Jumping in late here...
The 20 is fine as long as you have the discipline to limit your shots to the 30 - 35 yds you mention. A 12 is better, IMHO, particularly for later season birds that have really gotten heavily feathered and tend to flush further out, but looks like you have that covered now too.
The most important thing you can do to cut down on the cripples is make sure the gun fits you, and shoot a lot before the season starts. If you center-punch a bird with the pattern, they are not going to know if it is a 20 or a 12, as they will be DOA. Low-gun trap and/or Skrap (shooting at trap targets from the skeet stations) is great practice for pheasant hunting, particularly if you can get on the trap field with just one friend, and instruct them to surprise you with the pull.
I have bird-hunted for close to 40 years now. I got a lot better when I started shooting trap, skeet and sporting clays a lot about five years ago. Practice, practice, practice.
The 20 is fine as long as you have the discipline to limit your shots to the 30 - 35 yds you mention. A 12 is better, IMHO, particularly for later season birds that have really gotten heavily feathered and tend to flush further out, but looks like you have that covered now too.
The most important thing you can do to cut down on the cripples is make sure the gun fits you, and shoot a lot before the season starts. If you center-punch a bird with the pattern, they are not going to know if it is a 20 or a 12, as they will be DOA. Low-gun trap and/or Skrap (shooting at trap targets from the skeet stations) is great practice for pheasant hunting, particularly if you can get on the trap field with just one friend, and instruct them to surprise you with the pull.
I have bird-hunted for close to 40 years now. I got a lot better when I started shooting trap, skeet and sporting clays a lot about five years ago. Practice, practice, practice.
