doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT-- What is the best choke.......

You're going to try walking up pheasants on a preserve? No dog? I grew up hunting pheasants dogless in Iowa when we had a lot of them. Mostly hunted road ditches, which is legal there. But preserves tend to have too much good cover for dogless walk up to be effective. If I were you, assuming the preserve offers the services of a guide and a dog, I'd spend the extra bucks.

Two opposing view points. I think it was Michael McIntosh that said with modern ammo choke is much less important and needed, something like that. A more formal research results ( forgive my aging memory I can't remember the source) showed Mod was the best all around in that it covered the widest spectrum of likely shots considering pattern and penetration. I used 1 oz of 6's in both light 12 game guns and 20 ga SxS's on wild pheasants in S Dakota, hunting behind labs.

They don't rent dogs or guides. State facility.☹ I have a 1 year old Springer Spaniel but she'd probably be more of a hazard than a helper. 🙂

I have recently discovered, in shooting sporting clays, that I score more hits with light Mod. (.015") tubes in both barrels, at all range targets from 20-55 yards, than any other choke combo. That being said, I shoot a Kolar shotgun, which has .740" oversized bores, and the forcing cones are minimal, which I'm sure evens out the patterns. I ask my fellow shooters, especially the ones who hit targets consistently, and they almost all shoot IC/Mod fixed chokes, or light Mod as I do. The sole exception is one fellow who shoots a Zoli O/U 12 that has .027" fixed chokes top & bottom, and crushes targets at all distances up to 60 yards out. My ability is such that I probably couldn't break anything with his gun. Don't know if this helps you at all, but there it is. Sandlapper

Well, I went out today. I asked myself, "What in God's name ever made me think that I could wade through chest high thorn bushes and weeds and burr bushes?" I was worn out after 15 minutes and ready to go home. I stayed out for about an hour and finally headed home. Worn out and covered with burrs and sticky things. And get this..... about 1/4 of a mile from the area I hunted, there was a pheasant standing ON THE SHOULDER of the road, looking back and forth- waiting for traffic to get by so he could cross the road!! He was huge!! So, I will know where to go the next time I go out. By the way, I ended up taking my Model 21- 12 gauge. What an ordeal!! So, thanks for all the help, guys. I appreciate it. Maybe next time I'll drag out the 16 gauge.

Couple things…

I haven’t handled a 12 gauge model 21 that I’d call “svelte” or, something similar. 15 minutes is a pretty short hunt to be worn out on. Might be time to begin a conditioning program to keep you out there. And, yea, birds are where you find them. I’ve noticed they seem to like hanging out in the farmers petunia bed, especially if it is close to his front door.

The real heavy cover is what the dog is for.

I’m really, really hoping we get some serious cold to freeze up the cat tail slews in a few weeks, and that the hopeless Minnesota Vikings start winning ball games. Both of these will help insure that I have some prime real estate to myself in December. There was a time I’d put snow shoes on if we got a bunch of snow, but, something about hunting pheasants for five decades has changed inside me, and I don’t want a pheasant that bad anymore.

Keep at it. At least you saw a bird and got some fresh air.

Best,
Ted

I've had very good success on pheasants either with 16's shooting the standard 1 1/8 oz loads of 6's (or 5's later in the season, in the tight barrel.) I've also used Brit 12s quite a bit. I have some Kent Gamebore Pure Gold 1 1/16 oz loads of Brit 6's that I like in open chokes (less than .010). Pellet count is essentially the same as 1 1/4 oz US 6s. I have a good recipe for low pressure 1 1/8 oz loads of US 6 shot in Brit guns choked more like mod in the tight barrel. Seems to pattern quite well. It will kill reliably as far as I want to shoot. I don't often need nontox because I'm not hunting where it's required. But if I do, I have 12ga 2 1/2" tungsten matrix in both Brit 5's and 6's.

I was lucky to find 12 gauge #6 shot here in the house. I can't hardly find any 1 1/8 ounce of #6 anywhere. Everything in 12 gauge is 1 3/8 oz. or 1 1/4 oz. I found some 1 oz #6 yesterday, AFTER I was done with my hunt. I am not only EXTREMELY out of shape, but my legs and feet just can't take the walking anymore. I don't want to bellyache, but my knees and ankles can hardly get me around anymore with the gout and the arthritis. Yesterday, I ended up sitting down in the middle of the path after about 20 minutes until it dawned on me- the tick problem that we have going on around here. After I got my wind, I did get in a nice walk. I'll be seeing that roadside hitchhiking pheasant in my dreams for a long time. It's orange neck and chest just stood out in the sun when I drove past. It looked unreal. I did notice that there was nothing for the birds to eat where I was hunting. It was just weeds and thorns. Usually they leave a row or two around the outer edges with soy beans and corn. They didn't do that this year. There were corn fields all over the place in the hunting area where I saw the pheasant by the road. It had come out of the woods nearby. So, I'll try in that hunting area next time. Thanks for all the info guys.

Nothing more gaudy than a mature rooster in the sunlight. I do love hunting them for that.

As for food, you know they can live on a lot of things other than soy and corn, so don't be surprised to see them in lots of other habitats. They do love cover however, so the walking is often tough. It gets easier the more often you go.

Gus and I will be going this afternoon. We will be using 1 1/4 oz of copper plated lead or the same amount of #5 Bismuth, depending on where we go. I expect we will come how with one or two. Gonna be good either way.

I took this while I was sitting on the ground. It was such a nice day, I almost laid down here in the path and took a nap. Some hunter, huh? And you're right, Ted. That Model 21 got heavy awfully fast. About 50% of those weeds on each side are chest high thorn bushes. My hands and arms got cut to pieces wading through that stuff. I'll have to find another place next time out.