With an IC choke you can hit most targets within 45 yards pending skill level. I've since moved up to LM choke and now nothing gets away unless I miss it totally.

^^^ This bring up another good point.

If you are taking too long of shots for the choke you are using, you run a big risk for cripples. With doves, all you need is that magic pellet anywhere in the front half. If your pattern is spread way out and that magic pellet hits the back half... you get a few feathers and watch it fly away to maybe die somewhere you won't find it.

A big reason I moved to and extended MOD choke for ducks. Not saying I don't miss, but when I do there won't be a cripple diving around that I can't recover. All or nothing, especially on big water where I normally hunt.

I have an OU in both 12 and 20. I use skeet/IC in both with #8 shot for dove and can usually manage a limit per box of shells. Knowing what shots you can make and passing on the low percentage ones helps.

I think the idea is just to get comfortable with one. Don't let all the choices confuse you and when you get confident then start switching it up if you want. I just like to stick to 1 choke and if for some reason I feel like I have to (blowing dove to bits) I will switch out. Sounds like you just have a practice issue not a choke issue. Get out shoot a lot and have fun the rest will follow.

Years back I split the difference with a light modified choke from briley and it has worked great on dove, ducks, and geese. I switch to full for turkey, but that’s the only time I change it.

For your exact situation I'd suggest 1 1/8oz loads in 8 shot to maximize pellets. Then I'd go with the Improved Cylinder as that's going to give you(in my opinion) the best scenario where you don't exactly have to be on point and still get that lucky pellet in the kill zone. The tighter the pattern the more your miss is exagerated. As you said keeping shots close will definitely help your chances as well.

Just to show what you were missing, 1oz 7.5 shot has approx 347 pellets, 1 1/8oz 8 has 459. You're talking some major holes being filled in.

Skeet if they’re close, Modified if they’re far. I generally use Skeet the whole season for mourning doves.

You didn't say where you were hunting so I'll go from there. When I hunt ponds most of the shoots are withing 30 yards so skeet/skeet works just fine, field usually give you a little longer shots so imp/modified seems to be a pretty good setup. When I hunted in Yuma AZ the birds were flying high in the flyways and full/full seemed to work best.

When I was a young man, modified was all I would shoot, regardless of game. I would shoot heavy brass remingtion ammo in 7.5 for most of my small game. Times, guns, and ammo have changed. One thing that remains constant, good ammo. Quit shooting the cheap ammo, and your kills will improve, as well. I learned that lesson many years ago, and it still applies today. These days I prefer to look for name brand ammo, AA in a 7.5, traveling around 1300 feet per second. Go shoot a couple rounds of sporting clays with that load, and go hit the dove fields again. BTW, I only shoot an improved cylinder on dove when sitting on a small tank. Hope this information helps.

Here is my two cents for what it is worth.

Your problem is not which choke you are shooting, so changing your choke is not going to fix the problem. Your main problem is your confidence. Yes, your confidence. Confidence is one the most important factors in dove hunting. Fix your confidence, and you will be able to hit dove with any choke.

What is the main factor in your lack of confidence. You don't know how far to lead (your words). So that is what you need to focus on fixing. I could go into a lengthy discription about how to lead a dove, but it is really something you need to see in order to understand. Here are some dove hunting videos made with a ShotKam (https://amzn.to/2QNCs13). This is a really expensive gun barrel camera, but it is the only one that provides an aim point on screen that shows where the gun is aimed when the trigger is pulled. It was designed specifically to help people see why they are missing wing shots. Here is one video. There are many videos on youtube made with the shotkam that you should watch.




Once you feel you have a better understanding of how to lead a dove, the next thing is to fix another serious problem with dove hunting. And this is your gun. I have trained many of young men to dove hunt and I would never ever put a multi-shot in a beginners hands. If you started with a pump or automatic shotgun, you need tot go through therapy to overcome your subconscious physiological reliance on a SECOND shot.

I highly recommend that you buy a single shot break barrel 12 gauge with a modified choke and hunt with it until you achieve a 60% hit ratio on dove. I know this sounds dumb, but I am telling you that sub-conscious reliance on a second shot, will make you less accurate on your first shot. Taking a multi-shot and only using one shot will not help, because your mind will still know that you always have the option to load a second or third shell. If you will hunt with a single shot break barrel, you will be flat out amazed at how your shooting will improve, and your confidence along with it.

Once your lack of confidence and reliance on a second shot are fixed, you can go back to your pump or auto. After 40 years of dove hunting, if I start to miss, I will put my auto away and pick up my old Stevens break barrel 12 gauge that I bought at Kmart in 1978 and use it until I get back on track.

Hope this helps.