Am I a "3" or a "4"? You decide. (Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

A Pheasants Forever project I'm working on just required me to rate wingshooting opportunities in terms of difficulty using a 1-5 scale (one being "easier," five being most "difficult"). For example, I rated sage grouse a "1," and ruffed grouse a "5."

The obvious flaw, of course, is that days in the field aren't (thank goodness) as black, white and standardized as this system. Bird maturation, hunting pressure, weather, bird hardiness, flush style, flight speed, time of season, location, shooter expertise and much more play a part in this infinite debate. As in "What's more difficult, shooting a ruffed grouse on a 60 degree bluebird September 20th day or bagging a rooster pheasant on a snowy, -20 degree wind chill December 20th?"

I rated chukars and ruffed grouse as 5s; bobwhite quail, prairie chicken, Huns and sharptails as 4s; and pheasants as a 3. There's no winner in this argument, but I'm open to being challenged on my scores so let's have a little fun with it. Here are my ratings, go ahead and blast me with yours!

Ruffed Grouse *****

Chukar *****

Prairie Chicken ****

Sharp-tailed Grouse ****

Hungarian Partridge ****

Mountain Quail ****

Mearns Quail ****

Gambel's Quail ***

Scaled Quail ***

Bobwhite Quail ***

Ring-necked Pheasant ***

Mourning Dove ***

California Quail ***

Ptarmigan **

American Woodcock **

Blue Grouse *

Sage Grouse *

Spruce Grouse *