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2022/2023 Upland Hunting

dixidawg said:
I had been using typical 20 ga hunting lead loads of 1oz of #6 @ 1200 fps. Deadly, and not really all that far removed ballistically from 12 ga generic hunting loads. A bit less payload, but kills them just as dead as the 12 ga loads.
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I ended up with with the Franchi SLX 20. A couple friends have the same gun in other gauges and recommended it. In my teens I'd hunt dove and quail with my Dad and his friends and always borrowed Dad's 20, so it's nice to finally have one again.

Checked the pattern and point of impact then some quick shots on clays over the weekend. I had grabbed a few boxes of what I could find in 20 at the local Walmarts. Nothing for pheasants at any LGS. The Remington Express XLR 1 oz #6 1220 fps patterned best for me. Winchester Super X was OK but not quite as good. I think either will drop pheasants. Most online retailers are out of typical 20 ga hunting loads too.

Unfortunately this morning on a 'clean up' hunt we were completely skunked for the first time this year- not a single flush. Post season my club operates as a private reserve and there were few birds stocked yesterday and none to be found this morning. We covered a path of about 3 miles in hilly terrain and 'bird magnet' the GSP probably ran a full marathon LOL. Kinda nice carrying a shotgun that only weighs ~5.6 lbs. I have another pheasant hunt at different preserve next week so the 20 will for sure get a workout then.

149373079_10157582690617116_1328859927096382819_n.jpg
41185-Franchi-Instinct-SLX-12-28_Silo.png
 
Mountain said:
I ended up with with the Franchi SLX 20. A couple friends have the same gun in other gauges and recommended it. In my teens I'd hunt dove and quail with my Dad and his friends and always borrowed Dad's 20, so it's nice to finally have one again.

Checked the pattern and point of impact then some quick shots on clays over the weekend. I had grabbed a few boxes of what I could find in 20 at the local Walmarts. Nothing for pheasants at any LGS. The Remington Express XLR 1 oz #6 1220 fps patterned best for me. Winchester Super X was OK but not quite as good. I think either will drop pheasants. Most online retailers are out of typical 20 ga hunting loads too.

Unfortunately this morning on a 'clean up' hunt we were completely skunked for the first time this year- not a single flush. Post season my club operates as a private reserve and there were few birds stocked yesterday and none to be found this morning. We covered a path of about 3 miles in hilly terrain and 'bird magnet' the GSP probably ran a full marathon LOL. Kinda nice carrying a shotgun that only weighs ~5.6 lbs. I have another pheasant hunt at different preserve next week so the 20 will for sure get a workout then.

149373079_10157582690617116_1328859927096382819_n.jpg
41185-Franchi-Instinct-SLX-12-28_Silo.png
Click to expand...
Nice gun. I nearly bought one in 16 gauge. I ended up spending more and got the Browning 16 Citori White Lightning I've always wanted to match my Sweet 16 semi. Otherwise the SLX was what I was going to get.
 
Mark from MA said:
Nice gun. I nearly bought one in 16 gauge. I ended up spending more and got the Browning 16 Citori White Lightning I've always wanted to match my Sweet 16 semi. Otherwise the SLX was what I was going to get.
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I like the White Lighting- that's a great one too. I sold a nice M1 Garand for good money so that covered the Franchi. One small feature I preferred about the Franchi is how the selector is a separate left/right switch on the up/down safety switch. I've fumbled the safety on the Winchester which copies the Citori safety/selector.

Franchi and all their dealers have been sold out of the SLX 16's for quite a while or I might have been tempted. For me I think better to have went with the 20. FYI if you are in the area the West Boylston and Worcester Walmarts have both had some stock of 16 ga.
 
Another great day of pheasant hunting this morning. Bird Magnet pointed 6 and we bagged all but one that ran and flew low off property in the direction of a house. Really liking the Franchi 20 ga. Technically I think the pull length is a little long for me but I was able to hammer birds at will and am reluctant to screw with that. Though I was trying for a head shot on a close in flush I thought I really mangled a hen as it dropped like a rock and was a mess on the ground. LOL my buddy said "that one's yours" as he figured I mangled it. Only a couple no. 6's went through the breast and I damn near took its head off. Can't put one down more humanely than that and all the meat was in great shape.
 
