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< 16ga. General Discussion ~ First shot range this year? |
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Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2016 7:58 am
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Member
Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 1619
Location: Williamsburg, VA
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This is typical of the private CRP fields we were hunting in North-central Kansas. Many of the fields had food plots or were adjacent to food. Hard to walk when temperatures were in the 70's but worth the effort because there were plenty of birds.
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_________________ BarkeyVA |
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Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:30 am
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Member
Joined: 27 Jun 2012
Posts: 1113
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On my Montana trip (had to miss my buddy's idaho ranch this year), I used LtMod/IMod choke combo on the sharptail we hunted. The cover really dictated how tightly the birds held and what range of shot was offered. Birds in heavy cover like weedy draws would hold until I was within 10 feet or so and could have easily been handled with SK/IC chokes, although I was 100% with the chokes I had on close flushing birds, there was often more meat destruction than I like to see. Hilltop sharptails in lighter grass cover would hold for the dogs, but often flushed at 50 yards out as I approached. The only shots offered on those birds was a crossing shot if they screwed up and offered any at all. The LTMod/IMod chokes worked well on those birds, although I wasn't anywhere close to 100%.
Since getting home, I've been hunting the local preserves and running field trials on bobwhite and have SK/IC chokes in my SXS's. I had one run of 21 straight 1 shot kills on preserve quail with that combination including a few shots I thought I was going to have to get to the IC choke and the bird dropped on the first shot. On wild quail later this season, I'm going to shoot the fixed IC/LtMod choke barrels on my two Ugartecheas to handle those earlier flushing wild birds. |
_________________ An elderly gentleman, his faithful dogs, and a 16 ga SXS. All is right with the world. |
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Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:48 am
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Joined: 09 Mar 2016
Posts: 753
Location: Mn.
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Dave Erickson wrote: |
Good to hear and see that tighter chokes are still needed. I reckon I hunt pheasants about as much as anyone and I haven't had a first shot over 25 yards all year. The vast majority in the last few years have been in skeet choke range. This has held through 4 states. That said I'm sure now I've jinxed myself and my day is coming!
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I think you will be fine with open chokes given your dog's Dave! With pointy dogs shots tend to be a lot closer than flushing dogs, and you have some great dogs. Mine will often work up to 30 yards away and it is common for the birds to flush 10 yards ahead of him so they are often getting up 40 yards from me. But might also be 10 feet from me too. Think there is a reason many choke the 16 .004/.012 it is a good all around combination.
Sharptails where I hunt are almost always in more open grass and will be at least 40 yards on the first shot, generally longer. But once in awhile there is one hold out that will let me move in for a closer flush. Any sharpie is a special prize for me! |
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Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2016 4:01 pm
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I started the year out with an over & under choked .000 & .010 and because I've never taken the leap of shooting a straight cylinder choke I made a note this year of all my first shots. I thought surely I'd need to tighten up as the season progressed, but it simply hasn't been the case. Sunday in northern Iowa I saw one rooster. My 9 year old Drahthaar had him pointed on the edge of a drainage right in front of me. It ran and we didn't get it up until we were another 120 yards down the field. It blew wild, low and fast, but still within skeet choke range. Again, as I noted before, my other "ah ha" has been how many more I'm killing dead with open chokes vs birds coming down flapping. It probably is the result of some good dog work and a more forgiving pattern. I'm certainly not telling anyone what to do. Just sharing a couple unexpected observations and wondering what range the average first shot has been for others this year. If I were not carrying a double with a 2nd tighter choke I would not shoot such an open choke. Thank you to those who answered the first shot distance question!!
Maybe I should have just made a poll on shooting ranges this year. |
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Posted:
Fri Nov 25, 2016 5:39 pm
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Joined: 29 May 2016
Posts: 79
Location: Burke Co, GA
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i assume this is another pheasant thread, and that doves, ducks and quail are not really what the question is about.
SRH |
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Posted:
Fri Nov 25, 2016 6:15 pm
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Yeah, pretty much. Are there other game birds?
I suppose quail with pointers might fit. I wasn't very clear on my opening post. Sorry!!
FWIW, I was served some karma casserole today. Everything was wild flushing. I wanted to make it a 16 gauge outing, so I packed my SK/Mod OU and Rem. 48 with the IC barrel. It was not a day for open chokes. The nearest thing to in-range was a 35 yard straight away in brush, and with SK and 7's I decided to pass. Didn't seem like a good idea to go to the back trigger for the euro 6's either. Pushed about a dozen rooster and none of them stuck around waiting to give me a close range shot. Back to reality. |
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Posted:
Fri Nov 25, 2016 7:36 pm
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Joined: 15 Mar 2015
Posts: 118
Location: Manhattan KS
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if i could only have 1 set of chokes it would be Skeet/Improved Modified. |
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Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2016 9:41 am
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Member
Joined: 27 Jun 2012
Posts: 1113
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Dave Erickson wrote: |
Yeah, pretty much. Are there other game birds?
