Preferred Upland Loads?

[Nick87]

Well, tell me Mr Nick, what kind of problem is it? I’d never shot a grouse with a shotgun before and ran into em in close timber… I even tried to aim high!

Is that a serious question?

 

[sclancy27]

I just buy cases of 5's and shoot everything with it.

 

[El Jason]

I just buy cases of 5's and shoot everything with it.

Hard to go wrong…

 

[alwayshunting]

I shoot 7.5s for grouse and partridge until pheasant season opens. Early pheasant I will shoot 6s but move to 5s by the end of October.

 

[Dave N]

What's a pheasant?

 

[El Jason]

What's a pheasant?

 

[Dave N]

View attachment 408500

Looks slightly familiar but I have a hard time remembering back that far!

 

[R.K.]

What's a pheasant?

The bird that dominated northern Illinois obsession until roundup and corn subsidies eradicated them.

 

[F250]

A few years ago I hunted pheasants in North Dakota over a buddy’s dogs. We had to use steel shot on Federal Refuge land. 12 ga 3”, #3 , 1 1/4 oz loads through an Improved Cylinder choke was proper medicine.

 

[T.R.]

My favored shotgun is a 16 gauge with limited ammo options. But #6 has always done the job for me. TR

 

[WNC2500]

#6s for sure for me.

 

[brymoore]

What's a pheasant?

I grew up hunting pheasants. Pheasants are more of an afterthought now. Nine different gamebirds in my state.

 

[Wild Bill]

Those B&P loads are great rounds. I've had a lot of good luck with those.

I'm not too picky, but for other than pheasants, I'll shoot 5s or 6s. I'll take the payload into consideration as well.

 

[Dave N]

View attachment 408524
I grew up hunting pheasants. Pheasants are more of an afterthought now. Nine different gamebirds in my state.

Me too. Now they don't exist. Used to have quail years ago. Gone. Even if they were still around you would have problems finding a place that would allow you to hunt.

 

[Matthew57]

5’s are my go to with pheasants, 7.5’s for everything else

 

[CPAjeff]

I really like #6's for all upland birds.

 

[brymoore]

Me too. Now they don't exist. Used to have quail years ago. Gone. Even if they were still around you would have problems finding a place that would allow you to hunt.

I watched Bobs disappear from Ohio. My mom would tell me to go shoot the “little birds” that lived at her dad’s farm.

 

[Walkathon]

I've been happy with #5's on pheasants, and then #6 for ruffed grouse.

 

[cedahm]

These days, I really only hunt Blue grouse and Pheasants (I'm trying to bring back 'Blue'). An occasional Sharptail/Chicken excursion thrown in.

8's for Blues. They don't soak up much lead and cripples are rare.

5's for early season pheasants, 4's for late. Of course, we get some tight holding late season birds now and them, and Birds that come out looking like @Rack Daniels photo after a dose of #4's at close range go into sausage.

If we are knowingly targeting Sharptails or Chickens I'll have 6's, since it's generally in November and shots tend to be long. But a lot of times, we're out transiting between pheasant spots and see Sharpie cover and they get the same loads as pheasants, then.

I don't have much quail experience, but when we've targeted them (Bobs and Scaled here), I've used 7.5 or 8's. I can't tell you which is better since I believe every quail Ive ended up with in my bag died from a heart attack after the two or three really loud booms behind it.