I don't think so many pheasants are shot in the ass because of the angles of the shots. Wings, head, and vitals are exposed well enough on quartering away shots and dead straight away shots are still pretty vulnerable for them with head and wings exposed more often than not.

No, the big puff of feathers on a bird that doesn't go down, in my experience, is a crossing shot where that long, whipping tail is a distraction that catches one's eye and results in failure to maintain or establish enough lead. There is a lot of pheasant feathers back there and it biases shot placement if you will.

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BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)

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