I always set a single deke out at 40 yards so I have a marker.... and wont' shoot past that unless I feel a bird is crippled. It also tells you when you can start your shot... hope like heck you get em at least 10 yards or more inside that marker before you move....
Though IMHO if you hit the bird with a solid pattern at 40 yards, given say at least 5-6 pellets of #2 steel, that bird will never fly away...
Of course they don't die like they did with lead either...
I do the same thing when hunting over water.. On land sometimes we are forced to have a rig of 6/700+ decoys... Then birds are in the pocket big time....
Of course but if you could do that consistently at 120 yards that would not be sky busting that bird would be in range...
I hunted with lead for years then when the government made steel mandatory for 12ga I dropped to a 16ga.. I can remember the gentlemen showing up at the gunshop angry with steel shells for blowing out their high end doubles.. The 1st steel shells were junk sometimes not shoot or pattern erratic... At times they would rust together and end up like a steel slug.. Cripples everywhere.. God it was awful.. Some old timers quit gunning..
You said it
5-6 pellets of #2 steel, that bird will never fly away...
I do think some of these new/old shells like Hevi/Bismuth are just as effective as lead.. Except lead has take'en on lure of it's own... Guys think we never had a cripple..
I can remember chasing a Black Duck all over a marsh in Wachepeague, Va one day a long time ago.. I can't remember how many shots it took to get him in the boat.. It was more then a handful
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