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Originally Posted by tallon30
Hunted the capital power site for the first time yesterday. Was pleasantly surprised on the amount of birds we saw. They also flushed well and werent real jumpy like I figured they would be. With all the good things being said it's time to talk about the bad. Saw LOTS of piles of feathers of wounded birds. Nearly every hull I saw on the ground was a trap load. Please if your hunting roosters do yourself your dog and the bird a favour and use a better hotter load. These things are tough and often on a less than ideal shot they hit the ground running. Do us all a favour and spend more than 5 bucks a box on ammo. Sorry for the rant.
PS. I also brought someones wounded birds home because my dog brought it to me still alive.
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It is a shame that some people are such pigs, that they don't pick up their hulls. As for those piles of feathers, they are not all from birds wounded by hunters, some are from birds that were actually recovered, and some are the result of coyotes or birds of prey. That being said, my dog finds wounded or dead birds on a regular basis, because without a good dog, cripples can be very difficult to find if they run off, or hide. As to the loads, if you have a good dog, and shoot at closer ranges, it doesn't take a high velocity load to kill released pheasants. I use nickel plated hunting loads myself, but I never use a 12 gauge, and I often hunt with a 28 gauge. I could easily use lighter 12 or 20 gauge #6 or even #7-1/2 loads, and not lose birds. However some people can't resist shooting at 60 yards or more, when birds flush wild, and many people are simply poor shots, which is why we often hear 3,4 or 5 shot volleys at the release sites.