Muzzle stuffers for birds is a lot of fun, except for trying to see around the smoke at what you hit/didn't hit. LOL
As a teen I hunted mountain quail and ducks with an antique SXS 12ga. I used cardboard and felt wads, 1 oz shot, and 3drams FFFg. I actually shot a 10 bird limit of mountain quail near Doyle CA in about 1965. There were scads of valley quail there and a good mountain quail population. "Progress" has wiped them out, sadly.
That pheasant hunt looks like a HOOT! I'm jealous.
L2S