Redfish and Flounder to Pheasant

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McGeeOJ

New member
Hello gentlemen. My name is McGee and I currently live in Charleston, South Carolina. My wife has been offered a kingpin job in Northern Utah and we will soon be moving out west. As an avid hunter and huge inshore fisherman I am excited to move out your way to shoot long range and start pheasant hunting, even though I have never lived anywhere less than 500 yards from the water. I've got an L.C. Smith SXS 16 gauge F/F and wondering if this is what you guys advise for bird hunting? I am also interested in meeting up with some people out there who have some land and want a new hunting buddy. Even willing to work/help out on the farm to gain trust/respect. I am 33 and, hopefully, going to find a Principal/Assistant Principal job in Utah/Southwest Wyoming. I'm also into fly fishing and, believe it or not, we get down on some tailing redfish on flood tides here with fly gear. Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and I am looking forward to reading some of your posts and getting into some serious bird hunting around your way.

McGee
 
Welcome to the UPH site. This is the place to be when it comes to pheasant hunting and a few other things.

You asked about your 16 ga. Elsie being an okay gun for pheasant/upland bird hunting. The 16 ga. is perfect. It's all I've been shooting for the past 3 years. You will also find several 16 ga. lovers on this site. As far as it being choked F/F, that could be an issue. Most would recommend that you shoot IC/Mod in a two barrel gun. Full is just way more constriction than you need. Plus it takes steel shot out of the equation for those areas it's required. There are non-tox alternatives to steel, but they are expensive. Not sure if you could have your Elsie bored out or better yet have choke tubes installed. Then again you may not want to do that either. Maybe a new shotgun is what you need???
 
McGeeOJ said:
Hello gentlemen. My name is McGee and I currently live in Charleston, South Carolina. My wife has been offered a kingpin job in Northern Utah and we will soon be moving out west. As an avid hunter and huge inshore fisherman I am excited to move out your way to shoot long range and start pheasant hunting, even though I have never lived anywhere less than 500 yards from the water. I've got an L.C. Smith SXS 16 gauge F/F and wondering if this is what you guys advise for bird hunting? I am also interested in meeting up with some people out there who have some land and want a new hunting buddy. Even willing to work/help out on the farm to gain trust/respect. I am 33 and, hopefully, going to find a Principal/Assistant Principal job in Utah/Southwest Wyoming. I'm also into fly fishing and, believe it or not, we get down on some tailing redfish on flood tides here with fly gear. Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and I am looking forward to reading some of your posts and getting into some serious bird hunting around your way.

McGee
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Your gun will be just fine, sport. You'll have wild ruffed grouse and chukar partridge there in Utah and nearby. E.g, three hours to Elko and you're in prime chukar country and loads of BLM land. For trout you've got the Green below Flaming Gorge reservoir, the Provo, and others. Enjoy and thanks for checking in with us.
 
Thank you both very much for your prompt and informative replies. Brit, I guess I could hunt on public land if that is my only option. However, two issues arise with this and one being an actual issue and the other is my being a private land brat here. First, I am spoiled and have over 4,500 private acres of prime hog/deer hunting land here and it's going to be tough to have to go back to fighting for space, but such is life. 2.) I really want to go with people who know what they're doing and gain some insight on habitat, bird hunting etiquette and basically make some friends who have similar interests. We duck hunt a fair amount here but it's from boats in the Santee River just south of Georgetown. The pickings are slim but it's nice to cook breakfast over a coleman in a boat on the side of the river with some buddies. Thanks for the info on the shotgun. I too read that full chokes may be an issue but also heard from some of my more knowledgeable friends that some guys swear by it. Looking forward to heading out that way and I appreciate your time.

McGee
 
Welcome aboard. And good luck out there. Yep your 16 should do the job. I only have a 12 just because I need it for everything. But some day I will most likely add a utility gun for just certain things.:thumbsup: I had to trade everything else in to afford the one I bought for now, LOL
 
I think after you get settled in you should be able to find some private land to hunt. As to "fighting" crowds on public land in Utah and chukar country, I don't think that wil be much of an issue.:thumbsup:
 
Awesome, and thanks guys. FCSpringer beautiful dogs. Quail hound, I hope that is true. Hope all is well.
 
Trust me chukar country is where its at for a person who likes solitude. Here are my chukar hills, some 20,000+ acres all to myself whenever I so please to haunt it. Beware though chukar hunting is tough and extremely addictive.

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Good Lord my friend. Is that your private land or public? I absolutely love bird hunting and I am getting riled up about getting out there and getting on em.
 
