Just for the sake of it, what loads do you use for Upland bird hunting? Partridge, Woodcock or Quail. Oh heck, Pheasants too. I am looking at buying some RST 12ga 2.5'' #10 Woodcock loads just to try this fall.

I use 7/8 oz. of #8s for quail, same for woodcock but would not hesitate to try #9s. Sometimes use 11/16 oz. of #8s in a .410 for quail.

Don't have grouse here, so I can't say about them. But, for doves I use 11/16 oz. to 7/8 oz. at least 98% of the time. I start out using #8s on doves, but in the late season, when the birds (doves) are more mature, tougher, and fly higher I go to 7 1/2s. Only once in 58 years of shooting doves have I seen the need for over an ounce of shot. That was a very unusual situation.

SRH

I own some of the RST #10s, but only because I buy a box of everything RST makes when introduced, just because. I certainly wouldn't shoot #10 at any game bird, even a woodcock. This box will stay on the gun room shelf.

for grouse, 7 1/2's for first shot. 6 's for hail mary second shot.

for pheasants, same idea, cept make it 6's an 5's.

The best 2.5" 12 ga phez load I've used is the B&P in #5. Actually, I like it for any modern 12 - even a 391.

Grouse and WC seasons overlap in ME, so I won't use anything smaller than #8. The low-velocity Hi-Phez in #7 is what I feed a Daly-Sauer.

Sam

Out here on the Plains where you don't know for sure what is going to get up in front of the dogs point in the early season I use a one ounce load of hard #7s in the first barrel of my 16 gauge and follow it up with a one ounce load of copper plated #6s in the second barrel. After the Pheasants start flushing wild I switch the 1 ounce load of #6s to a 1 1/8th ounce load of hard 6s. After a covey flush I will change to 7/8th ounce of hard 7 1/2s to shoot singles. We ain't got no stinking Woodcock here in Kansas.

For pheasant in my 12, depends on how open the area is. If it's a little close, I'll go with high brass 6 (1 1/4 oz., I think) in both barrels. I've got a box of the old Remington Duck and pheasant loads in 6 that I'm working on. Open it up a little and I'll go to the same load of 6 in the right, and of 4 in the left.

For grouse, it's usually 2 1/2DE- 1 ounce of 7 1/2 RST in both barrels. Sometimes a 2 1/2 DE - 1 oz. of 6 RGL in the left. If by chance I'm using the 16 for pheasant, I'll go with the RGL 6 in the right and a reworked RGL (change out the shot) with 4 in the left.

Woodcock, whatever's loaded for grouse.

I hunt North FL quail with 12 gauge RST 2.5, #8 shot, 3/4 oz loads.

Pheasant.....just depends on the location and circumstances at the time. South Dakota, Idaho and Oregon all a little different. A lot of #6 and #5 for Pheasants though. If I know its more huns and chuchars though it is mostly #6. Again, the loads vary. I shoot lighter loads in SD because its typically closer shots there for me as opposed to the shots/hunting in Idaho and Oregon.

One ounce of hard 7's for about anything flying. Pheasant and ducks I'll jump up to 5's. Given a choice I'd rather have one or two pellets penetrate deeply than a bunch of tiny pellets burying themselves in the flesh.

I agree with Joe. I have had too many wounded and fly away Quail with 8's. I don't use anything less than 7 1/2's for Quail or Chukar.Some of my Cajun friends use 7 1/2's for Ducks. but 5's or 6's are better.

Grouse: 1 oz RST in 7 1/2 & then 6's later in the season
Woodcock: 7/8 oz RST in 8's

7 1/2 for quail and dove. 6 for chukar 5 for pheasant.

11/16 or 3/4 oz whichever I can find in .410

I hunt pretty much just grouse and quail. For that purpose I use a 1 oz load of 7 1/2 shot in a 20b, 16b and a 12bore.

Yeah, you guys don't have any woodcock, but you do have a few sharptail grouse out there, which in my humble opinion, don't taste all that much better than woodcock, especially late season sharpies that are as wild as can be. It seems the wilder the sharptail, the worse they taste. In September, they don't taste that bad....maybe because they are young birds?

For general upland hunting (Pheasant, Chukar, Partridge), I use a 16 ga w/ 2 1/2" Gamebore felt wadded shells (even in a 2 3/4 gun)w/ 7/8 oz #7 English shot.

For quail (plantation), I use 28 ga #8 target shells.

I can't imagine using #10 on anything living. And, back in the day, when I shot competition International Skeet, 3/3/4 dram Federal 1 1/8, paper hull, felt wad #10s was a preferred load.

