I shoot light small-bore guns at wild Bobwhite over Brittanys. Usually a 5-1/2 pound sixteen gauge. I also have some down to 4-1/2 pounds. When I get into a discussion of sport and gauge here it is usually after someone has disparaged the use of small gauges and they usually state that a 12 gauge should be used from pointed Bobwhite up through pheasant.
The point of being out watching the pointing dogs is sport. The point of using a small gauge is sport. The rational choice is to get your Gallinaceous bird at drive-up window at Kentucky Fried Chicken and be done with it.
One of my customers has a 200,000 acre ranch. He is an avid Bobwhite hunter and has been for decades and spends huge sums of money on habitat and hunting each year. He has studied both the birds and the hunting. I get to go with him now and then. He has a rule that no 12 gauges are allowed - and no shot smaller than #8. It is his opinion that the 42% increase in shot of 12ga over 20ga inadverdently wounds and kills birds besides the intended to a greater extent than a smaller shot charge.
I was in Montana in September. I took an old beat-up eight pound Parker 12 bore because I shoot it well. A pointed covey of Huns flushed and I knocked down four birds with one shot. 1-1/8 ounce of 8s out of a cylinder choke. I only intended to hit one and the rest were behind the targeted bird. I shot several more inadverdent "doubles" on that trip, usually on Sharptails.
My current thinking is that 3/4 ounces of #9 shot out of a modified or full choke might be the optimum combination when trying to limit "collateral" Bobwhite damage. The lighter shot load means few pellets, the #9 shots runs out of energy in a shorter distance, and the full choke lowers the area of the pattern.
Best,
Mike
I rest my case.
