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Originally Posted by Phil C
When I shoot doves at the dairy it depends on the flights of birds and the direction they are flying. Many times a flock of birds will be crossing or flying to you. If I am shooting my A-10 or model 21 with the ability to select which barrel fires first I will select the tightest barrel to fire first killing a bird coming in then firing the more open barrel as the birds flare but still are getting closer.
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I do exactly the same, Phillip. Anticipating the opening of my 62nd dove season in a little less than 9 weeks, and having forayed to Argentina to chase them twice, I have learned a few interesting things about shooting doves. One of them is that incoming doves can be killed with a 20 ga. with only 7/8 0z. of 8s, at much greater distance than I used to think. In fact, undoubtedly the hardest "bad habit" I have to overcome each season is waiting too long to drop the hammer on an incoming, speeding, dove. When using my vintage doubles I will always use the tighter, left barrel first, and I am sometimes amazed at how far you can kill an incomer. All of the bird's vitals are exposed to the shot swarm, and it can possibly be speeding towards you at 125 fps (60 mph plus a 25 mph tailwind), so from the instant your brain says "Now!" until the shot reaches the bird, it has closed a considerable amount of the distance it was from you.
Then, when you have "dumped" that first one far enough out you can go to the front trigger, or more open choked barrel, and try for a double by tagging another in the drove at much closer range. One of the greatest thrills I have ever found in shotgunning is taking a double on incoming doves, and doing it so that not only the first, but the second falls in front of you.
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