I plan to go pheasant hunting in South Dakota this Fall in mid-October. The thought occured to me to take a BUG to carry in the field and load it with shot shell loads to have available for snakes or any other nuisances that might present themselves while afield. Of course, I'll generally have a shotgun with me while hunting, but perhaps not always (crawling over/under fences, rest breaks while hunting, walking the fields before opening day, etc). Perhaps it's late enough in the year to not even have to worry about it.
Although I do a fair amount of small game hunting here where snakes are ordinarily not a problem, I've never hunted out there where the fields are much larger/longer than we normally have here in our area of Michigan.
If it's a good idea, what caliber would you use? I have a number of options in handguns between the 9mm, .38 (including SW 642 snubnose), .380, .357 mag,...or at least I think they make loads for those calibers. Anyone have any experience with this?
If you have any experience with this, do you know whether it might violate any game laws by carrying shot loads in anything less than a shotgun? I also obviously would check to assure myself that South Dakota honors Michigan's concealed pistol license.
Although I do a fair amount of small game hunting here where snakes are ordinarily not a problem, I've never hunted out there where the fields are much larger/longer than we normally have here in our area of Michigan.
If it's a good idea, what caliber would you use? I have a number of options in handguns between the 9mm, .38 (including SW 642 snubnose), .380, .357 mag,...or at least I think they make loads for those calibers. Anyone have any experience with this?
If you have any experience with this, do you know whether it might violate any game laws by carrying shot loads in anything less than a shotgun? I also obviously would check to assure myself that South Dakota honors Michigan's concealed pistol license.