I suppose quail with pointers might fit. I wasn't very clear on my opening post. Sorry!!
FWIW, I was served some karma casserole today. Everything was wild flushing. I wanted to make it a 16 gauge outing, so I packed my SK/Mod OU and Rem. 48 with the IC barrel. It was not a day for open chokes. The nearest thing to in-range was a 35 yard straight away in brush, and with SK and 7's I decided to pass. Didn't seem like a good idea to go to the back trigger for the euro 6's either. Pushed about a dozen rooster and none of them stuck around waiting to give me a close range shot. Back to reality.
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I'll be joining a group in January for a late season Oklahoma panhandle pheasant hunt. I'll be taking my two Zabala built 16 ga SXS's that both have screw in chokes. I'm starting with my old reliable LtMod/IMod chokes for those wily critters. In the past that combo has proven pretty ideal for the way the birds flush. The only thing that might change things would be snow conditions where the birds might hold a little better, but I'm not adverse to changing chokes between fields if necessary. Sounds like your birds are already getting educated. |
_________________ An elderly gentleman, his faithful dogs, and a 16 ga SXS. All is right with the world. |
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Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:28 pm
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Member
Joined: 09 Dec 2009
Posts: 1370
Location: Cheyenne, Wy
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My health has gone South, so no hunting for me. I have an old German hammer gun.
It is choked cyl and full, now I think that makes sense, most of my first shots at pheasant over my lifetime have been around 20-25 yds.
If I miss the first shot, by then the bird is really hauling ass! So the full choke isn't going to tear the bird up too much, if I happen to hit it!
Just an old man's opinion.
Dale |
_________________ One man with courage makes a majority.
...Andrew Jackson... |
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Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2016 5:14 pm
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Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
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skeettx wrote: |
Mine was with a Superposed 410, skeet and skeet
No issues with downing the birds.
Mike
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You know it's not fair to step on their tails before potting 'em in the head there skeet.
Actually, I had a few skeet fiend friends who hunted stocked birds over pointing dogs on private land use nothing but 3" 410 loads of #7.5 shot. The birds were pen raised and just about tame though. Most had to be shoved into the air w/ a boot toe. Shots were close to say the least. Think fish in a barrel close.
For early season stocked birds over pointing dogs in the Southeastern MA WMA's I used only a 28 Citori choked skeet/IC for quite a while w/o any problems. My loads were 7/8 oz of #7 pigeon shot and an ounce of #6 shot for the rarely needed 2nd shot. A 20 or 16 o/u came out of the case later in the season, and the loads were stouter. Out in the fens and the swamps where the wise and tough old holdover survivors of seasons past hung out, a 12 ga loaded w/ 1-1/2 ounces of #4 shot was not too much pumpkin if they were spooky enough (which was almost always).
And the one time I hunted at Standing Rock, we were up against previously hunted wild birds and w/o dogs. I was badly undergunned with a 16 choked IC/Mod. So were most of the other dogless guys amongst us. Those few guys who hunted over pointers did just fine w/ open choked 16's. i witnessed a few shots I could have made w/ my 28. A good pointing dog makes a huge difference.
So experience has shown me it all depends on how, where, and what. I'll go w/ what works where I regularly hunt and pack enough gun/ with a selection of tubes and a stout load choice to cover any contingency if I'm heading for the unknown. |
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Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2016 5:57 pm
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Member
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Posts: 749
Location: Kelso, Tennessee
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Circling a plumb thicket in December in fairly deep snow down in a bowl where the birds can see you a half mile away and you're at max range max choke max 3 1/2 turkey loads for the close ones |
Last edited by cowdoc87 on Sat Nov 26, 2016 6:25 pm; edited 1 time in total _________________ i reckon so. I guess we all died a little in that damn war. |
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Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2016 6:22 pm
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Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
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cowdoc87 wrote: |
Circling a plumb thicket in December in fairly deep snow down in a bowl where the birds can see you a half mile away and your at max range max choke max 3 1/2 turkey loads for the close ones
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I'd suggest a Heinie 88 for that situation. |
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Posted:
Sat Nov 26, 2016 7:02 pm
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I went down again today and just took my 9 month pup. We got the only one we saw from the drainage area were we saw the most roosters yesterday. This time I had my 12 gauge 686 with the IC/Mod choke tubes in place and used B&P MB Long Range nickel 5's (1 1/4 oz.). I was watching the pup work some scent above me and I was in this hot looking corner, so I just paused 45 seconds, took two steps, paused again, and this rooster's nerves shattered and it was in the wind RAPIDLY departing! Another low fast near-straightaway and I had time for one good shot and the load of 5's brought it down. I believe I would have been in trouble with less load and choke. I can't tell you how satisfying this one bird was today!
So in hindsight, this year, early season on through my South Dakota trip which is always the first week in November, very open chokes served me wonderfully. Now it's almost like a switch has been tripped because everything has gotten tough. It's that late midseason without nasty weather and the pheasants are educated. Every bird is an accomplishment right now. |
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