That is all public land as far as the eyes can see. The western states have millions and millions of public land like this and even more forrested land. The pheasants are the hard ones to find good access to out west but you'll figure it out.
 
Wow my friend, that is beautiful. I truly cannot wait to get started. Do you hunt with dogs? If so, what kind? Any suggestion on shotguns I should get or do you think my 16 L.C. will work? What kind of shot?
 
I run springer Spaniels, I currently have 4 of them. The 16ga is a perfect upland gun but the chokes are a little tight, modern shot shells don't need that much restriction. I would think about having it opened up to Ic/ mod or using spreader shells for my first shot at least. For shot size I would say 7.5s for Ruff grouse, 7.5s and 6s for chukar, and 7.5s, 6s and 5s for pheasants.

If you truly enjoy the uplands the sports reaches its zenith hunting over a good bird dog and I imagine you will end up with one after a season or so.:thumbsup:
 
I will and I have always loved Springers anyway. Last question before I leave you be. Are you suggesting getting, or do they offer, SXS's with two different "set" choked barrels? When duck hunting I use a SBEII so it's not an issue. However, with my grandfathers L.C. they're both F/F but can you get them, and is it beneficial, to have a IC barrel AND Mod Choke or one or the other? Also, how hard was it to train your dogs or did you hire someone to do so?
 
It's nice having 2 chokes in a double, because as you know if you miss a flushing bird with your first shot he will be farther away for the follow up shot. Most upland guns come this way and most new guns come with 5 choke tubes so you can set it up however you want. I'm going to guess grandpas gun was bought as a water fowling piece hence the f/f chokes. You may or may not want to have the bores opened up by a machine shop or gunsmith. This may hurt the guns value a bit but I bet you're more interested in bagging birds with grandpas gun then selling it.

If you get a good field bred springer the hunt is in them and will be brought out naturally through bird exposure. They are very easy to train (i train mine myself) and only obedience training and bird and proper gun introduction is needed before they hit the field.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want and the rest of us and I will help where we can.
 
P.s. modern shot shells pattern much tighter than the old stuff. If I could only have 2 chokes I would take ic/ mod. With modern ammo this will give you a range of about 20-40 yds of a good pattern to take birds in.
 
So what you're suggesting is one barrel with ic and one with mod? Do you prefer left or right with one or the other? Also, I believe my grandpa would rather me tag em and bag em than sell his piece. I'll open em up if I have to.
 
Welcome to the site, my man. Whatever you do, don't mess with that LC! That's ridiculous to even consider opening it up. It's THE perfect upland shotgun. Chokes and fancy shells are crap that sells. Your grandad bought a F/F 16 because he knew what he was doing. Full is the only way to go for cockbirds and chukar. Get a nice spaniel or a wirehair and start exploring. Utah is a sportsman's paradise!!!
 
McGee- I'm from Illinois but currently at college in Charleston. Anytime you're looking for a third wheel to do some hog hunting I'm always around ;)
 
winchester21 said:
Welcome to the site, my man. Whatever you do, don't mess with that LC! That's ridiculous to even consider opening it up. It's THE perfect upland shotgun. Chokes and fancy shells are crap that sells. Your grandad bought a F/F 16 because he knew what he was doing. Full is the only way to go for cockbirds and chukar. Get a nice spaniel or a wirehair and start exploring. Utah is a sportsman's paradise!!!
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Really? Waiting for a chukar to get out to full choke range is going to leave your dog with consistent 100+ yd retrieves.

To answer your question McG, a right handed shooter should fire the right hand barrel first.
 
McGeeOJ said:
Thank you both very much for your prompt and informative replies. Brit, I guess I could hunt on public land if that is my only option. However, two issues arise with this and one being an actual issue and the other is my being a private land brat here. First, I am spoiled and have over 4,500 private acres of prime hog/deer hunting land here and it's going to be tough to have to go back to fighting for space, but such is life. 2.) I really want to go with people who know what they're doing and gain some insight on habitat, bird hunting etiquette and basically make some friends who have similar interests. We duck hunt a fair amount here but it's from boats in the Santee River just south of Georgetown. The pickings are slim but it's nice to cook breakfast over a coleman in a boat on the side of the river with some buddies. Thanks for the info on the shotgun. I too read that full chokes may be an issue but also heard from some of my more knowledgeable friends that some guys swear by it. Looking forward to heading out that way and I appreciate your time.

McGee
Click to expand...

It'll take you some time to get your mind wrapped around the vastness of BLM land in the west. There is no such thing as "fighting for space" on the BLM lands of the west. 4,500 acres of private land is nothing compared to where you're going.
 
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