do not cook the strips too long.

[C-Money]

The Franchi Affinity 3.5 has been great to my son who waterfowl hunts quite a bit. He takes care of the shotgun, but he is a kid, and its been flawless in all kinds of weather. Always ejects and points really nice. Nephew hunts with an Affinity as well, and he has had the same flawless experience. I had a Maxus, that was really nice too. It ejected everything I put in it. But I traded it away for something else, and stuck with my BPS. Have a great hunt!

[mboyle0828]

I love my SX4. Good bang for your buck (duck)!

[erronulvin]

We pretty much strictly  hunt just snows here in the columbia basin and my wife uses a franchi that only runs 3" shells and i run a benelli m2  that's a 3" gun as well. If you use the right shells, chokes you will kill em.

[metlhead]

Always have an excuse for a new gun. I've run out. Curious why you stipulate an auto when you've pump guns that yer familiar with. Many YouVids of extended tube guys just mowing into flocks of snows like a Mogo skinny spray n pray.

[brew]

Always have an excuse for a new gun. I've run out. Curious why you stipulate an auto when you've pump guns that yer familiar with. Many YouVids of extended tube guys just mowing into flocks of snows like a Mogo skinny spray n pray.

You answered your own question brother  any excuse to buy a new gun

[high_hunter]

An SX or Affinity are great guns and will serve you well.  If it's a hunt that allows extended magazine tube you may consider looking into those and a gun that's easily compatible like a Mossberg 940. 

[Smokeploe]

Snow goose recipe

Snow gees most of the time are just skinned, this is for those.

Cut up the snow goose as you would for stewing. 
Mix flour, salt, garlic powder, onion powder pepper and paprika.   Flour each piece.  In a large skillet brown all the pieces set aside.
Make a gravy from the oil use 5he left over flour mix.  Put the goose pieces in a large deep dish that you can put in the oven, preheat to 350.  Make the gravy as 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary, add 1 bay leaf,  add 1/8 cup brandy.  Add mushrooms and pour over the goose pieces cover with foil or lid the cook in the oven for appx. 45 minutes, test a thigh or breast to check if tender. 

Serve with mashed patatoes and your favorite vegetables!  And a good red wine of your choice!

Fine eating
Smokeploe

[HaydenHunter]

Going back to SD four my fourth year with the Conservation Hunt.  I shoot a 20+ year old Benelli SBE.  I have aftermarket chokes including a couple of nice Terror chokes but I have gone back to the factory Modified for these hunts.  I have an extended mag tube I put on that allows me 8 shots on a "go" but I rarely go more than 3 or 4 shots.  And while the SBE is capable of 3-1/2 inch shells I shoot 3 inchers almost exclusively. As geese go, snows run on the smaller side of the spectrum (especially Ross geese) and we like to shoot 'em close over the decoys.  No jump or roost shooting for us.  To each their own.

I have a couple of pump shotguns but I have been shooting the auto for so long that I won't shoot a pump unless it is an emergency back-up.

[The Gobble-stopper]

I prefer mine to be skinned, floured, seasoned and fried like chicken. But this is after I have put the skinned meat in salt water and aged in the frig for 5 days. This tends to tenderize the meat, as well as suck out any gamey or salty taste that comes out when the blood is sucked out. After the fifth day just remove and rinse and cook as described above.

[bearpaw]

Thanks everyone for the recipe advice! 

Cabelas had the Winchester SX4 on sale, $162 off, I went and held all three guns again, watched some more reviews comparing different models, and then bought the 3.5" SX4 while it was still on sale. Have shot it 9 times, very low recoil and it's fast to get back on target, so far I'm very happy with the purchase, the real test will come in March. I'll take along one of my old 835's just in case I have any problem or in case one of our other hunters has a problem. We have 8 in our group so we get a guide and field to ourselves for 4 days of hunting.

Talked with a friend who has done the same hunt several times and he lined us out on everything we might want to take with us. I still need to get a few things, and yes I'm going to get an extended magazine, but not going to get one that's longer than my gun barrel (not sure what brand yet). My friend said the loaded extender holds down the muzzle jump a fair amount and you get back on the birds faster, so even if I don't really need it, it still sounds like a benefit for quicker shooting.

I ended up getting a case of 3" Herters #1 very affordably at Cabelas, also have a few boxes of 3 1/2" BB's to put further into the extended tube for longer shots. My friend said Herters shoot good but are dirtier than some other brands and suggested I have a small bottle of gun oil in my ammo box just in case.

I have wanted to do one of these hunts for years, I'm really excited to go!

[bearpaw]

Does anyone have a good tasting snow goose jerky recipe?

[wadu1]

Does anyone have a good tasting snow goose jerky recipe?

