Pheasant rounds

[Justfishin73]

Headed down to Stettler next weekend for pheasant festival. Haven't hunted them in a long while. Just curious what is being used these days. Using 12 ga, little heavy, but only break barrel I have. Choke too-modified?

[tolait]

Kent fast lead five or six shot will knock them dead.
Been out eight days with my new pup kente in the tube
No lost birds.

[catnthehat]

IMO the load you use is not so nearly important than if you can shoot well.
I've seen pheasants killed cleanly with everything from 3/4 oz to 1 1/4 oz and from shot sizes from 4's to 8's in gauges from 28 to 10 and with both bllackk powder and smokeless.
Most people like an I/C or MOD choke but I have also seen full and CYL used with great success.
the guns I use most are CYL/CYL or CYL/MOD.
Cat

[Justfishin73]

Shoot thousands of rounds of trap year round, pretty decent with a shotgun. Hunt lots of geese and ducks

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Justfishin73

Shoot thousands of rounds of trap year round, pretty decent with a shotgun. Hunt lots of geese and ducks

Grab some 1 1/8 oz 6's or 7 1/2's of your favorite brand and go kill 'em with your MOD choke, you shouldn't have any issues!
Cat

[timsesink]

I prefer a #6 out of modified but as Cat said, they ain't picky!

[sns2]

Only thing I have to add is that they do not wear armor.

[kayaker]

I have shot most of my recent pheasants with Kent Faststeel #6 or #3, my go-to duck and pheasant combo loads.

5 or 6 lead shot is the classic shot size, I don't ever feel the need to shoot much more than 1oz if I use lead. I don't killed them better with heavy magnums.

I like open chokes and normally shoot SK/IC with steel or IC/LM or Mod with lead. I see no need to go tighter than Mod for any bird hunting application with modern ammo. Recently I killed pheasants cleanly with steel shot in a CYL bore.

Get some 2 3/4 5 or 6 shot field loads between 1-1.25Oz (slightly larger shot if you use steel), if you have multi-chokes I would use an IC choke. if you only have MOD then that's good too.

[elkhunter11]

I prefer #6 nickel plated shot out of IC/IM chokes, regardless of the gauge, but as Cat posted, the most important factor is placing the pattern on the bird. If you want enough left to eat, let the bird get out to at least 20-25 yards before shooting.

[Versatile]

Full Choke
1 1/4oz
#4s minimum
3 inch mags (3 1/2 if your serious)
12ga
Autoloader

If you still can't down pheasants buy Federal Prairie Storm shells.

[bobalong]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

I prefer #6 nickel plated shot out of IC/IM chokes, regardless of the gauge, but as Cat posted, the most important factor is placing the pattern on the bird. If you want enough left to eat, let the bird get out to at least 20-25 yards before shooting.

I see you add this to every or almost every one of your shotgun posts about chokes or loads. Do you really believe that people think that a bigger/heavier load or different choke will help when they are missing the bird and they have to be constantly told this?

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by bobalong

I see you add this to every or almost every one of your shotgun posts about chokes or loads. Do you really believe that people think that a bigger/heavier load or different choke will help when they are missing the bird and they have to be constantly told this?

I was pretty much repeating what Cat posted

IMO the load you use is not so nearly important than if you can shoot well.

Yet you chose my post to criticize, and had no comment on him posting pretty much the same thing.

Yet the fact is, that many people worry far too much about chokes and loads, when the fact is that they don't kill more birds, because of their shooting, not because of the choke or the load.

[bobalong]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

I was pretty much repeating what Cat posted



Yet you chose my post to criticize, and had no comment on him posting pretty much the same thing.

Yet the fact is, that many people worry far too much about chokes and loads, when the fact is that they don't kill more birds, because of their shooting, not because of the choke or the load.

I will see Cat post the same info once and maybe twice not over and over 10 more times saying the same thing. Not arguing the info in your post, just wondering why you feel the need to continually post it , over, and over, and over and over and over..............I think we all get it

[whitetail Junkie]

#5’s for me

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by bobalong

I will see Cat post the same info once and maybe twice not over and over 10 more times saying the same thing. Not arguing the info in your post, just wondering why you feel the need to continually post it , over, and over, and over and over and over..............I think we all get it

No we don't all get it, the manufacturers make a lot of money selling people specialty chokes, and specialty loads, because some people want to believe that if they pay extra for those loads and chokes, they will immediately kill many more birds. If people didn't buy into that idea, the high dollar specialty loads, and specialty chokes would not be selling like they are. When two people are firing five and six shots at a bird on a regular basis,at a release site, the problem isn't the load , or the choke, and yet I know people that have tried several loads and chokes, and that now shoot 3" loads , hoping to kill more birds.

[angery jonn]

I'm pretty sure the point is flying right over your head.

[Mateo]

Thoughts on trap loads for pheasants?

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Mateo

Thoughts on trap loads for pheasants?

The OP is asking about the Stettler Pheasant Festival, so pretty much planted birds. In that situation, #7-1/2 three dram trap loads would probably work just fine, and choke selection won't be a huge factor either.

[angery jonn]

Get 6’s or 5’s out of a IC or a mod and shoot edible birds. To say chokes and shot size doesn’t matter is completely ridiculous. It all depends on the situation, but the above will give you the desired results.

[Justfishin73]

Originally Posted by angery jonn

Get 6’s or 5’s out of a IC or a mod and shoot edible birds. To say chokes and shot size doesn’t matter is completely ridiculous. It all depends on the situation, but the above will give you the desired results.

