Dove still persistently flying into degraded sunflower patch...

[Eleanors38]

Even on an overcast, windy, rather cool day, dove were still flying into an oat field with a "perennial" patch of sunflowers. Durable, late afternoon field! Got six with 12 shells, fired from an IC choked Rem 870, all on the fly. Funny, how your shooting improves over the season!

In a peculiar twist, general gun deer season opens on November 5, while the first half of the long dove season overlaps to Nov 6. I have not seen that before, so I may try for a deer, and if everyone else gets one on the fifth, go for a few more dove on the sixth. What a treasure to hunt both species on well-kept land.

[NickB79]

1. Why an IC choke tube instead of a modified?

I was just sighting in my Mossberg 12-gauge with rifled slugs for deer season with an IC choke last week, and fired a few #6 field loads through it for fun onto the target board.

The pattern at 25 yards was crap!

[Eleanors38]

2. Of course, this is a general recommendation, but ICs throw out a much more uniform...

pattern. This holds true with both large & small shot. The reasoning I have read (and experienced) is that dove and waterfowl don't need many shot; the former due to size & lack of toughness, the latter due to closeness over dekes when compared to pass shooting. Frankly, I have shot dove a considerable distance with IC chokes, but again there are lots of variables in shot (size, poly, steel Bismuth, etc.) and propellant. My old Wingmaster with fixed M does not produce a very uniform pattern, but my Rem 870 Express is quite nice with the IC in. Incidentally, IC also gives me good Foster slug performance. If it makes a diff, I use light field loads, with the theory that too much propellant can disrupt patterns.