By Bradley Hogan

Bradley Hogan/Pure Gold
It’s about that time of year again when we open up the gun safes and grab our dove guns for a good old day of hunting with our friends and family. There is nothing like a good day of late summer dove hunting. I can remember when I was young my dad would get our things laid out on the sofa the day before the hunt, it looked like an early Christmas.

I couldn’t sleep the night before with such anticipation on going to the fields and smelling gunpowder all over again, man it’s great. My dad bought me my first gun at the age of 8; it was a Harrington and Richardson 12 Ga. Single shot, he told me when I could bring them down consistently with that he would move me up to the big time.

At the age of 10 I was doing what he told me and he bought me a Browning Citori 12 GA over-and-under with screw in choke tubes. Now I have a gun that I can take two shots at with different constrictions, which allowed me to shoot at different ranges. After learning how chokes worked in the dove field, I could take shots that I never could before with the single shot shotgun, which had a fixed IC barrel on it.

Screw in chokes have come a long way since then, there are several different types of chokes to choose from now, extended chokes, extended ported chokes and factory replacement flush mounted chokes like the ones that came with my Citori. All of these types of chokes work the same way, some may shoot better patterns than others. What I found to work the best for my dad and me for dove hunting was a Light Modified and a Modified constriction. For those shooting single barrel guns I would recommend the Modified constriction.

his is what we found to be the best for bringing them down at several different distances with great knock down power. But do keep in mind everyone shoots different, some folks like a little bit of room for error. It’s always a good thing to pattern your gun before going on any type of hunting trip whether it’s dove hunting or turkey hunting, you need to know what your gun is capable of doing. But the most important piece of advice that I have for you is this, have fun, be safe and get women and kids involved in the outdoors, they are our future to making and keeping our outdoors what it is today.

And also remember that you can get the best type of hunting guns, ammo, clothing, choke tubes and the best customer service around at Mark’s Outdoors!

Great Hunting,
Bradley