Browning for years made a 24" upland special in their Citori line that came with a factory english stock. People bought them primarily for grouse/woodcock hunting in thick cover where they could be snap shot very quickly. I owned one in 16 gauge (very hard one to find) for some time. I found it didn't swing worth a darn and was more of a poke and pull the trigger gun. Still, in a grouse/woodcock situation very early in the season it worked quite well....
A friend of mine has one of those, in 20 ga. and he loaned it to me for a hunt we did last fall - he's convinced the dogs he was rehabbing would take the louder noise of a 16 or 12 badly and we were going to hunt the thick stuff - vines, bittersweet, brambles, old orchards, multiflora rose, you name it.
It handled quite well and I came to appreciate the 24 inch barrels - easy to maneuver in the thick stuff and not a drag to carry. Every gun has a purpose. Short-barrelled guns have a place and so do those bolt-action goose guns with 36 or 40 inch single barrels, the latter being "to prop up the tent".