Or maybe those creepers and sneakers are truly a lab's forte. Regardless, the truth is I hunt through out the High Plains from Sept to January and always with a light 12 or a 16 because good dogs put birds up inside of twenty five yards all season long and ten or twelve pellets more or less in the pattern of an ounce of chilled lead at that range is mox nix.
Bob, I agree that 10 or 12 pellets one way or the other won't make much difference. Even more than that. However, if you compare 4's to 6's--and quite a few people shoot pheasants with lead 4's--that's a difference of 90 pellets to the ounce. That would concern me . . . although maybe it shouldn't. Jack O'Connor wrote about a friend who shot pheasants with 4's (I think 1 1/8 oz) through an IC choke, and was quite successful. Yet when O'Connor patterned the same load himself, he said he found holes through which he could have tossed a cocker spaniel. If you're shooting the birds within 25 yards, it might not make any difference. But just in case, I'd rather shoot the same load of 6's and make it much less likely a rooster would slip through one of those holes.
