With such a speed advantage, the main characteristic that determines whether or not your gun will knock a pheasant down at longer ranges is how it patterns (i.e., how well the shot will stay together). Of course, there is the hunter's shooting ability to consider, but in terms of the shotgun itself, it is its patterning ability that makes the difference.

If you're going to be in a pheasant-hunting situation where you know you'll have shots beyond 40 yards, you should consider using a full choke that has .040 inch of constriction.

Regardless of your pheasant-hunting situation, the best way to determine your shotgun patterns is to get to a range where you can use a patterning board.

There are paper patterning boards, but with this type of board you'll have to bring shotgun patterning targets with you to the range, or hope they sell them at the range you visit. Patterning board paper targets are available at many of the outdoor sporting goods stores. You can also use cardboard from large boxes as patterning targets.

Some shooting facilities have grease patterning boards, which require no paper. This is a good thing in my opinion. A grease patterning board uses a thin layer of grease on a metal surface to record the shot pattern. At my skeet club, we have a grease-type patterning board, and I like it better than a paper patterning board because you never have to buy paper for it! Additionally, you don't have to worry about bringing along something to attach the paper targets to the board.

Below the patterning board at our club, we have a paint roller with grease on it, and all you have to do is roll the grease onto the board to create a fresh target. When you fire a shell at this type of patterning board, the pellets leave easily identifiable markings on the metal surface where they hit.

Once you make it to a range, you should try different chokes at varying distances. It's a good idea to take a 100-foot tape measure with you and mark off the distances you want to shoot from. Taking along pencil and paper is also a good idea if you're going to try several different types of chokes from several different distances. With pencil and paper you can record how the chokes performed for future reference.

Some competitive shooters will break the 30-inch circle up into four parts or quadrants and actually count how many pellets hit in each one, and then total them all up. This will reveal exactly how well the shotgun and chokes are performing. This is probably too intensive of a task for most hunters, and rating how your chokes do with a simple rating system will suffice. If they don't pass, buy new ones and try them!

The main thing is to write your test results down somewhere so that you won't forget what worked best. Taking photos is also a good way to record what happened; digital cameras are great for this.

It needs to be mentioned that steel shot and lead shot do not pattern the same with the same choke. Steel shot resists being constricted more than lead shot because steel is harder than lead. Therefore, you'll need to use a choke with less constriction when shooting steel shot to get the same pattern at the same distance.

Always wear safety glasses when shooting, and be careful of ricochets. Steel patterning boards must only be used when testing soft shot like lead, since hard steel shot can bounce back and hit the shooter. Never shoot at any target from too close a distance.

If you can make a little time to get out and test the performance of your chokes before the pheasant-hunting season starts, it will pay great dividends in terms of how many birds you bag. Good hunting!