KNOWING YOUR FIREARM – SHOTGUN PATTERNING
a couple of years ago I went on my first waterfowl hunt and it was tons of fun. I love being out on the water early in the morning. To hear the sounds of the geese, the ducks and see the sunrise up over the water. It’s beautiful to watch the world wake up. Our hunt went well. It was my first time in a duck blind and there was a muskrat to keep us company. We never actually saw the muskrat but could hear it under the blind. I was able to try calling in the geese. I had spent some time practicing my calls and getting to use them was amazing. We saw a huge flock fly overhead and when I called they changed direction. Incredible! I missed a few shots I should have hit and I knew it was because I hadn’t spent time getting to know my firearm. I had owned my shotgun for some time but didn’t really shoot it. Nevertheless I harvested my first goose! I was so excited. At the end of the hunt my boyfriend and I spent some time doing a little bit of target practice just to get more familiar with the shotguns. He wanted to get to know his shotgun as much as I did because that spring he had gone turkey hunting and missed. This past April we went up North for the long weekend and spent some time getting to know our firearms and patterning my boyfriend’s shot gun for turkey hunting.
Before I go any further with the story, here is a little bit about shotgun chokes. Each firearm and ammunition has its own nuances meaning it might not shoot where you are aiming with the combination of choke and ammunition you are using. It’s important to sight in a rifle or bow before hunting and the same is true of a shotgun. A shot gun choke is used to restrict the shot as it comes out of the barrel. This increases the density of the pellets for a longer period of time. Depending on the hunting situation this can be beneficial. Chokes in order starting with the most restrictive; Super full/turkey choke, full choke, modified choke, improved choke cylinder choke. There are also specialty chokes for skeet. With turkey hunting most people choose to use a super-full/ turkey choke or a full choke. This gives them an effective range of about 40 yards. Turkey can see and hear very well meaning you would want a higher effective range area so you can take a longer shot. Whereas a modified choke would have an effective range 30 yards making it a great all around choke used for a lot of sports. A lot of people might wonder if you could just use a full choke all of the time and you can, but depending on what you are doing it might not be the most effective. Many hunters use an improved choke when hunting small game birds and animals. Those animals tend to be closer to you when you hunt.
The day we went to do the patterning, we wanted to do a quick patterning so we decided to only pattern for turkey and would do goose and duck closer to the fall. We started out with 3 different turkey loads and used a full choke for all of the shots. We set up a target at 30 yards and shot with all three loads into different targets. There is no saving paper here and the targets should be a big target. You need to see the actual pattern of the shot and to see where your shot is hitting. Don’t assume that your shot is in the middle. That’s why we are doing this. (If you are making your own target, make a 30 inch circle in the middle of page. If you want a turkey like picture to aim at, make a fist and bend at the wrist. Trace the shape on to the page and presto you have a target.) After each shot, label each target with the ammunition and choke used and take only one shot per target. For our patterning, the first load shot low and to the left. The second was center and the third was low and to the right. It was interesting to see the outcomes and it gave my boyfriend a good idea of what ammunition to use for turkey hunting. He was able to go hunting with confidence that he had a good set up. I found patterning to be fun. I love an afternoon of shooting and when I get to learn more about my sport it’s a win/win.