The giant honkers had their black feet splayed for a soft landing, as their wings creaked from the back-peddling strain to drop in elevation. When the call came to 'take them,' a flurry of activity commenced with blind doors flying open, hunters rising to attention, shotguns pointing skyward, and the thundering rattle of shotshells being triggered by excited participants. 

The big geese never knew what hit them. Five of the dark-winged birds were laid out in the decoys, taken cleanly by well-placed patterns of steel shot. There were no cripples. The gunners had put their pattern where it counted and collected some impressive birds.  My hunting buddy was a novice waterfowler, but that didn’t matter. Once the birds committed to landing, there was simply no escape. The fact that the shooters knew exactly how their guns and shotshells would perform was what made the difference, and it showed where it counted, with the first flock of birds lying in the decoys.

Living in the Past
Unfortunately, scores of Canadian waterfowl enthusiasts are still bucking the switch to steel shot, and many have hung up their smoothbores because of it. What a shame. There are lots of rumours floating around about the ineffectiveness of steel, but, it makes most of us better shooters with increased speed. 

Bird hunting has been tremendous in recent years with plenty of opportunity for those interested in getting into the field. Goose populations are burgeoning, and ducks have been holding their own after poor habitat conditions wreaked havoc through the late 1980s and beyond. Using steel shot effectively really came to light for me while hunting Canada geese with my son. The small flock of birds described earlier worked their way to the decoys and when I gave the shooting command, we sat up from our coffin blinds to shoot. I picked the lead bird and just before I squeezed the trigger the big honker flipped backward and careened to the ground. The same thing happened with the next bird I picked. My son, with only one year of hunting experience, had shot the birds quickly and cleanly right from under my nose. He wasn’t using the biggest magnum shotshells on the market but loads that were gentle on his shoulder. I couldn’t have been prouder and was forced to scramble to collect a few birds of my own.

The problem with the older shotgun crowd is they are still trying to shoot with lead.  It can be equated to the change to the metric system many decades ago. We should all be thinking in metres and kilometres, but for many, it is impossible to get the feet and miles out of their brains. For the younger generations, like my son, it is easy. Steel is all he knows, and it works great. Anyone that thinks they are an experienced shooter and has made the conversion to steel could take a lesson from our youth.

Advantage Steel
Understanding steel shot and how it works and performs will increase your success in the field. Believe it or not, there are advantages to using steel shot. Most bird hunters miss their target by not following through with enough lead. That is why most missed shots are trailing the target; people are simply shooting behind them. The old magnum lead shells shot at about 1,250 feet per second (there’s that metric problem I was talking about). The new magnum steel loads, like those in the Winchester High Velocity lineup, are shooting an incredible 1,550 feet per second. The increased speed of up to 300 feet per second actually can make some of us better shooters. To put things in perspective, the difference is the speed of an arrow shot from a modern bow. An increase of 300 feet per second is a major difference!

Steel pellets only have 60 percent of the weight compared to the same size of lead pellet. That creates a few points that shooters must be aware of. The lighter pellets are faster but do not provide the same energy as lead. That is why manufacturers recommend increasing shot by two sizes when switching to steel from lead. These are important numbers to remember when choosing a load for pheasants, versus ducks when using the same gun. If you shot No. 4 lead, No. 2 steel will provide similar energy. What the steel lacks in weight it must be made up for in size. Steel is a very hard product and does not release its energy well as soft lead when hitting a bird. However, it does provide better penetration, especially with the increased speed. A well-placed shot on the front third of a bird is devastating.

Make Your Target Small
If you want to improve your success rate, start looking at just the head of the bird you want to shoot. The head of a large Canada goose is close to the same diameter of a standard clay target. To use the head as your lead point, you increase your chances of firing a killing shot. Try to avoid body shots with any shotshell.

There are a couple of factors to remember when assessing the hitting, or killing power, of any load. Being on target is critical no matter what you are using. The number one mistake of all bird hunters is they do not pattern their guns on a regular basis, if at all.  How can you be on target if you don’t know where your pattern is concentrated?

The steel patterns can be impenetrable walls when patterned properly. Steel loads have bigger wads that allow more pellets to be put in each shell. The extra room helps to get the total weight increased for the load. The big 3-inch lead magnums we shot in the past were 1 5/8 or even 1 7/8 ounce. The big steel magnums usually run around 1 1/8 ounces.  Steel is lighter than lead, and you make up for it with bigger pellets and more of them. More pellets per shell mean better patterns in most guns that have been patterned for optimal performance.

When you head to the range, don’t be shy with the pattern targets or loads that you want to shoot in the field. Steel patterns do not open as quickly as their lead counterparts and hunters must be aware of pattern performance at different distances. Knowing what your pattern is doing to increase your optimal performance may have you setting the decoys at 25 metres rather than at 15, to take advantage of a bigger pattern. Most steel shot through a modified or improved cylinder choke will start patterning well at 25 metres. Anything below that usually produces a tight pattern, making it more difficult to hit your target. A bigger, full pattern will give you maximum exposure on any target, so make sure you know what your gun is doing at different distances.

Wad-stripping chokes can be used to increase pattern size at close range and can make better shooters out of most hunters. There are several options, depending on the range where you want to optimize pattern size.

Pattern Your Gun
Shoot pattern boards at five-meter intervals from 20 to 60 meters to see what the pellets are doing and how many are staying in the kill zone. Most patterning targets are printed in the U.S. and have a 30-inch diameter circle as the critical zone. The goal is to fill the circle with evenly spaced pellets to make sure you get the best performance.

If the pellets are grouping and not spreading properly, you may have to go to a more open choke. Most steel will shoot well through a modified choke, but if you have an improved cylinder or skeet choke make sure you try them to note the difference. It is amazing what you can find out with a little time on the range.

Some of the hunters that have dropped out of the waterfowl scene feel they don’t have a gun that can shoot steel. Most of our older model shotguns have full chokes, which were ideal for lead but can blow a pattern with steel. Most guns can be bored out from a full to modified choke at your local gunsmith.

Steel does not compress like lead, so the appropriate choke needs to be used to shoot best patterns. Steel is too hard to be compressed and needs to shoot out of the barrel uniformly to be effective. Most shotshells wads are made to throw the steel into a uniform pattern as it leaves the barrel. The wads also play a role in protecting barrels by creating a virtual liner for the steel shot as it travels towards the muzzle.

Learning to shoot steel is not difficult. My son picked it up in no time, making me wonder if my eyesight and reflexes aren’t starting to fail. There is a lot to be said about the adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

For those of you that have already keyed into steel and are taking advantage of our great resources, you know that steel can be effective. Try playing with your loads to get better pellet density and diameter and your success in the field will improve.