Originally Posted by Tom Findrick
Early season pheasants got a 12 gauge with 6s in the open and 4 or 5 ( when available ) for follow-up.
Late season winter pheasants got 4 all around , as they flush earlier and have thicker plumage.
I anchored more than one bird with heavy 4s that were wounded by a companion.

Good comments about pheasants . . . although they don't really grow a thicker coat for the winter like some critters do. But when the season opens, especially if there have been a lot of late hatch birds, there will be plenty of immature roosters that don't have their full plumage yet. And some may survive the early season because it's hard to distinguish them as roosters. But usually, by the time it gets really cold, they've pretty much caught up to the old survivors as far as feathers go.

But there are a couple of other very good reasons to consider going to larger shot on pheasants later in the season. For one thing, cold weather causes them to eat more in order to put on additional fat to get them through the cold winter months (mostly after the season is over). And cold weather also has a negative impact on the velocity of your ammo, which means reduced energy and penetration. For which you can compensate by switching to larger shot.