killing doves and shot size

[todd allen]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

My question for the "small shot" advocates is: Would you rather eat a dove or a quail with fifteen #9s in him, or a dove or quail with four #6 or six #7 1/2? As Jerry says, they will be dead with a sufficient load of bigger shot, not so much with #8 or #9. Chris, I'll bet your little .410 has some serious choke in it, and you know how to shoot it. Congratulations on a great shoot.

This has always been my thought. I know there's a lot of different thinking on shot size, but my preference has always been to use the bigger, easier to find shot sizes. 7 1/2s being, IMO, the perfect shot size for doves.