What Size Shot for Ducks and Geese

The trade-off: pellet count against energy

Every shot-size argument is the same argument in different clothes. A smaller number means a bigger pellet. A bigger pellet carries more energy to the target and punches deeper; a smaller pellet lets you fit more of them into the same payload, which means a denser pattern and more chances to hit something vital. You cannot have both in one shell, so shot size is where you decide which failure you would rather risk: a bird hit by too few pellets, or a bird hit by pellets that did not penetrate.

That is why bird size and range both show up in the answer. A green-winged teal at 25 yards is a small, thin-skinned target in close, so pattern density wins and a smaller pellet is correct. A Canada goose at 40 yards is a large bird with heavy feathers and bone at distance, so energy wins and a large pellet is correct. Everything in between is interpolation.

Payload matters too, and it is published on every box. Federal publishes 1 1/4 ounce at 1,450 fps for its standard 3-inch Black Cloud 12-gauge loading and 1 1/8 ounce at 1,635 fps for the High Velocity BB loading — a heavier payload at a lower speed against a lighter payload moving faster. A heavier payload of a given shot size means more pellets, which partly buys back the density you lose by going up in pellet size. That is the lever most hunters forget.

One honest caveat before the tables of thumb: shot size interacts with your choke and your gun, and the only way to know what your gun actually patterns is to shoot it at paper. Two shells with the same published shot size can pattern very differently through the same choke, which is the reason wad design gets its own line on every spec sheet. Our 12 gauge vs 20 gauge and 3-inch vs 3.5-inch shells pages cover the two other variables in the same decision, and best choke for duck hunting with steel shot covers the fourth, including which tubes their makers clear for large steel.

Shot material changes the answer

This is the part most shot-size charts leave out, and it is the single biggest source of confusion for anyone reading advice written before 1991 or written about lead.

Lead has been prohibited for waterfowl hunting nationwide since 1991, and only approved non-toxic shot types may be used. Steel — the default non-toxic shot — is substantially less dense than lead was, which means a steel pellet of a given diameter carries less energy downrange than a lead pellet of the same diameter did. The practical correction is to go up two shot sizes from old lead recommendations: where a lead No. 4 was the duck standard, steel No. 2 is the equivalent.

The correction runs the other way for the dense materials. Bismuth and tungsten are both denser than steel, so a smaller pellet does the same work. HEVI-Shot makes this explicit in the design of HEVI-Metal Xtreme: it stacks 30 percent tungsten pellets at 12 g/cc over steel pellets, with the tungsten deliberately loaded three shot sizes smaller than the steel, specifically so both layers hit with matching effect downrange. Published layered pairings for that load are No. 6 tungsten over No. 3 steel, and No. 4 tungsten over No. 1 steel. That is a manufacturer telling you the conversion in its own product design.

So a workable mental model is: pick the shot size you would use in steel, then go two to three sizes smaller if you are shooting tungsten, and one to two sizes smaller for bismuth. The full material comparison, with published densities and velocities, is at steel vs bismuth vs tungsten.

The short answer by bird

These are starting points in steel, for a hunter who has not patterned anything yet. Adjust down a size for close birds and up a size for long ones, and remember that the only authority on what your gun does is paper.

Teal, wood ducks and other small ducks in close: No. 4, sometimes No. 3. Small birds at short range reward pattern density, and a teal does not need a big pellet.

Mallards, gadwall, wigeon and pintail over decoys: No. 2 or No. 3. This is the single most common duck-hunting answer and the one most hunters settle on for a whole season.

Big ducks at longer range, and divers on open water: No. 1 or BB. Diving ducks are heavily feathered and are usually shot at longer ranges over bigger water, which pushes the answer up. See best diver decoys for the hunting that goes with it.

Canada geese over decoys: BB or No. 1. A decoying honker inside 35 yards does not need anything exotic, and plain steel BB does the job.

Canada geese working wide or passing: BB to T. This is where payload and material start to matter more than shot size alone, and where a tungsten blend genuinely earns its cost. The full load comparison is at best goose hunting loads.

Snow geese over a big spread: BB or No. 2, with payload and volume mattering more than pellet size, because the shooting is usually close and fast and you are going to shoot a lot. Federal publishes Speed-Shok in bulk cases for exactly this kind of hunting. See spring snow goose gear.

What the law requires

Shot size is your choice. Shot material is not.

Lead shot has been prohibited for hunting waterfowl and coots nationwide in the United States since 1991. Only the shot types approved by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service may be used, and the approved list is codified in federal regulation at 50 CFR 20.134, with the Service's own plain-language summary published here. Approved types include steel, bismuth-tin, various tungsten alloys and several others; the regulation also governs shot coatings. Read the current list rather than relying on a memory of it, because the approved-types list has been amended over time.

Two further things are state-level and change: some states and many individual wildlife management areas impose stricter rules than the federal floor, including shot-size caps and approved-shot lists narrower than 50 CFR 20.134, and a few restrict non-toxic requirements to specific areas or species beyond waterfowl. Check your state agency's regulations and the specific area rules for the property you are hunting, every season. Our waterfowl hunting season guide explains how federal frameworks and state regulations fit together.

Shot size by situation

One shell for a whole season. If you want to buy one case and stop thinking about it, buy steel No. 2 in a 3-inch 12-gauge load and shoot it at everything from mallards to decoying honkers. It is slightly big for teal and slightly small for long geese, and it will kill both. Federal publishes Black Cloud across gauges, shell lengths and shot sizes in standard and High Velocity versions, which makes it an easy line to standardise on.

Two shells, which is what most hunters actually carry. A duck load in No. 2 or No. 3 and a goose load in BB, swapped when the hunt changes. This covers almost everything and costs nothing extra in gear.

Early season in a timber hole or a pothole. Smaller: No. 3 or No. 4. The shooting is close, the birds are small and often young, and pattern density is doing the work. See early-season teal gear.

Late-season big water. Bigger, denser, or both: BB in steel, or a smaller pellet in bismuth or a tungsten blend. Late birds flare wider and the shots get longer, which is the one situation where paying for density returns something measurable. See late-season duck hunting gear.

An older gun with fixed chokes. Material matters more than size here, because many older barrels are not rated for steel. Bismuth is the usual answer, and Boss plates its bismuth with copper to address bismuth's tendency to fragment. Confirm your barrel's steel rating with the maker before you shoot steel through it, and read steel vs bismuth vs tungsten next.

A 20 gauge. Same shot sizes, less payload, so the practical range is shorter rather than the pellet size different. HEVI-Shot publishes 1 1/16 ounce at 1,350 fps in 20 gauge against 1 1/4 ounce at 1,450 fps in 12 for the same load, which is the gap in plain numbers. See 12 gauge vs 20 gauge for duck hunting.