Today's original plan was to go goose hunting in CT with my 12 year old son early this AM
About 10 last night he started to not feel well and yarfed all over the bathroom.
He really wanted to goose hunt and I didn't want to make him feel worse by going without him, so I slept in and decided to just do a little late season pheasant/rabbit hunting.
I hit one of my favorite late season spots where I usually can finds birds into Feb.

We kicked up this one hen that refused to flush until I kicked the bush she was hiding in. Crazy how well they blend in.
Emmit was really proud of himself.
We flushed up a couple rabbits too but wasn't able to score any hits.
324511792_1236870563851282_5588969457323397220_n.jpg

324582323_594530819148467_2675340275790521518_n.jpg
 
Well, this thread was just a joy to read. I always wanted to hunt upland birds, as well as rabbits, but never had the opportunity or time while living in Mass. I own a shotgun; 28inch semiauto. I only hunted turkey with it though. We are supposed to have spectacular upland bird hunting here in Montana. I actually shot two mountain grouse with my bow during archery season. The grouse here are definitely plentiful. Had I not been obsessed with trying to get an elk, I would have gone into the hills with my Henry lever action 22 and picked off more grouse. The flavor of those birds was out of this world. We have three types of grouse here I believe, and Hungarian partridge, pheasant, and chukars. Probably have a host of other birds I am not aware of.

Honestly don't even know where to start other than to go out there with my existing 12 gauge. I have had dogs most of my life, but never trained to hunt. When my last dog passed away two years ago I bought a couple of books on training hunting dogs. Figured if I were to get another, I might as well put him to use. Our local gun club does a weekly clay shoot. I have never done it. Figure I might go there and watch a bit and talk to some of the folks.

One of the last guns on my list of must haves is a quality shotgun. But I need to figure out what is the right one for the job. The gun I have is no slouch, and surely is good enough to get me started. Pete
 
Hey Peter - I will take you on an awesome public land pheasant hunt here in MA in trade for a public land mule deer hunt in your neighborhood.
If we are lucky we may get a cottontail or two as well.
Just hit me up.... [smile]
 
peterk123 said:
Well, this thread was just a joy to read. I always wanted to hunt upland birds, as well as rabbits, but never had the opportunity or time while living in Mass. I own a shotgun; 28inch semiauto. I only hunted turkey with it though. We are supposed to have spectacular upland bird hunting here in Montana. I actually shot two mountain grouse with my bow during archery season. The grouse here are definitely plentiful. Had I not been obsessed with trying to get an elk, I would have gone into the hills with my Henry lever action 22 and picked off more grouse. The flavor of those birds was out of this world. We have three types of grouse here I believe, and Hungarian partridge, pheasant, and chukars. Probably have a host of other birds I am not aware of.

Honestly don't even know where to start other than to go out there with my existing 12 gauge. I have had dogs most of my life, but never trained to hunt. When my last dog passed away two years ago I bought a couple of books on training hunting dogs. Figured if I were to get another, I might as well put him to use. Our local gun club does a weekly clay shoot. I have never done it. Figure I might go there and watch a bit and talk to some of the folks.

One of the last guns on my list of must haves is a quality shotgun. But I need to figure out what is the right one for the job. The gun I have is no slouch, and surely is good enough to get me started. Pete
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Dark and freezing drizzle outside, but what the hell- I'm going to head to the mountain and give some skiing a go. Just like conditions out west (not!).

I used to hunt deer and turkey before marriage and kids and mostly hunted via stalking with a bow. I had access to property that I knew very well and knew how game moved or fed on that property. I know many enjoy it, but sitting in a stand for even 15 minutes is not my thing. Some of that is because venison is OK to me- I can take it or leave it. If I were in elk or caribou territory, that meat is amazing and I'd set up in a blind as long as it took.

