Interesting. I’m not a hunter, so my knowledge of shot shells is limited. And only in the area of self defense.
I have a Savage 350 with 18.5” barrel.
I do have the longer barrel (28”) also which can accommodate chokes, but I know nothing about chokes. Fact is, I’ve never put a round through the longer barrel.
One trick many folks never learn regarding recoil of a shotgun is to press the weapon foreward, so that the muscles of the support arm absorb recoil rather than allowing all the recoil to translate to the shoulder. But even with that I prefer a 20 agauge at my age and eye sight.
I have a little semi in 20 gauge which has 21 rounds of ammo carried in & on the weapon in such a way that the gun is perfectly balanced at the reciever. I fashioned a mag extension so it holds seven, there are seven in a side-saddle on the reciever, and seven in a cuff on the stock. I can still shoot it one handed if need be, and there's a good pistol laser under the mag tube..
Start doing some skeet shooting so that you know how to use that hunting shotgun. You may need it for birds and small game.
The chokes narrow the pattern. Essentially, if you are shooting game further away (over app. 20 yards or so), you want a tighter choke, especially for larger game like deer. If you are shooting game that is closer (under 20 yards), you want an open choke as the tight pattern will tear all the meat to shreds and ruin the game.
Your self-defense version probably has a fixed choke. You could use it for hunting in a pinch, but it is not optimal.