It’s often said that the greatest conservation move a waterfowl hunter can make is to hunt in the company of a well-trained retriever. A good dog is the absolute best way to prevent the loss of downed birds.

The second most important step to prevent outright missing or crippling birds is to pattern your shotgun and find the load that performs the best from it. Far too few duck and goose hunters make this important commitment. Missed and lost birds are the common result.

The excuses for not patterning your shotgun are many, and the most common is not hard to understand. After laying out the cash for a new set of waders, a dozen more decoys, and a custom call to go on your lanyard, it can hurt to drop a couple hundred more on shotshells in the search to find the perfect shell/choke tube combination.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way?

That’s where Pattern Pros steps in.

Founded in January of 2023, this veteran-owned company looks to change the shotgun patterning game for waterfowlers and help you dial in your duck gun for a significantly lower cost.

Pattern Pros’ service is simple. Co-owners Brody Hensley, Christian Santiago, and Ryan Burnett select eight brands of shot shells that are the most commonly available, best performing, and—by surveying the waterfowling community—the most highly sought after.

From there, they take three shells from each brand’s box and compile them into a kit, which is then shipped right to your front door or available for pickup in a store near you. The result is the ability to test eight brands of shells at 20, 30, and 40 yards for a tiny fraction of what you’d have to pay to buy a full box of each brand of shotshell for testing.

Currently, Pattern Pros offers three eight-brand kits—two in 12 gauge and one in 20 gauge. They believe these selections cover 95% of the top waterfowl loads on the market. While they have opted to provide kits in 2 and 3 size shot (the most common sizes used by today’s waterfowlers), there are plans to branch out and supply various shot sizes and gauges in the near future.

The team at Pattern Pros aims to help all fowlers change shotgun patterning to an “exact science” rather than “a shot in the dark.”

“We think every waterfowl hunter should take an honest look at their approach to hunting,” stated Brody Hensley. “From there, they should realize that their shooting skills, especially their patterning, are the most important factor in limiting failures when harvesting birds.”

Have you done enough to pattern your gun for this season? Have you ever seriously patterned your shotgun? Well, Pattern Pros takes away the excuse that it’s too expensive.

Check out Pattern Pros for yourself.—Michael Kordek