I very much enjoy upland bird hunting and based on your fitness and activity level I think you would as well. I first started hunting quail in the (then) sparsely populated central coast California foothills and later bobwhite and doves in Missouri. More to say about it later, but you can successfully hunt out west without a dog unless you are in areas with thick and abundant cover. If cover is sparse or even dense but in small to medium patches here and there- you can do it without a dog. That said, hunting with a dog is its own fun.
 
Looks like I'll be waiting a couple minutes while ice on the windshield thaws...

@peterk123 , while many do just fine with semi's and pumps you would be better served with an over/under unless you are super attached and deadly with what you have. I used to hunt pheasant with a pump gun but have vastly improved my hits with the O/U. IMHO the primary reason is that you can have a different choke for your second shot or select the barrel with the tighter choke for birds that flush wild at greater distances. I dropped a big rooster at well over 50 yards, maybe even close to 60- and no way could I have done that with an improved cylinder choke that is typical for first shots.

Take a look at the TriStar Setters or Trinity series. I have a Setter in 28 ga and it's a lot of gun for short money. The Turks learned from the Italians and are making some nice guns. Several friends have one in various gauges and all are happy with the guns. Later if you are really into it you can spend the bucks on a Franchi, Browning, Beretta, etc. IMHO just my suggestion.
 
peterk123 said:
Well, this thread was just a joy to read. I always wanted to hunt upland birds, as well as rabbits, but never had the opportunity or time while living in Mass. I own a shotgun; 28inch semiauto. I only hunted turkey with it though. We are supposed to have spectacular upland bird hunting here in Montana. I actually shot two mountain grouse with my bow during archery season. The grouse here are definitely plentiful. Had I not been obsessed with trying to get an elk, I would have gone into the hills with my Henry lever action 22 and picked off more grouse. The flavor of those birds was out of this world. We have three types of grouse here I believe, and Hungarian partridge, pheasant, and chukars. Probably have a host of other birds I am not aware of.

Honestly don't even know where to start other than to go out there with my existing 12 gauge. I have had dogs most of my life, but never trained to hunt. When my last dog passed away two years ago I bought a couple of books on training hunting dogs. Figured if I were to get another, I might as well put him to use. Our local gun club does a weekly clay shoot. I have never done it. Figure I might go there and watch a bit and talk to some of the folks.

One of the last guns on my list of must haves is a quality shotgun. But I need to figure out what is the right one for the job. The gun I have is no slouch, and surely is good enough to get me started. Pete
Click to expand...
You have some tremendous natural bird hunting out there. Lots of different grouse and huns.

Any good name o/u will work. Browning/Beretta/Rizzini. If your shooting them with the .22 then likely you could go 20 gauge and make it lighter to carry. Id go with 28 inch barrels as your not busting heVy thickets like we do here for grouse and woodcock
 
pupchow said:
Griffon. We had a Griffon and a Cocker before, and here we are again.
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Nice! Although Im enjoying being dog free. When hunting season rolls around I will be bummin.

That said I have a good friend with 3 setters that will take me out hunting anytime, and we always hunt on weekends.
 
With only 10 days left in the season.. this might be the last harvest for the year.

I had high hopes for this property today. It's kind of a weird situation. It's privately owned land that supposed to be open to the pubic for small game hunting but the landowner is a little strange about it. Plus he allows friends to hunt deer on the property. So I generally don't visit this property much especially during the deer hunting season.

Something happened this year and I got the impression that hunting was no longer allowed, plus the landowner didn't answer my texts I had send. So I hadn't hunted the property in quite sometime.
Early this week, out of the blue, the lawn owner texted me and said I could hunt the property for the remainder of the season. Sweet. She kindly explained that there was too many people hunting out there and they thought it was getting a little dangerous. She also said I'd be the only one out there hunting, that no one else has permission.

I was really hoping this property would hold some late season pheasant as it's got good cover and no one really hunts it. I know some birds were put out there during the regular stocking season.

