These discussions are interesting, but they omit one very important variable—are we good shots? I have a cousin I hunt with who shoots with his wife, year round…it’s their “thing”. She grew up at the Minneapolis gun club, her dad managed it after retiring. She ran 100 straight at trap at age 12 with a .410…she’s in the Minnesota trapshooters hall of fame. My cousin is an excellent shooter, and it shows when we’re hunting. He shoots a 20 gauge much of the time, and rarely loses a bird…he’s always had very good dogs, too. I’m nowhere near his competence, never will be…I do shoot late summer/early fall several times…300 targets, give or take? I tend to use a few guns, but mostly this Parker Repro 28 gauge…I really love the gun, and I shoot it pretty well. I’m not in love with shooting clays for some reason, I’ll never be like my cousin who probably shoots 5000 targets a year, some years a lot more. I do enjoy the course that I can go shoot solo, and screw around a bit with where I’m shooting from, creating quasi-hunting scenarios using the delay function in the electronic doohickey that sends the signal to throw the bird. Overall, I would say out of my 12 or so shotguns I’ve learned that 3 or so I really shoot well…my benelli ultralight 12, an Uggie S x S 16 gauge box lock, an AYA 20 gauge S x S box lock, and this Parker Repro S x S 28 gauge. Most of my others I shoot pretty good, and one, a Fox Sterlingworth 16 gauge S x S I shoot poorly, way too much drop. I do shoot my Beretta AL 391 20 gauge auto well, but the forward safety costs me birds every year, so I don’t shoot it too much…but I’ve killed lots of pheasants with an ounce of #5 lead using IC choke with that gun, many, many past 40 yards. I’m coming full circle with a few other threads I’ve started here recently…how’s your hearing? how’s your shooting? What kind of ammo, choke, etc? In the past I’ve talked about personally shooting better early in the day, or early in a walk, which speaks to conditioning…I walk a lot from April until the end of pheasant season, and I think that helps…a lot of the guys that I hunt with don’t, for whatever reason…physical issues, usually. I feel super lucky to be almost 60 and have no pain, anywhere…and I don’t get cold fingers, ears, toes, etc…putting the whole package together is more relevant, I think, than having one super specific discussion/argument about what gauge you may be shooting…can you walk and walk and be truly ready when the bird flushes? Can you hear well? See well? Read your dog well? Get the gun up rapidly and fluidly, regardless of it being 60 above or 10 above? Are you wearing gloves? Are your ears covered with a heavy cap for warmth? Are your glasses fogged up? Can you operate everything properly with said gloves? Are you a reasonably good shot on birds? I’m not great at all this, for sure, but I hear well, I can walk and walk and walk in heavy cover, I don’t get cold and rarely wear a glove on my shooting hand, I can read my dogs well and keep them in range most of the time, and I guess I’ve learned to shoot to where the bird is going, vs shooting at it where it is…and I can hear well, which I’ve already mentioned, but can’t over emphasize how important I feel that is. Putting this all into the mix, I don’t feel undergunned shooting an ounce of #5’s, especially in a M/F double gun…I may change my mind, but I’ve been shooting that load for 25 years in 20 gauges with good results, and I have enough direct personal data, as well as lots of anecdotal data from hunters I know well, that I don’t give it a 2nd thought. Having said all that, I haven’t carried my 28 yet this year pheasant hunting…I guess I wanted a 3rd shot…I’ve shot 2 birds in a few seconds several times this season, I now am hunting in a group, and don’t feel the need for 3 shots, so I’m gonna carry a double mostly…I think. Good luck if you’re getting out today, or soon!!!
