I have about 600-800 feet of gravel drive/walkways to snowblow every year. If you run one without shoes on the blower, you will throw alot of gravel until the road surface freezes. I always run it with the shoes until i get a good solid frozen base. The shoes let you leave an inch or 2 of snow, not enuf to cause any issues. if you leave too much, and a thaw happens, youll have a slushy mess thats hard to drive thru.
After i get the frozen base, i lose the shoes and maintain the hard pack thruout the rest of the season. Been doing it for years and hardly throw any gravel.