If you are just staying up there, a 28ga would likely do fine.

Anymore I work about half time and go fishing, hunting, biking,hiking and traveling the rest of the time, so I get out. Never been back east much except quick in and out on business, although I will go next summer on the Boy Scouts national staff for the 100th Anniversary Jamboree by Richmond, VA. Guess you'd call that back east. Doing the biking and shooting event. I am not familiar with hunting conditions back there.

I agree with Richard, Bruce and Bill. I think the most important thing in shooting wild birds is shooting a gun that you shoot well whether it is a 28 or an 8 ga. Personnally I started hunting wild birds in SD with a 12 F/F, gradually dropping down to a 20 and now carry a VH 28 exclusively for the simple reason it is a dream to carry all day. I am fortunate to have a great dog and I will draw much criticism in saying that I shoot nothing more than 3/4oz of 7 1/2's. Under 40 yds. it is a deadly load. If you are not hitting these birds in the head and neck area you are going to chase cripples no matter what you are shooting. Even when I carried a 12 I passed up any bird over 40 yds. for the simple reason that truly good pheasant cover is dense and even with a good dog retrieval is problematic. The bottom line is learn to shoot well, whether it is by shooting skeet, trap, sporting clays or a combination of all. Then use plenty of choke. The birds we hunt deserve this respect.
Daryl

What about 28 gauge?
 

I don't own a 28 gauge and have not used one. I have a half-dozen friends who annually use only 28s hunting with dogs in the plentiful wild grouse and woodcock coverts of New Brunswick. They use the larger gauges for everything else. Any thing is possible with any gauge but that's not the game for me.

Daryl makes a good point - to fully respect the game we hunt we must be sure to kill them as cleanly and quickly as possible. I really enjoy my twenty-eights but would never think of using one for pheasants or waterfowl. I've taken a tightly choked 28 out for turkeys but never had the opportunity to use it. In the case of turkeys we're shooting at a naked head and neck that is pretty stationary so, in my opinion, a 28 is 'respect' enough.