Ya know, sometimes it can make a mess - especially at close range. Just this year a friend of mine and my dad went out hunting, it was really wet, and the birds were sitting tight. I was walking through a field, when a bird suddenley flew up about eight feet in front of me, I fired, and made a total mess of it. When I gutted it, I noticed that the entrance wound was a about the size of a half-dollar, while the exit wound blew off the whole other side of the bird. Usually they're farther away, and only a few of the pellets hit them. Sometimes if you get lucky you can hit them in the head or the neck - killing them without ruining any of the meat.