i am looking for a new semi automatic shotgun for pheasant hunting, i would prefer the stock and uphand position to have a wood finish and it needs to have good balance so that it is light as well. 26′ barrel length and my price tag is 1500 and below

There is no real "best." It depends entirely on how a particular model fits you and how you like its balance. I’ve had cheap shotguns that just happened to fit me perfectly and I could outshoot anything I was doing on my SKB or Franchi, or even the old LC Smith. Part of the secret is barrel length — a shotgun that doesn’t feel good to you might feel entirely different if the barrel were a 26" instead of a 28"

You need to either experiment with some friends’ shotguns, to see what feels good, or go to a gun store where they will let you try theirs at their range.

Chances are you’ll find something entirely satisfactory without needing to tap the whole 1500 bucks.