UPLAND LOADS

When I was a kid, 2¾-inch No. 6 lead shot was the go-to shell for upland bird hunting. But today, hunters have access to many types of shot and styles of shotgun shells. Even the guns and chokes have changed a lot.

Along with testing multiple loads on my recent hunt, I used many loads and various gauges all fall and winter. What I learned was I like shooting a 20-gauge more than any other. Double-barreled guns are fine, but I prefer that third shot, especially for coveys of early-season mountain quail or high-country chukars, where the rise can be sporadic. That third shot also comes in handy if I need to knock down a crippled bird. Browning’s Silver 20-gauge semiauto is a great all-around shotgun I love for upland birds and waterfowl.

As for shells, two stand out as being highly efficient for upland bird hunting. With these two loads I consistently got a higher number of kills when compared to other loads I shot.

If I had to choose one shell to hunt all upland birds with, it would be Federal Premium’s Prairie Storm FS Lead. This payload consists of 70-percent copperplated lead stacked on top of 30-percent Flightstopper lead. The shot is encased by what could be the most revolutionary to hide come March. Others have been challenging, especially for chukars and Hungarian partridge living at high elevations.

LAST MONTH I hunted Highland Hills Ranch (highlandhillsranch.com) near Condon, Oregon. I’d heard a lot about this property since it opened 20 years ago, but had never seen it. From the river bottom habitat to the rimrock hills, and everything in between, this 3,000-acre northcentral Oregon ranch is unlike anything I’d hunted in terms of an estate experience. Here, birds were not released before each hunt, as was the case in most places I’d hunted. Rather, birds were released by the hundreds several weeks prior.

The birds we hunted were skittish, but there were plenty to provide ample shooting opportunities. Walking and good shooting were required if you wanted to take birds home.

I went on this hunt to test several loads in various brands of shotguns. This is another bonus of hunting preserves, as you get high repetition, which allows accurate conclusions to be made about the gun and loads you shoot. I shot more times in two days than I had the past three seasons of hunting upland birds on public land.

At Highland Hills, the birds held and flushed, thanks to the good working dogs. Sometimes birds were up and gone so fast that shot opportunities quickly faded; this was wad designed for hunters, the Flitecontrol Flex wad. The rear-opening, updated and improved wad works great in standard upland and ported chokes. The pattern and impressive ability for this load to hit with force at eye-opening distances means more dead birds and fewer cripples. In my 20-gauge, the 1¼-ounce 3-inch No. 5 shot is one I’ve used on a range of upland birds, from flushing roosters to speedy chukars, dive-bombing bandtail pigeons to swiftly moving doves, and it’s a game-changer.

When it comes to nontoxic loads, Hevi-Shot’s Hevi-Hammer Upland gets my nod. This load is put together with 15-percent high-density bismuth stacked over 85-percent precision steel. With this mix you get a good pattern that carries far when shooting birds moving straight away, thanks to the bismuth. You also get a wider pattern when swinging from side to side and firing at fast-moving birds because the denser bismuth keeps moving fast, while the lighter-weight steel slows down sooner. This results in a wide area of coverage and fewer misses.

A couple buddies who are die-hard public land chukar hunters and love chasing pheasants prefer Hevi-Hammer Upland in their 20-gauges for the favorable pattern and its ability to knock down birds. In No. 5 shot, the 7/8-ounce charge is moving 1,325 feet per second from a 3-inch shell and hits with authority.