Talking about the taste of birds, my Lab would refuse to pick up woodcock, though she would go and stand next to the body. I also think woodcock tastes like liver and I don't care for liver. Last time I was hunting woodcock, in the Apalatchafaya basin in Louisiana a couple of Januarys ago, the guide took us back to his home where he prepared some woodcock "trails," which I declined to eat. I'll let you guess what "trails" were.

Gosh a 12 bore has gotta be hard to load that's only.120 diameter. A number 9 shot is .080. I guess you get about a dozen number 9s in a 2 1/2 inch shell. What do you use for a primer, a fire fly's ass?

I use 7/8 oz RST 8 1/2's for both grouse and woodcock early in the season. Once the woodcock are gone, 1 oz 7 1/2's for grouse.

Pheasants: RST makes a very good pheasant load: 1 1/4 oz 5 or 6 @ 1200 fps, which is very close to the old 3 1/4 DE-1 1/4 oz pigeon load (which is hard to get in a quality shell these days, at least with shot any larger than 7 1/2). But most of the time, hunting them over pointing dogs, I use 1 1/16 oz Brit 6's--Gamebore Pure Gold--in the R barrel. L barrel, reload 1 1/8 oz American 6's at about 1150 fps, 7,000 psi.

Early and mid season grouse and woodcock 7/8oz 1150fps #8. Late season grouse 15/16oz 1150fps #7. Pheasant, sharp-tails and huns 15/16, 1 or 1 1/16oz 1200fps #6 depending on which gun/choke combination I'm shooting. All my upland guns are 16ga SXS's.

Any thing I stuff in my pockets as I go out the door works just dandy.

Located by a good dog, shot at reasonable ranges and found if not brought to hand by the four legged part of the partner-ship,any modern shot shell will harvest any Upland bird flying between the coasts and the borders. They truly will.

If you can break clay birds on a skeet range with #10, I bet you can kill woodcock with it. Like KWill, I am curious about RST's new woodcock spreader #10 load and I bought a box to try this fall. When I started hunting woodcock a long time ago, I used skeet loads (#9s), but I haven't seen much around recently and have been using #8s, or 7 1/2s, if I'm in an area when bigger birds are in season in the same area as woodcock.

Buzz - prepared properly, sharptail are a delicacy. They are delicious early in the season. They are equally delicious late in the season. All you have to do is take one look at the dark, rich meat to know that you can't cook them the way you would a lighter-fleshed bird, like a pheasant or ruffed grouse, or (God forbid) a commercially raised chicken. They have to be eaten rare, with a sauce or glaze (sweet or savory) that complements their rich flavor. I know guys who shoot stuff (sharptails, for example) that they have no intention of eating. For form's sake, they take them home, throw them in the freezer till they get freezer burn, then throw them out the next year. Game wastage is illegal in Montana, though nearly impossible to enforce. Still, it pisses me off when people shoot stuff they don't eat - especially beautiful native birds like sharptail grouse. If you don't enjoy eating it, just don't shoot it - it's that simple.
In answer to the original question that began this thread: 16 ga RST 1 oz # 6's: for everything, early and late: ruffed grouse, blue grouse, huns, sharptails, pheasant, chukar.

I seem to recall having read that in times past small gauge guns using #10 shot was a favorite of Rail shooters along the South-Eastern coast. They were a very small bodied bird & hunted by poling a boat through the shallow from which they would jump from the vegatation at close range.

Number tens would work just fine for marsh hens (rail), but there'd be lots of shot to go through while eating them. By the way, there are several types of railbirds down here. I think the one Miller has in mind is the Sora, which is pretty small; on the other hand, the Clapper, Virginia and King rails get on up to near pheasant size. Surprisingly, they are all very good to eat, having meat midway between 'quail white' and 'dove red'...Geo

Geo;
Yes it was the Sora I recalled that about. Having never hunted them or in that area, I only know what I have read about them. As I recall the #10s were used only in small gauges with light shot loads. I once had an opportunity to buy an old box of 20ga shells loaded with 3/4oz of #10 shot, probably were 2½" ones. Don't know why I didn't buy them, they were offfered real cheap.

Well, yeah . . . but some choices work lots better than others. I would not choose 3/4 oz 9's for pheasants, nor 1 1/4 oz 4's for woodcock.

Right you are Larry. I just don't see that the difference between an ounce and an ounce and a sixteenth, between 6 shot or 5 shot,3 drams or 3.25 drams equivalent and on and on, is really the issue so often made.

Early season pheasant I use #6. Mid season I use #5. Late season I switch to #4.

For Dove and Bob White Quail 7 1/2 shot.

When the Doves are flying High No 6 shot.