As soon as we got there, Emmit got birdie and started following a trail. All of a sudden he spun on a dime and I thought for certain there was a pheasant hiding in the brush. Emmit went in and this cottontail came out. I probably should have waited a few more seconds to shoot but the CT was headed for a thick section and I knew he'd be gone.

We didn't see anything else for the remainder of the hunt and not much sign that pheasants were still out there
329114244_1251530362427860_9076077629201625133_n.jpg
 
KMM696 said:
Driving past knightsville in Huntington this morning, saw a male pheasant fly over the road. They can't be stocking this early - anyone know what the 6 month survival rate for stocked birds is?
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I would think VERY low. Not surprised it's a rooster. They are typically much more wily than hens.
 
KMM696 said:
Driving past knightsville in Huntington this morning, saw a male pheasant fly over the road. They can't be stocking this early - anyone know what the 6 month survival rate for stocked birds is?
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Latest I’ve seen one is March.
I’ve always wondered of any have ever breed.
 
I've seen them up to about March/April. Always a wily rooster that is a runner, and maybe smart enough to sit in tree at night.

Hens sit tight on the ground and get hammered by predators.

That said, in the 50's and 60's my dad said it was nothing to see lots of pheasants year round and my grandmother used to feed them. People trapped heavily back then, and there were no coyotes. Hawks and owls were kinda decimated by DDT. There was also lots of natural covers because the land wasnt as forested from all the farming. Good old days for small game.
populations. Dad would go behind GM's house with his single shot, and a short jaunt he was shooting rabbits, grouse and pheasants and bringing them home for dinner.

At one point I thought the state or some states were looking into pheasant strains that tree at night or were supposed to be more predator and cold resistant. Not sure where that ever went.
Probably would have had to been imported from China or something and maybe that got quashed.
 
Last edited:
Mark from MA said:
I've seen them up to about March/April. Always a wily rooster that is a runner, and maybe smart enough to sit in tree at night.

Hens sit tight on the ground and get hammered by predators.

That said, in the 50's and 60's my dad said it was nothing to see lots of pheasants year round and my grandmother used to feed them. People trapped heavily back then, and there were no coyotes. Hawks and owls were kinda decimated by DDT. There was also lots of natural covers because the land wasnt as forested from all the farming. Good old days for small game.
populations. Dad would go behind GM's house with his single shot, and a short jaunt he was shooting rabbits, grouse and pheasants and bringing them home for dinner.

At one point I thought the state or some states were looking into pheasant strains that tree at night or were supposed to be more predator and cold resistant. Not sure where that ever went.
Probably would have had to been imported from China or something and maybe that got quashed.
Click to expand...

PA has a program where they trap wild Pheasants from out west and relocate them hoping to create a wild population.
www.pgc.pa.gov

Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas

www.pgc.pa.gov www.pgc.pa.gov

I've heard mixed things.... doesn't seem like the program was doing as well as they had hoped.
 
Mark from MA said:
I've seen them up to about March/April. Always a wily rooster that is a runner, and maybe smart enough to sit in tree at night.

Hens sit tight on the ground and get hammered by predators.

That said, in the 50's and 60's my dad said it was nothing to see lots of pheasants year round and my grandmother used to feed them. People trapped heavily back then, and there were no coyotes. Hawks and owls were kinda decimated by DDT. There was also lots of natural covers because the land wasnt as forested from all the farming. Good old days for small game.
populations. Dad would go behind GM's house with his single shot, and a short jaunt he was shooting rabbits, grouse and pheasants and bringing them home for dinner.

At one point I thought the state or some states were looking into pheasant strains that tree at night or were supposed to be more predator and cold resistant. Not sure where that ever went.
Probably would have had to been imported from China or something and maybe that got quashed.
Click to expand...
I hunted Pheasant behind my work in the early 70's. They weren't real plentiful but we always managed to get a few every season. After a while they just disappeared.
 
Seventies and eighties had tons of wild pheasants in the woods behind my house in Weston
 

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