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Guest

The best pheasant load is the one you can put on the front half of the pheasant.

I believe I will steal that Internet advice.

Joined: 27 Sep 2015 Posts: 177 Location: Alabama

Yep Dave

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1841 Location: Central ND

Dave has it right!!

Fully in agreement with the front half of a pheasant recommendation. Given some results I have seen when a pheasant is going straight away over a point/flush at one's feet, I've about decided that it would be best to just pass on the bird!! Hard to believe that a rooster gets away when one sticks the gun barrel up the exhaust pipe at 15-20 yards and pulls the trigger, but it happens more often that one would imagine.

4Setters,

A big old wild Pheasant late in the season can be tough to bring down on a straight away gunning set up. Definitely helps to have a good dog to track and retrieve in this kind of situation.

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Just an opinion...straight-aways seldom are.

I do suspect that they, and shallow departure angles, are more often missed or edged by a lifted head and/or a too quick trigger finger.
Something about that view seems to rush us, at least, they do me.

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1841 Location: Central ND

There is nothing in the butt end of a pheasant that you can hit with a shot swarm and expect an instant kill.

The vitals of a pheasant that get you a quick kill are all on the other end.

On a going away shot, what we do is float the bird on the bead and if we have a flat shooting gun 50% of the pattern is under the bird, the rest hits the bird where it isn't going to do much at least not instantly.

Regardless of the direction the bird is flying you have to lead the head and sometimes we just don't do that.

Instant kills are often about density, distance and pellet size...as well as placement.
So are misses and woundings.....in the best of places.
Tail pipes can be instant, of course.

Knowing when not to shoot tho...is indeed the ticket.
Most of us are not all that hungry.

Guest

A few years ago I noticed a mini-funk where I was either crippling or whiffing on straight-aways or near straight aways, and these were birds well within range.

I got my answer one day at the end a long dry creek in Iowa. My big Draht Gus went on point at the line fence at the end. It was the typical messy burm of dirt, field rocks, weedy cane, etc. I dropped the rooster, but he was again flapping and fell into the obscured dry creek bed. I immediately hustled around the whole thing to cut it off on the perpendicular line fence. Got Gus over there and no scent. So sure I had a runner I then took him to all the three escape routes. Nada. Then back down into the dry bed and in a minute here he comes with the rooster.....two broken legs. Hmmm, shooting low.

The next similar shot was back in Wisconsin on a knob above a swamp where I had missed a bird pushed off the edge earlier in the season, and it was another puzzling whiff.

This time I did engage the brain and made sure I kept the barrel moving up and swung through to a memorably successful shot. Roosters are nearly always rising and they tempt you to spot shoot with a dead gun. Of course on the near straight-aways you are then both behind and low. Your best chance is getting the pattern high and strafing the head, neck, and getting whatever damage you can below.

Dave, Since the top barrel of my 'Citori patterns high (and the bottom, dead on), I shoot the top barrel first, as pheasants are almost always rising as they leave. The 2nd shot is usually after they have leveled out a bit, so the bottom barrel is next. I probably shoot my Citori better than any other shotgun I have at upland game, and the poorly regulated barrels are probably why!!! I've killed a lot of pheasants and quail with it over the years.

Guest

Sounds perfect, 4setters. My Iside has a high point of impact and it really works well for me on pheasants.

Guest

The Brits would tell you to imagine a pheasant is wearing a top-hat and shoot it off.

Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Posts: 754 Location: Mn.

Must be the off season. Time for the annual pheasant load thread I see. Laughing