DM & email sent

[bearpaw]

Thanks wadu1, in a little over 4 weeks we will be patiently waiting in the blinds! 

[JKEEN33]

Does anyone have a good tasting snow goose jerky recipe?

Here is a link to a goose pastrami recipe. It is by far the best way to eat goose I have tried.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pastrami-canada-goose-this-stuff-is-off-the-charts-by-good-friend-rance-gamblin.170661/ 

[bearpaw]

Does anyone have a good tasting snow goose jerky recipe?

Here is a link to a goose pastrami recipe. It is by far the best way to eat goose I have tried.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pastrami-canada-goose-this-stuff-is-off-the-charts-by-good-friend-rance-gamblin.170661/

Thank you

[bearpaw]

I left in the late evening, but had a mishap on the way, I hit a deer with the wife’s car, went into a spin on the interstate in Montana at 80ish mph, bounced off the concrete center divider, finally got stopped halfway into the ditch. Wow, I just sat there a minute absorbing what just happened! Finally got out of the car to inspect the damage. It wasn’t as bad as I figured, mostly just the grill and below was damaged. I picked up a few broken plastic parts and checked the radiator and oil, both were ok, so i started the car it seemed to run ok, then I sat a few more minutes weighing my options and if I should turn back. Finally decided to go to deer lodge and inspect the car further.

I checked the car over again while fueling up and decided to continue on for the hunt. At miles city some warning light came on and cruise quit working. I spent a few hours there reading up on warning lights and deciding if I should go back to a dealership in Billings? I finally decided the warning lights were mostly for the auto driving sensors and headed for South Dakota.

We hunted 4 days March 23-27, the first day was the slowest day, we saw thousands of birds but a lot of them were very high and most would not respond to the decoy spread or the electronic calling, we did manage to end the migration of 18 geese that first day.

The next day we went to a different field, not as many geese flying but still saw thousands, most importantly we had a lot more geese that came into the decoys and calling, and we put 32 geese on the ground. I did start having trouble with my SX4jamming, had to oil it a couple times. A friend who was hunting in another group had told me that I might have trouble using Herters ammo which I had bought on sale at Cabela’s, he had said it shoots good but has real dirty powder causing jamming, and he was right, I will never buy it again.

On the third day we went back to the same field, another great day with 33 geese retrieved that day. More trouble with my gun jamming, had to oil it a couple times. Another shooter in our group had also bought herters ammo and he had to oil his gun too.

On the 4th day we went back to the same field again, wasn’t quite as good, we managed to get 23 birds on the ground. That morning I oiled the dickens out of my gun and had no more trouble that day. I also started shooting more Winchester ammo that day. We ended up with 108 birds total, we had a small freezer and a large cooler both filled with geese.

It was a great time, we had a blast, I would definitely do this hunt again! But I would change a few things, try to avoid hitting a deer and don’t buy any Herters ammo! 

Photos of the first morning, we moved the layout blinds because the wind was coming in different than the last day that spread was hunted, then we walked through the spread and set up any decoys that were knocked over laying on the ground. There are 2000 of the wind sock type of decoys, plus 6 to 8 flying decoys and 4 to 6 spinner tornado style decoys in every spread.

[bearpaw]

More photos of the hunt

[bearpaw]

,

[bearpaw]

More

[bearpaw]

.

[Dan-o]

That just looks amazing!!!

Glad you're OK after the accident.

[bearpaw]

That just looks amazing!!!

Glad you're OK after the accident.

Yeah me too, I told the wife my 9 lives are running out!

It was really a great time and we had a great guide, fun guy and very knowledgeable. Its good to be on the receiving end of a guide operation every now and then just to remind a guy what's important to the hunters who are receiving your services.

[ASHQUACK]

That just looks amazing!!!

Glad you're OK after the accident.

Yeah me too, I told the wife my 9 lives are running out!

It was really a great time and we had a great guide, fun guy and very knowledgeable. Its good to be on the receiving end of a guide operation every now and then just to remind a guy what's important to the hunters who are receiving your services.

Can I ask what guide service you used?

[bearpaw]

It was https://neuoutdoors.com/

[Bob33]

That’s a great story and wonderful pictures. Interesting feedback on the shotgun and ammunition.

I’m glad to hear you survived the deer collision. I hit a deer once in Wyoming. When I got home I called my insurance agent and told the woman who answered that I had hit a deer. She put me on hold to ask the agent, and when she returned asked whether or not the deer was alive. Well, before or after? I gathered that if you hit a live deer it's the deer's fault and is covered by comprehensive , but if the deer is dead it's a collision since you're supposed to miss it.

I had a friend who was in that same area and took a picture of a car that looked like it had just hit something and was pulled over. I wondered if it was you?