I and friends just returned from our mid-December pheasant hunt near Chamberlain, SD. The weather was just fine with the exception of the first day, which strangely enough too warm, hitting the high 50’s. The dogs needed watering frequently as did we but..no complaints. The remaining days were high teens to low 20’s — very nice.
The pheasants were abundant and the shooting was good with our limit reached in three hours or so every day.
I took three shotguns as I love to switch up even on the same day and definitely depending on the weather — it was spitting sleet on Friday which meant I left my 16 SxS with the good wood in the truck, though I had used it previously. Mostly I alternated between two Ben UL’s, a 12 and a 20.
Switching up shotguns doesn’t exactly make for consistency but after all this is not a competition, but a place where you can follow your whims and get enough shooting with any single shotgun to make definite judgements as to how the two of you get along.
Very noticeable in the Ben 12 was the added recoil of Baschieri and Pellagri 1 1/4 oz loads at 1500 fps and Federal’s 1 3/8 oz at about 1400 fps. You can get enough shooting in a SD afternoon to feel the pounding
these shot shells deliver. Easy fix — switch to the 20 and Fiocchi 1 oz loads and carry on. In the 16 I used Fiocchi 1 1/8 oz at 1300; excellent. All were “6’s” or “5’s”.
Here’s a treat — we had a very well tutored and trained eight-year old with a shortened youth model 20 gauge, dad at side, draw feathers and then later kill a bird. I wonder what his world will look like in thirty years or so...
All in all, a great time!
