May have a chance to go to South Dakota this fall and shoot some. I'm not much into wingshooting do enjoy a good dove field or a quail hunt but that's about my experience. Y'all got info as far as shells I'll prolly be packing a side by side with modified in both or mod/ic

My choice is 1 1/4 oz or 1 3/8 oz #5's in a 12 gauge. Even with this thumper load, a lot of birds the dogs retrieve are still alive and running like hell. Wild pheasants are tough!!!!

All of my annual group shoot 3"....12 gauge....1& 3/4 ounces of 4's or 5's....Fiocchi....FULL CHOKE. But we hunt Wild Birds and the shots can be as far as 50 yards. Contrary to popular belief....THEY don't have the numbers of wild birds up there from the past days.... so many of the Outfitters put out Birds a Couple months ahead of the season in order for them to get more "WILD"....They'll "Hold" and flush from under your feet sometimes. SOOOO.....should we encounter the rare one that holds and doesn't run.....flushes close.....just let him get on out there about 40 yards and pour it to him!!

I used 3” #4 12 ga mod. When I hunted em in Iowa. If you just busy a wing them jokers will take off running to the next county. Was some fine eating and a great time. We hunted wild public land birds.

Do you roll your own shells? 1 3/8oz of 9.5s would work great in my opinion.

I've been twice , shot old A5 Browning 12ga with 2 3/4" All of my group shot 2 3/4" . One shot a 20 with a Improved cylinder , he's a quail hunter and would kill them before they got 12 feet off the ground! And he killed a bunch. I've shot both full and modified barrels. I prefer modified. I like the shells linked below.

Where you going , we hunt near Dallas?

https://fiocchiusa.com/shotshell/golden-series/golden-pheasant/12gpx5.html

Tame birds or wild? I killed a bunch with my A5 20 gauge using 4's. It helps on a long shot. Wild birds you will get 30 to 50 yard shots.