Well, if you plan to leave the breast meat on the breast bone, you have to take the wings off the breast bone eventually, for me it is easier to do it before you breast the bird, whether you use shears or not. So I have always run thru all the birds first to take off all the wings, then when you go back to breast them, when you stick your thumb under the breast to grip it, you can pull the rest of the carcass away very easy with the other hand, I loop thru all the birds with this process, then I clean my hands from the blood and feathers, then give the birds a final wash.

But shears are the only way to go, they make them specifically for cutting off dove wings (they have a little grove in them), I got mine at Academy for pretty cheap I think, I wanna say less than $10 but really can’t remember. But if you guys are not using shears, I would give it a try!