Jeremy Lake gets German shorthair Belle ready for the hunt.

We did not find the long-tail where Jim had told us to expect him. Exiting the winding draw, we aimed the dogs at a hay field. Like the cornfield of the previous day, it was pretty sparse. We saw birds running ahead of us, but the dogs managed to nail a couple of tight sitters. Jason was shooting a 20-gauge Beretta Silver Pigeon III. He had it loaded with some new, very fast Federal 20-gauge 23?4-inch loads--one ounce of No. 5s at a whopping 1,350 feet per second (fps).

That's really fast for a 20-gauge load. This same load is also available in shot sizes 4, 6 and 71?2. Also new is a 20-gauge Federal 3-incher at 1,300-fps, 11?4 ounce of either No. 4s or No. 6s. Further yet are new 23?4-inch 12-gauge loads ideal for pheasants--11?8, 11?4 and 13?8 ounces, all at 1,500-fps.

I was shooting a new Beretta over/under, the Silver Pigeon V. It has beautiful game scene and scroll engraving, the birds in gold, plus a case-colored receiver. This one is the top of the Silver Pigeon line, but new for 2005, this one is available in 28 gauge built on a smaller 28-gauge frame. Previous Silver Pigeon 28 gauges have been built on a 20-gauge frame.

The one I carried in Utah was a 28 on the new, smaller frame. The 28-gauge pheasant loads ordered in from Federal had not arrived, but we did have some Federal 3?4-ounce target loads--size 81?2, hardly well thought of as a pheasant load, but we did just fine with them. Of course, we held off on the longer shots.

Jason and I enjoyed an afternoon of classic pheasant shooting. At daybreak that morning the thermometer was pegged at 0 degrees, but by afternoon the mercury column had climbed to about 30. Typical of the Utah desert, the sun was out in glorious form, never obliterated by one cloud.

The day before, when we started our hunt with six shooters and four dogs, I was feeling very leery. Six hunters in a line is not my figurative cup of tea, no matter the upland bird being hunted. In reality, however, our line worked just great. We were able to spread out plenty far apart due to the vast expanse of the Castle Valley shooting area.

Dixie retrieves a pheasant.

Four dogs down at once doesn't always work out, either, but the quartet we had scouring the country in front of us every day was exceptional. Each was very, very steady. If they ranged too far ahead of our line a very gentle "Back!" from handlers Jeremy or Casey would immediately return the dog or dogs to closer range.

Further, each and every dog was rock solid once on point, and they all backed immediately--with no encouragement from their handlers. Perhaps even more important, all the dogs we hunted over proved to be excellent retrievers. Despite occasionally knocking birds down in some thick cover, we never lost a pheasant.

Let's go back to that second day with Jason and me in the hay field. Once we had that patch covered we turned to the west, working the dogs through some good-looking sagebrush. Next we turned down one side of the upper end of the winding draw, the one where we had already hunted the lower end. Dixie went on point, but on the other side of the draw.

It would have been a steep climb down, then up, which I was ready to do, but Jeremy suggested I hold my position while Casey crossed the steep draw. He climbed out the other side, and then made a bit of a circle in front of the dog in an effort to flush the bird back over the draw and thus more in my direction.

His effort was wonderfully accomplished, which I rewarded by making a relatively easy crossing shot on a rooster--maybe typical of a High Three shot on a skeet field. But when my shot went off up came another bird, this time a black-phase hen. That one wasn't nearly as easy a shot, but the little 28 was very fast into action, and I connected.