Pass Along PDJ
November 2007

The Deceiving Open Places
by Steve Smith

f you’ve spent most of your upland hunting career in the thick cover of the East or the Great Lakes States or even the South, and you’re heading to the open places of the West for some new experiences on pheasants, Huns, sharptails, prairie chickens, or chukar, you’ll find the distances deceiving. With few objects between you and the bird by which to judge distance, the natural inclination is to let our experience take over and make the bird look closer than it really is. What looks like a 25-yard shot back home in Vermont, may be closer to a 45-yard shot in the North Dakota grasslands. Adjust by allowing more lead, using a tighter choke, a bigger load, a larger gauge, or any combination of the last three – but the increased lead, more forward allowance, will be your best tool.

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