I agree--choke and shot size always matters. I can hit birds no problem, but always looking for an advantage-which choke and shot size can provide.

For geese I use a Patternmaster choke, and 3.5"-BBB----it sure as hell makes a difference over modified choke and 3"-#2.

Modified and #4 or #5 seems about right for pheasant

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Justfishin73

I agree--choke and shot size always matters. I can hit birds no problem, but always looking for an advantage-which choke and shot size can provide.

For geese I use a Patternmaster choke, and 3.5"-BBB----it sure as hell makes a difference over modified choke and 3"-#2.

Modified and #4 or #5 seems about right for pheasant

Pass shooting geese or even geese over decoys , is not the same as shooting pheasants , where the choke and bore do not make nearly as much difference .
Many shooters in live bird competitions such as the Brooks Classic use the maximum charge of powder and shot with a full choke available but I have cleaned a lot of birds shot with that stuff and would not use that system for hunting .
Over the pointers or flushers our birds are mirnally shot at 5- 20 yards , sometimes a bit further .
Cat

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Justfishin73

I agree--choke and shot size always matters. I can hit birds no problem, but always looking for an advantage-which choke and shot size can provide.

For geese I use a Patternmaster choke, and 3.5"-BBB----it sure as hell makes a difference over modified choke and 3"-#2.

Modified and #4 or #5 seems about right for pheasant

While I wouldn't use #9 or #2 for pheasants, or an extra full or cylinder choke, I could still kill planted pheasants with shot from #4 to #7-1/2, with chokes from IC to Full, so neither shot size or choke is critical. You specifically mentioned The Stettler pheasant Festival, which is pretty much planted birds. In that situation , the average shot distance over a decent dog will be around 15-30 yards. For those shots#6 will easily kill the birds, and an IC is pretty much ideal, so in a double barrel shotgun, IC/M, or I/IM are about ideal. For a single barreled gun, a Mod choke provides a little insurance for longer shots, but an IC, or LM ,will do a good job as well. For wild pheasants, a bit larger shot, and a slightly tighter choke may work out better, but the birds at the Pheasant festival are hatchery birds that have never been hunted.
As for waterfowl, I use 3" loads of #2 out of a LM choke,as do my hunting partners, and over decoys, that combination works just fine. We shot limits of geese the last two days with that combination, and we shot triples both days. If the geese weren't within the range we wanted then, we waited until we had geese coming in closer, we aren't trying to sky bust at 60-70 yards.

[wwbirds]

probably shot as many or more pheasants than most on this forum and routinely take them down with a 28 gauge 3/4 ounce load. In shotgun shells more is not better.
http://sidebysideshotgun.com/article...s_article.html

[stob]

shot a ton over the years with a 28ga ruger o/u ... briley tubes ... M/F ... have used the 2nd barrel only 1x and that was at a laser measured 54yds after the 1st tube stumbled him ... 1oz winchester #5 shot ... S.Spaniel ... 95% of shots under 35 yds

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by stob

shot a ton over the years with a 28ga ruger o/u ... briley tubes ... M/F ... have used the 2nd barrel only 1x and that was at a laser measured 54yds after the 1st tube stumbled him ... 1oz winchester #5 shot ... S.Spaniel ... 95% of shots under 35 yds

I have shot most of my pheasants and upland birds with the 28 gauge as well, and I use the same chokes and shot size as I do for the other gauges.

[angery jonn]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Pass shooting geese or even geese over decoys , is not the same as shooting pheasants , where the choke and bore do not make nearly as much difference .
Many shooters in live bird competitions such as the Brooks Classic use the maximum charge of powder and shot with a full choke available but I have cleaned a lot of birds shot with that stuff and would not use that system for hunting .
Over the pointers or flushers our birds are mirnally shot at 5- 20 yards , sometimes a bit further .
Cat

So let me get this straight... chokes and shot doesn’t really matter but you wouldn’t use a max load in a full choke? So obviously it does matter.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by angery jonn

So let me get this straight... chokes and shot doesn’t really matter but you wouldn’t use a max load in a full choke? So obviously it does matter.

No You are taking that completely out of context .
I could certainly kill birds with a 3 1/4 dram equiv. load of 1 5/8 Oz shot but there is no need to , as an experienced bird hunter I thought you would realize that .
Maybe I should have said I don’t Like shooting heavy loads for two reasons
The first is there is no need for overkill and smashing g birds up with disregard to back shooting or demolishing breast meat etc
The second is I shoot lighter loads that do the job quite well and are far easier on my shoulder .
Saying the load won’t work and I would not use a particular load are two different things
Cat

[sns2]

Base on the complaints received and a quick read, it seems a few guys have their panties in a knot in this thread. Get over yourselves. If you don't agree with a post, state why and leave it at that. Getting personal is so unnecessary, especially over something like this.

I honestly couldn't give a hoot what shell I had in my pocket or what choke is screwed in the gun. You could go and grab anything in my garage from BBs up to 7 1/2 trap loads and I wouldn't bat an eye. Why? Because planted pheasants are pretty dang easy to hit in the grand scheme of things.

[calvin]

I have been using 6's on everything. Mod choke or whatever my gun had in it when I bought it. Store bought birds will go down easier than the wild birds. Learn how to shoot well. I shoot the same thing the same way so there are no differences in the shotgun, only the speed and flight of the bird. I use 6's mainly because they're easier to get out of the bird when cleaning. I'm not good at hunting geese so I don't have much to say with that.

[58thecat]

2 3/4" ,mod choke, first two 7 1/2 shot and the last was BB just in case I needed to reach out.....