How tough IS a pheasant ????

[Harold Pickens]

I used #7's in my 16 gauges for stocked pheasants this year without any problems. Used both 7/8 and 1 oz loads, and really didnt care which I used. The shots were pointed birds over my setters, so were all relatively close.
Side note: used #7's, 7/8 oz for grouse this year, thinking I would have fewer cripples, and more dead in the air birds, really couldnt say they were more lethal than 7 1/2's.

[Bill Anderson]

All depends on how old it is and how you cook it.

Bill

[gunho]

Hunting and living in Ks. for over 45 yrs. with Brittany dogs, my hunting partner and I predominantly hunted quail where pheasants were abundant (north central and northeast Ks.). We both used handloaded 1 1/8 oz. 7 1/2 shot, at 1255 fps. We killed an awful lot of pheasants and I don't believe we wounded any more than anyone using bigger shot. We took reasonable shots and were decent shots. When I hunted only pheasants I would generally use 1 1/4 oz. of 6's and can't say the wound ratio was any different, but I preferred a little more oomph. I would not have any worries about shooting stocked pheasants with 7's.