I use No 6 on Blue Quail from time to time also.

clayws, How do you cook the sharpies to make them delicious? I fried some Sept birds that were not too bad. Also, I hunted the Louisiana Atchafalaya basin last year for woodcock and a French chef prepared the birds, I believe baked with a French sauce and cooked them rare. They were pretty good, but clearly not as delicious as quail or ruffed grouse. Also, I used B&P comp 2000 #8 shot, 1 oz loads on the woodcock and couldn't have asked for a better shell. #9 or 8 1/2 shot undoubtedly would have been good too for those small birds. That was my first purely woodcock hunt (there was not anything else for me to hunt pups on last year with the drought), and it was interesting, but I would much rather hunt ruffed grouse or quail. Where I hunt ruffs, I generally let the woodcock fly off because I don't like to eat them very much and my little pointer grouse dog does not care for them much....she does not like to pick them up and it seems like she will hardly even point them.....and she is a way above average grouse dog. Odd!!

I don't like anything smaller than 7 1/2 (too many small shot to pick out of birds), use these on dove/quail and sometimes on chukars.

Real preference for chukars is #7.

Pheasants early, #6; later #5 (I stay with #6 in 16 gauge and lower; use 5s only with 1 1/4 oz loads in 12 gauge @ 1200 fps).

Sharptail and larger birds; reloads in #7s 1oz at 1150 fps in the right and reloads in #6 1 1/16oz at 1200-1250 fps in the left.

buzz -

Skin the sharptail (no need to pluck them)
Filet off the breasts.
If possible, remove the silverskin-type stuff, but not critical.
Poke holes in the meat with a fork.
Let sit overnight in milk, buttermilk or yoghurt.
Pat them dry then let them sit for a while - at least an hour - in something that will form a glaze and provide a nice contrast to their rich flavor. You can go with sweet: (Apricot compote, lingonberry jam, etc.) or savory (a simple barbecue sauce, or sundried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and rosemary, etc.)
Brush them with the sauce, and grill rare over charcoal. You can also pan fry them in butter, or butter mixed with olive oil, but grilling over charcoal is the best way for the glaze to form a crust.
They should be rare on the inside - it only takes about a minute and a half per side over a good fire.

(Save the legs to either smoke - great hunting snack! or you can can make confit with either duck fat - if you have any - or olive oil.)

Enjoy!

Where do you get the Gamebore loads? I have not seen a box in over 15 years?

I am going to order a box in 20ga, 16ga and 12ga just to have around. I am confident in my shooting that it is not the number of pellets per rounds but getting that pattern down to the target. I still like to try new items.

You can get Gamebore easily through Internet. I believe IntraSport imports them. I have quite a few of these shells and let me tell you, the 12 gauge kick pretty hard. Do a google search and you can easily find Gamebores. Eley shells are another matter. Wish we had access to Eley shells in the USA. I would like to try some.

www.ballisticproducts.com

Don't forget, they are English; #7=7 1/2 American and #6=American #7.

Good reminder, 2holer.

I've shot both Gamebores and Eleys, back when the latter were still available. What I've found is that most Brit field loads are not pussycats in the recoil department. But they also do a nice job on the birds. I really like Brit 6's for pheasants, and they also work very nicely on sharpies and chickens.

I'll have to try the above recipe for sharps and chickens. I start the same way clayws describes, by filleting off the breast meat. Then I usually just pan-fry them, very quickly, dredged in flour that's been seasoned with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. My wife is not a huge fan of wild game meat, but they're about her favorite. I've given up trying to get her to try woodcock, but that's OK because they're about my favorite. I often cook them the same way.

This has been a great help, and the fact I just love to see what other shooter/hunters use all across the Nation. Great info and thanks for all the posts. Keep them coming through the fall.

Kwill.

I, also, have enjoyed reading these posts. I grew up shooting wild quail in south Georgia and shoot a ton of released quail each year. I still occasionally get to shoot some wild birds.

I would add to the above posts by following the advice given to me by the old timers when I was a kid and it applies more today with the new tighter shooting shells. Pattern your gun at the distances you plan to shoot for each barrel. Different size shot and different brand shells may pattern differently in the same gun. I find this especially true in smaller gauge guns such as a 28 gauge which is what I almost always shoot. For two 28 gauges that I now primarily shoot: one patterns too tight with number eights and I have to use 8 1/2's in it even though I have both of them choked the same.

I prefer AA's which is what a well known gunsmith recommended to me years ago when I was shooting a 20 gauge G grade Syracuse Lefever with Chain Damascus barrels.

For pheasant I usually shoot a 20 or 16 gauge gun and mine do well with number six in the first barrel and number fives in the second barrel of the 20 gauge and number fives in both barrels of the 16 gauge.

Take Care.
Riprap

I bought a flat of Eley #5, 1 oz, 20ga about 6-7 yrs ago for SD pheasant. I've been whittling my way thru that flat, loaning/giving shells out etc. They do a nice job of anchoring a pheasant. I believe they are about equal to #6 American.