how do you handle different shells for mixed bag?

J

Jonjhawk

Member
Hi all, was out this last weekend and was hunting a milo / CRP edge with a fence line in between. Had 3 of us and 2 dogs, so one was walking the fence line, one in the CRP, and one in the milo. We kicked up 4-5 pheasants and 3-4 coveys + some singles. I usually walk with quail loads in one pocket and pheasant and the other, and try to load based on what we think we will see. This time i had pheasant loads in for every covey, and quail loads in for every pheasant. How do you all handle this?

We typically use 5/6 for pheasant and 7/7.5 for quail. Is the compromise 6 or 6.5? Or do you all try to use different shells based on the cover / area and I just had bad luck
 
Jonjhawk said:
Hi all, was out this last weekend and was hunting a milo / CRP edge with a fence line in between. Had 3 of us and 2 dogs, so one was walking the fence line, one in the CRP, and one in the milo. We kicked up 4-5 pheasants and 3-4 coveys + some singles. I usually walk with quail loads in one pocket and pheasant and the other, and try to load based on what we think we will see. This time i had pheasant loads in for every covey, and quail loads in for every pheasant. How do you all handle this?

We typically use 5/6 for pheasant and 7/7.5 for quail. Is the compromise 6 or 6.5? Or do you all try to use different shells based on the cover / area and I just had bad luck
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I’d load 6 shot and wait on the quail if needed.
 
GSP7 said:
I use a felt tip permanent marker and write 6, 4, 5 etc on each shell I reload

(y)
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I reload with the Win AA hulls. Grey are 5s and red will be 6s and maybe 7.5s. I would only take the red shells if I was leaving my area and expect quail. Not likely to see a quail right here, if I did, he wouldn't need me shooting at him.
 
Jonjhawk said:
Hi all, was out this last weekend and was hunting a milo / CRP edge with a fence line in between. Had 3 of us and 2 dogs, so one was walking the fence line, one in the CRP, and one in the milo. We kicked up 4-5 pheasants and 3-4 coveys + some singles. I usually walk with quail loads in one pocket and pheasant and the other, and try to load based on what we think we will see. This time i had pheasant loads in for every covey, and quail loads in for every pheasant. How do you all handle this?

We typically use 5/6 for pheasant and 7/7.5 for quail. Is the compromise 6 or 6.5? Or do you all try to use different shells based on the cover / area and I just had bad luck
Click to expand...
After having roosters get up at 30 yards a few times while having 7.5 light loads in, I don't even carry them. I'll take a breath and try to make the shot at longer ranges. I do however leave a couple boxes in the truck in case I want to just hunt quail for whatever reason.
 
this time of year-I use a high quality 6 shot for pheasant. Its all i use for quail anyway. I stopped using 7.5 and 8's years ago-killing too many quail that dont get recovered.
 
Don’t let perfection get in your way of good enough.

If I’m anticipating a number of quail I’d be carrying 6s instead of my usual 5s. I shoot mostly 6s for pheasants in my 20 anyway to get the pellet count up.

To me, trying to anticipate what I’m going to be shooting at or what range is an effort in frustration. It never happens the right way, so I just carry one load.

Sunday in SD the birds were wild. Couldn’t get close. Needed tight chokes and heavy loads for long distance penetration. The only shot I got was a rooster that flushed at my feet in the cattails. Of course I tried shooting too fast and in my panic never even drew a feather with either shot.
 
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