How tough IS a pheasant ????

[Bill Bates]

After trying 4s, 5s, and 6 shot over the years; my hunting buddy and I have settle on shooting 7 1/2 shot at pheasant, wild or pen raised. What we have found is that 7 1/2 shot seems to penetrate better collecting less feather. I mostly hunt pheasant with an English 12 gauge box lock and my favorite load is B&Ps Competition One 1 oz. load of 7 1/2s. They patterns very well in my gun (choked IC & M) and kills pheasant very dead. Even on late season wild pheasant I've found 7 1/2s work very well. Late in the season when hunting wild birds I switch to either my Parker GH or a Belgian Guild gun both with tighter chokes ( at least in one barrel the Belgian gun is choked cylinder and full) but the shot size used is still 7 1/2.

We do hunt over very good pointing dogs and we don't take that many 45 plus yard. Even in that 40 to 50 yards range 7 1/2s seem to kill well.

[Double Lab]

I agree with Mr. Bates on 7 1/2's. I work very hard to be the best shot I can be with a shotgun. We owe that to these birds. I treat a flying bird much the same I do with hunting deer. If I don't have a good , clean shot I won't take it. I don't count on large shot (4's or 5's) to punch through to to vitals. Head shots are the only way (for me) to cleanly kill a rooster. With practice on focusing on the head it can be done. I use tight chokes in my 28's, 20's and 16's and rarely use more than 1oz. of shot. I don't like picking large shot out of the breast and cutting out damaged portions of breast meat. That being said, a good dog or two is essential.

To everyone, have a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.