Thanks guys.
I've shot a lot of squirrels and never cared for the penetration of 7 1/2s. 6s do fine on gray squirrels but I move to 5s if I think I might see some reds.
Just wondering how comparable a pheasant is. I'm new to bird hunting.
Roosters are pretty tough on the gamebird spectrum. It's no big trick to knock down a limit of grouse with 7.5 or 8 shot. Even if you get a cripple the dog will almost always find the bird because they wimp out with a pellet or two in them. If you don't kill or break a pheasants legs, they hit the ground running and you'd better have a dog with that gets after them or you'll lose the bird.
