My shoulder doc is a southern boy, and he told me I can do anything I want with the arm, as long as it doesn't hurt. If it hurts, don't do it. I did discuss hunting with him and he advised against using a 12, but thinks I should be OK with small bores (unless it hurts). For the September dove season I started with a Rem 1100 .410 with 2-1/2" skeet loads, all good. Moved up to the SX3 20 with Clever Mirage Featherlite target loads, still OK and killed lots of birds. For the second season that started day after Thanksgiving, tried my 686 20 with the featherlite loads and it was OK, but I started to feel it on the third day. That's why I'm looking for some sort of pad, because I much prefer the 686, especially in heavy brush. The semis throw hulls all over the place and I just spend too much time looking for them. The torn tendon in my shoulder is the one that comes up the outside of the upper arm and over the top of the rotator cuff, so it's not directly impacted by the recoil of the butt, but the shoulder structure absorbs and dissipates that recoil, so some is transferred to the area of the tear. I figure that surgery won't be convenient until sometime in 2019, and the recovery is 6-8 months, so I'm trying to concoct a way to keep hunting until the surgery. I did ask the doc if I'm risking anything by delaying the surgery and he thinks I'm OK because i'm in pretty good shape for my age. But I have to be real careful to avoid further damage in the interim.
