I hunt public 95% of the time with the same results. you may need to take Randy's elk strategy and apply it to pheasants. get away from roads and look for out of the way places and you will find more birds and less hunters.
I would encourage you to try and go on your own or talk to the guide to only have your group hunting when you are there. A lot of these preserves will max out their hunting group with blockers and walkers and a lot of BB's being sprayed around. I have never hunted at a preserve but have been...
Check out the Winchester SX3.. be careful with benneli most of my friends have gone away from benelli's and now shoot Beretta A400 or SX3. We hunt just about everything late into the year and the benneli's have some trouble when it gets cold. they also have trouble cycling the smaller loads...
FYI. I don't have cable and very few of my friends do either, so all of our Newberg content is from the YouTube channel or the podcast. So tell your sponsors that this is s good investment that may take time to develop but will be extremely valuable in the future in order to capture the Internet...
Yeah that is pretty much it.. just don't forget the diver down flag!!
Realistically you could get into it for about $100-200 depending on the speargun you want. I still use a polespear when i am not in rocks, trees, or current. you can pick a pole spear up for $40. mask snorkel for another $40...