Mike, our differing opinions of efficacy and conservation may be a generational thing. It would be unconscionable for me and those I gun with to wait for a pheasant or any bird to get 25 yards away before shooting at it. We prefer birds within 25 yards, jinking and flaring, for sporting and effective shooting. Slow and deliberate shooting, arbitrarily riding out a bird, is as good a way I can think of for losing it.
I didn't mean to imply that I ride birds. I don't. I simply use the first 2-5 seconds of any flushing opportunity on a pheasant to acquire the bird with my eyes, adjust my feet if necessary, and sometimes wait patiently a second or two until it provides a sporting shot clearly beyond 20 yards...then I strike like a rattlesnake.
I agree that riding any moving target is a good way for the typical shooter to miss targets. But only because it's a skill that isn't practiced enough to avoid the inherent pitfalls.
I do shoot grouse and the occasional woodcock as close as 20yds but, frankly, it's some of the most boring
shooting I do. I seek out ruffed grouse cover that often offers opportunities for 30-40 yd shots and I refrain from shooting gamebirds at a distance that's likely to render them inedible. I haven't found that particularly hard to do since I turned 40 or so. For jinking, flaring and sporting shooting I much prefer crows and feral pigeons in the 30-50 yd range to the few game species I hunt.
From the little I've seen an heard of it, I think I'd immensely enjoy pass shooting teal and divers but I haven't had the opportunity.
