Hunting · Shotgun
A shotgun delivers a pattern, not a bullet. Understand the pattern and the rest of wingshooting stops being luck.
Most shotgun hunters have never patterned their gun, guess at chokes, and blame the ammunition when they miss. Fixing those three things is a single afternoon of work and it will change your season.
This guide runs gauge selection, the choke and shot chart you can screenshot, how to pattern your gun properly, and the wingshooting mechanics that put the pattern where the bird is going to be.
01
Do-everything
The most versatile shotgun made, with the widest ammunition selection on earth — from 7/8 oz light target loads to 3.5 inch turkey and goose payloads. Heavier to carry all day, and the recoil of magnum loads is genuinely punishing.
Upland favorite
Roughly two-thirds the payload with a fraction of the recoil and a full pound less weight to carry over miles of cover. For grouse, quail, dove, rabbit, and squirrel it is arguably a better tool than the 12.
The classic
Carries like a 20 and hits like a 12, which is why it dominated American upland hunting for half a century. Ammunition is less common and pricier, but it is having a genuine revival.
Specialist
Delightful on quail, dove, and squirrel in expert hands, and unforgiving of a sloppy pattern. The .410 in particular is a poor beginner's gun despite being marketed as one — its tiny pattern demands precision a new shooter does not have.
02
Start here, then pattern your actual gun with your actual load to confirm.
| Quarry | Choke | Shot | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dove | Improved cylinder | #7.5–8 lead | 20–35 yd |
| Bobwhite quail | Improved cylinder | #8 lead | 15–30 yd |
| Ruffed grouse | Improved cylinder | #7.5 lead | 15–25 yd |
| Pheasant | Modified | #5 lead | 25–45 yd |
| Rabbit & squirrel | Improved cylinder | #6 lead | 20–35 yd |
| Ducks over decoys | Improved cylinder / modified | #2–4 steel | 20–40 yd |
| Pass-shooting geese | Modified / improved modified | BB–2 steel | 30–50 yd |
| Turkey | Extra-full turkey | #4–6 lead or #9 TSS | Inside 40 yd |
| Deer (slug) | Rifled barrel / rifled choke | Sabot slug | Inside 150 yd |
03
A shotgun is a pattern-delivery device. Until you have seen your pattern on paper, you are guessing.
04
Look at the bird, not the barrel. A shotgun is pointed like a finger, not aimed like a rifle. If you are consciously seeing the front bead, your eyes are in the wrong place and you will miss behind.
Mount the gun to your face, then bring both to the bird together. A gun mounted to the shoulder first, then muscled up to the cheek, arrives late and crooked. Practice the mount at home in a mirror hundreds of times — it costs nothing and fixes more misses than any lesson.
Use swing-through: start the barrel behind the bird, accelerate through it, and fire as the muzzle passes the beak, then keep swinging. The follow-through is not a formality; stopping the gun at the shot is the single most common cause of missing behind.
For crossing shots at 30 yards, a duck at 40 mph needs roughly four to six feet of lead — far more than instinct suggests. On incoming birds, blot the bird out with the barrel and fire. On going-away birds, cover the bird and shoot right at it.
05
Stillness over range
Sit against a tree wider than your shoulders with your knees up and the gun already on your knee pointed at the expected approach. Once a gobbler is inside 100 yards you should not move again. Take the shot where the neck meets the head, and never at a bird in full strut — wait for him to raise his head.
Wind and hide
Set the spread with a landing hole downwind of your blind so birds finish into the wind and toward you. Concealment beats decoy count: a shining face or an uncovered blind bag flares more ducks than a small spread ever will.
Pace and pauses
Birds flush when you stop, not when you walk. Move slowly and pause every twenty steps — the pause is what breaks a holding bird's nerve. Push cover toward a natural edge and put a blocker there when hunting with a partner.
Shotgun-only counties
A rifled barrel with sabot slugs, a 1-4x scope, and a solid rest gives real 100–150 yard performance. Sight in at 100 yards and know the drop — slug trajectory falls off far faster than a centerfire rifle bullet.
Forgiving start
Squirrel and rabbit with a 20 gauge and #6 shot is the classic apprenticeship — quick shots in thick cover, easy field dressing, and long seasons that let you hunt long after the big-game tags are filled.
Legal requirement
Steel and other non-toxic loads are mandatory for all waterfowl nationwide, and for many upland species on public wetlands. Steel is lighter than lead, so go up two shot sizes and open the choke one step relative to a lead load.
Questions
Where every hunting guide on The Wild10 starts.
Big game, small game, upland birds, and waterfowl — habitat and season.
Deer, elk, moose, bear, hog and sheep — where to hunt, tags, and what to expect.
Turkey, pheasant, grouse, quail, ducks, geese, rabbits, squirrels and predators.
Cartridges, zero, field positions, wind, and shot placement.
Instinctive shooting, draw weight, arrow spine, and close-range craft.
Draw length, sight and rest setup, broadhead tuning, and shot process.
Wind discipline, stand placement, blood trailing, and meat care.
Top 10 lists
Ranked picks with real product photos, specs, and editor notes — the buying side of everything covered in these guides.
Over-unders and light autos built to carry all day.
See the ranking →3.5-inch guns that keep cycling through mud and ice.
See the ranking →Rifled slug guns for shotgun-only whitetail country.
See the ranking →Bolt guns from budget workhorses to mountain rifles.
See the ranking →Forgiving, quiet compounds that tune without a fight.
See the ranking →Hunting recurves that shoot quiet and hold up outside.
See the ranking →Also on The Wild10
Fish identification, the knots that hold, lure selection by conditions, and the habits that fill a stringer.
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