oneounceload
Moderator
Too many dove hunters never pattern their shotguns to find out which variety of #8 works best. It can be a real eye-opener to shoot at a three-foot sheet of plain paper and see "vacancies" in the shot pattern of several inches across.
While patterning is nice, it does NOT tell the whole story - you're looking at a two-dimensional representation of a three dimensional shot string. Depending on the gauge and the load, that string can be very long (over 20'). So where you think there might not be a hole in the pattern, there actually might be one.
Finding a place to shoot high-incomers and 40 yard crossers would be a good practice routine