I've been procrastinating on this one for far too long. And now that its waterfowl season again I've been encouraged to get this tip put together before the season is over.

With the Federal law requiring steel or non-toxic shot for all migratory bird hunting came the dilemma of learning which new sizes of shot was most appropriate for your hunting situation and conditions. Steel shot is lighter than lead shot and waterfowlers needed to begin using larger sizes of pellets in order to retain the same knockdown power of their old lead standbys.

Many times a hunter is in a hunting area where ducks, cranes, geese, and even snipe are available so different size loads are a necessity to be prepared for anything that may arise. When duck hunting steel #2s are most often used but bring on a flock of geese and steel BB or larger is necessary to insure good killing power for the larger birds. The problem was the ink label printed on the side of the shot shell that identified the SIZE of the shot pellet easily wore off from being carried around in shell vests or pockets as well as being loaded and unloaded many times before they were shot.

Now I use a black marker to label each shell on its side as well as the "brass" end so that I can easily locate those BB loads to put in the gun when a flock of geese appear on the horizon. Even in dim light these identification marks are easily read and are very durable in all weather conditions.

As most hunters have found out, its also convenient to keep different sized shells in separate pockets; my #2s go in the left pockets and #BBs go in the right side pockets.

Well that's it for this tip. Time to load up Jake and the deeks and head to the flats in hopes of intercepting some geese this afternoon!