Sectional Density impact kills. Dove and pigeon shooters have know that for years, and little to no damage to the meat at all; in most cases,
they die by shock. With a dove, if you're not there to retrieve it quickly, often they have been known to "recover" and fly off.
They used to write about Sectional Density Impact quite a bit a number of years ago; I haven't seen much about it recently.
With a lifetime of hunting in my rearview mirror, and about to start my 62nd season of shooting doves, I must respectfully disagree. The reason you don't hear much anymore about SDI alone killing is because it is bunk. The principle of blunt force trauma doesn't apply to shot pellets. Organ damage and blood loss kills. They used to talk about bullet shock killing, too. Don't hear much about that anymore either.
I have never picked up a dead dove in my life that did not have pellet holes in it, or have a broken wing bone from a pellet. And that number would now be somewhere north of 11,000 doves. When a dove flies off it isn't because it is recovering from some SDI. It is because it was hit with pellets in non-vital areas, IMHO. One parting question ........... if you knock down a dove and he recovers enough to fly off as you approach, and escapes, how do you
know it had no holes in it from pellets? You never got to examine it.
