Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game 28 ga. loads for pheasant and chukar

Nice looking 11-48, I have had a yearning for one for a while now.

There are four less Golden Pheasants.

Took two Game Land Pheasants with them the other day. Missed the first bird with an easy shot. The second took two but was on the way down with the first. The last Bird was around 35 and tumbled hard. Toby went over to the fall and brought it in. Still alive, but it wasn't going anyplace. 246 to go.

Keep shooting.. Our pheasant hunting here has been very slow.. Not many in this area anyway.. We a due to get some really cold weather the first of the week.. That will kind of put the damper on a trip up north.. May try a friends place in Neb.. Their rooster season goes on for another mth.. Will have to take my 28 if I get to make the trip..

Battue, what choke are you using in you 28 ga.??? I had my more open chokes in the 28 one year I hunted quail in Az. got several cripples, so I dropped the 28 for desert quail.. Made me kind of leery of my 28 with open chokes..

Modified.

Which is what I prefer for most any of the gauges. Been a few times I have blown up a Bird, but they have been few and I would rather hit a Bird too hard than not hard enough. There is more fringe with the open chokes, and more fringe increases the chance of cripples. Often you may not even be aware you put a few BB's into a Bird, but it still pays for my error.

Then since I primarily hunt with a flusher-who is normally around 20-25 yards out in front-Birds often are minimally starting out at that range. By the time I get ready to shoot they are at least that far away and it doesn't take much for them to hit 30 plus a little. Especially if they get up ahead of the Dog, which makes it worse. With the exception of Birds that come back or cross some, modified seems about right for me.

That is usually my choice in shotguns, I will have to put the mod. tube in the 28.. thanks..

I prefer at least modified in the 28 as well, except for very close shooting in thick cover. Even then I'll have the modified choke in the second barrel of my double.

I have a Belgian made side-by 28 "hun gun" that has modified and full choked barrels. The modified is OK but I find the full barrel a bit much for me most of the time. I prefer an improved cylinder/modified set-up for prairie birds. I've been tinkering with spreader loads to open the patterns up. No great shakes as of yet. Should just have the chokes bored out. But, I've sent so many guns off to have that done over the years that I've become weary of it. Besides, it's always entertaining messin' around with shot shell loads.

Now that bird season here in Montana is winding down, I'll be heading off to "Chukar Land" (northern Nevada) next week. I'll be taking the Belgian s x s, 28 and a Remington 48, 12 gauge. I'll use the 28 in areas where the potential for falling in the rocks is low. The 48 where the likelyhood of doing serious damage to a gun is high. That means the old Remington will get most of the work.

Gave the 48 and my setter a field check this morning.

I know what you mean about falling in the rocks with a good shotgun-
Some years ago, me and a bunch of my buddies went to Arizona to hunt quail, in the volcanic rock hills east of Globe.

One of my friends had with him a brand new Winchester Mod. 23 XTR SxS, 12 ga. We were all out for a morning hunt, and had returned to our vehicles with our quail and stories. My friend was just standing, and for some reason, managed to fall down in the rocks, directly on top of his nice new shotgun. The sharp rocks did a really bad number on both the wood and the metalwork.
Ouch.

Agree with choke suggestions above with flushing dogs and or type of bird and conditions...i.e chukar. However behind a pointing dog, an open bore like my 11-48 skeet is absolutely without misses if you are true to it's range limitations.

I have also used it many times in the duck blind, but again I'm keeping shots within the max. 20-25 yard range and the majority well under that. Tons of fun.

Bighorn, you mean rocks like these. I'll tell ya one thing, when there's snow on these chukar hills, sooner or latter you're goin' down. I remember the covey my setter's pointing here. Had to scrabble around to the right of that rock spire (it's actually a cairn) holding on to it with one hand and my gun in the other.

One good thing about the snow, seems to make the birds hold a little tighter which brings a 28 gauge more into play. That is if I'm extra careful so I don't wreak it. In the past, I've used my AyA 28 with skeet 1 and skeet 2 barrels. I typically use 3/4 oz. of 7 shot that I load in AA hulls using Universal powder and a AA wad.