Yes I hunt Eastern Wisconsin, my brother in law leases some land around Fond du Lac with a real nice pond on it. We do ok on it but its not like it was years ago. Son in law has about 80 acres just west of Sheboygan and when the crops get taken off we get a lot of geese that come in.
Was out on public land and dogs kicked up a nice rooster. My partner shot twice and missed and I had a long shot with the bird going straight away. Thought what the heck and shot once and to my surprise it went down. Few minutes later my dog retrieved it. One of the few times I hit something...
We stay here every year, very pet friendly, and the bird cleaning facilities are nice. They also have a freezer for the birds after cleaning them. Works fine for us. There's a little restaurant not far away where we have breakfast. Staff is super friendly.
For pheasant hunting I use IC, and Mod in all my o/u (20,16 and 12), I shoot over pointing labs and never have an issue. Early season I shoot mostly 6's then switch to 5's later in the season.
Have CZ Teal (Cabela's Exclusive) in 16 gauge. I pattern it at 30 yards and it shot probably around 60/40 which was fine with me. It has fixed chokes I/C and Mod. Haven't had any issues with it, had it for a little over a year.
Went out this morning with a friend, he missed the first two roosters that the dogs kicked up and was feeling dejected. About an half hour later the dogs flushed another one and he nailed it. While walking back to the truck the dogs flushed another one that he downed. He's all smiles again...
I had a Stoeger M3020 that I sold to my brother about four years ago. Never had an issue with it. Brother came up this week for a wedding from Florida with his stepson and brought along that 20 gauge. I took it apart cleaned it and we went out and did a round of sporting clay with it. Gun still...