Help. Going bird huntin for 1st time

[MadHuntinPastor]

A buddy is taking me bird hunting in WV this weekend. I have a Remington 870 express with a mod choke. What are your recommendations on loads? Do I need a different choke? I will take any other advice you guys can give me. We will be hunting with dogs. Thanks much!!

[Gator]

I take it you will be quail hunting? If so I would go with standard field loads in a 7 1/2 or 8. Personally I have always shot an improved cylinder choke, with the before mentioned loads, with great success. GOOD LUCK!!!

[too_pointer]

I agree with Gator, if quail, 7 1/2's would be fine behind dogs. Have fun and let us know how it went
too-

[Tominator]

Pheasant hunting, quail, chukar--preserve I assume?

Personally, if hunting over dogs especially, I prefer an improved cylinder, but modified will work fine, especially if you're not hunting over dogs in which case you might be dealing with wild flushes out of range.

for pheasant over dogs/close shots--7 1/2's or 6's
long shots on flushed birds on pheasants--6's, maybe even 5's.

quail and chukar--think small, like 7, 7 1/2, or even 8's.

Good luck, bird hunting is a ton of fun.

[MadHuntinPastor]

Thanks guys. It is a preserve hunt in WV. Mostly quail but some pheasant too.

[Shaun_300]

i would use 6 or 7 1/2 shot for those birds. have a great hunt, good luck!

[MadHuntinPastor]

Well tomorrow is the day. Wakin' up early and heading for West Virginia. I will be shooting 6 for the pheasants and 7 for the quail. Thanks for the help and now the rest is up to me. I will let you all know how it goes. Anyday huntin is better than being at the office!!! WoooHoooo!!!

[MadHuntinPastor]

What a blast!!! Great hunting. I was hunting with 3 other guys. We took 25 quail 4 pheasants and 4 chukars. I was pleased with how I did for my first time. I took several birds by myself started with a hen pheasant and then a chukar. I LOVED IT!!! Thanks for all the help. Now I need some good recipes!!! Let me know.

[Tominator]

Good deal.

My favorite recipe for wild bird is to marinate just like chicken and grill it. Just make sure to pull it off before it over cooks. Wild bird runs drier than chicken, and it's smaller so it cooks faster.

I'd check out the recipe forum, do a search on pheasant recipes or something like that.

[too_pointer]

Good job Mad I luv to bird hunt, good thing I don't have to live on what I shoot LOL.
too_pointer

[AJ]

Sweet! Sounds like you had a great time. You know you don't have to go all the way to W-VA to get them. There is a preserve off Aden road. I go to the one in Remington, VA.

[MadHuntinPastor]

[ QUOTE ]
Sweet! Sounds like you had a great time. You know you don't have to go all the way to W-VA to get them. There is a preserve off Aden road. I go to the one in Remington, VA.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't complain. I had someone treat me!! I would have gone wherever. This place was great and just south a bit on 81. The hunt included an awesome lunch and they cleaned our birds!! All the guys were really nice. Only bad thing about the day is we didn't get a pic of all our birds together since they would come and pick them up to clean them for us before we were done. Here is a shot of me with a couple pheasant tails that I'm drying to hang on my wall. Thanks again for all the help!