Mr. Brown,
I sorta hate to tell this story but...
Many years ago I, my dad and two brothers hunted lots of pheasants in Idaho. Late in the season, when the fields were mostly plowed and bare, the cock birds would heard up into large groups. Not unusual to see 20-40 of them together. They would stay in the fallow fields in plain sight. They would stay about 45 or 50 yards from the road and when a car stopped they would put their heads down and run away. They knew from experience they were safe in that situation.
I have seen dozens of folks stop and try to kill these birds from their cars. Most took the first shot on the ground. Even a pattern right over the back of a bird would do nothing. And, certainly nothing after they flew. I assume most of these folks were shooting pheasant loads with 1 1/4 oz of 6s. But the birds had their backs turned and heads down and they would be running away. No way the pellets would penetrate. At the shot, they would take off but they were too far away.
We developed a technique that worked very well.
Again, in this forum, I should be embarrassed, but, I used to shoot an 1100 duck gun with 3" chamber and 30" full. And, I was young and rather aggressive in my hunting. I was also a pretty decent shot having competed for years at trapshooting.
I found that the problem was getting the birds into the air. Once in the air, they did not have all the feathers and protection they had with their back to you on the ground.
In the air a Federal Premium 3" copper plated #4 was murder. But they would only fly when shot at and would run immediately on stopping.
If you put a shot across them with the #4 on the ground it would do nothing. (It would get the flock into the air.) The only way to kill one on the ground was a head shot. Very unlikely with the 4s. For the big duck loads(prior to steel shot), they had to be in the air with their wings spread and their body vulnerable.
I found that a Remington international pigeon load with 1 1/4 oz of nickle plated 71/2s would kill one on the ground (a head shot) a little over half of the time and would put the group into the air immediately.
With the gun loaded with 3 or 4 3" Federal duck loads in the magazine (I can't remember if the gun would hold 4 3" loads or only 3.)and one Remington international pigeon load in the chamber I was more than effective.
I almost always killed two birds from the flock, and often killed three. (I won't tell if I ever killed four. That would probably have been illegal.)
I guarantee a Federal Premium 3" #4 copper plated shell in a tight full will kill pheasants with authority at 70 yards (as long as they are in the air). I paced many, many off. And, I well realized that they would fall dead well past where they were shot.
I certainly don't recommend nor would I ever again participate in that kind of hunting (killing?). But I learned alot about the power of a fast load with big shot first hand.
Best Regards, Jake
