I was watching a dove hunting program on t.v. the other day and the lady (Laryssa Unchained or some such thing) was being given a tour of the lodge and they were showing her some plaques showing two different people who had shot over 12,000 doves in a single day ..

Not withstanding the fact that the shells (if they never missed) must have cost over $5,000 ... how can a single person shoot that many in a day ??? I tried to do the math but got weary and quit ..

Even with two or three loaders. No breaks for lunch, bathroom stops and shooting from "can till can't" I claim BS.Figure 12,000 birds in a 12 hour day. 1,000 per hour, over 16 birds per minute, 2.8 birds per second. I repeat BS.

I have no idea if is true or not.

We were at Los Chanares one year. There was a guy from TX who shot over 10,000. He has 3 guns and 2 loaders. He started right after daylight and shot until dark.

Lawdog, your decimal point is off slightly. Regardless, a remarkable feat if true. I wonder how many times they kill multiple birds with a single shot . Maybe even shoot them out of trees. Plus I wonder how accurate the birds boys are. Most have learned that high counts are good for tips.

I've shot at Los Chanares. In my estimation the bird boys hit the clicker if a bird flinches. It is not unusual to hit more than one bird with one shot. I don't think there are many people who can mount and swing a gun 10,000 to 12,000 times in a twelve hour period. If it is a 6 pound gun that is the equivalent5 of lifting 60,000 to 72,000 pounds in 10 or 12 hours. I still claim BS.

You may well be right lawdog.

I remember when this guy did all that shooting at Los Chanares, he was sunburned and exhausted. He was so stiff and sore he sat in camp the rest of the time.

i should also add that he shot .410s.

My personal best is 3015 in a day. I was pretty tired and beat up. I can't imagine over 10,000 in a day.

I went on a three day shooting trip and I shot a bit over 1000 one day just to do it. I was using a 12ga O/U and loading myself. I was shooting almost as fast as physically possible. It became work around 11 am and then sweaty hard work about an hour after I resumed in the afternoon. My shoulder got sore and my hands got sanded by the checkering till they hurt. No, I didn't go from dawn till dusk and I stopped for the regular lunch break. Still, it was brutal. Using a lightweight semi-auto in 20ga would have been quicker and more enjoyable but it still would have taken time to load.

If I go again I'll plan to shoot a couple hundred in the morning and then hang out till lunch. I'll do another couple of hundred in the afternoon then return to sit by the pool and drink whiskey sours till dinner. That won't make me popular because they make most of their money from the sale of the cartridges but I'll tip big.

If one wants to shoot really high numbers, the key is to have 3 shotguns and 2 loaders. It is amazing just how fast the bird boys can load. Shooting can be non-stop.

I am just not into torturing myself by shooting the super high numbers. I generally shoot 1,000 rounds in the morning and 1,000 rounds in the afternoon. I may shoot higher numbers for a day if I am really into the shooting.

I appreciate the input... It really does sound impossible to me ... just shooting 12,000 shells ... these were supposed to be kills ... Aiiieeee !!!

Hey Scruffy!

The She-Wolf and I were at Sierra Brava Lodge last month for some bird shooting after Jane took a red stag south of Cordoba at Rincon de Luna. We've seen the plaque you're referring to (of the two 12,000 plus dove days). The documentation that accompanies the plaque has the details and the signatures of witnesses (for whatever that's worth), but I ran the numbers and it's likely do-able.

As the shooting days in question were actually 14 plus hours long, that requires "killing" a bird every 4 seconds. So the math works...it could be done. Bitter, painful and grueling to be sure...but do-able.

It was an absolute hoot and just silly to have that level of shooting opportunity presented and we enjoyed ourselves immensely...but I don't know if we'd do it again. Time will tell, I guess!

Mark

I also think it can be done if everything is perfect and the hunter can shoot.

I have no desire to shoot so much but hey, to each his own.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

I have no desire to shoot so much but hey, to each his own.

That's exactly where I'm at!

Again, just playing with the numbers and basis our recent ammo cost: assuming 13000 rounds to collect 12000+ birds, your daily ammo bill would be north 0f $7000.

Not sure I'm that mad at those birds!

Mark

THERE IS A VIDEO OF AN IRISH SHOOTER SPONSORED BY BENELLI WHOM SHOT OVER 10000 IN A DAY USING 4 BENELLIS AND LOADERS IN 12G. THE RECORD WAS HIGHER , BUT SHOT WITH A 20G.

IT IS DOABLE IN THE SUMMER WITH LONG DAYS. IVE BEEN OVER SHOOTING DOVES IN BOTH ARGENTINA AND URUGUAY 10 0R 12 TIMES IT IS WING SHOOTING NIRVANA!!!!!!!!

CHEERS

NICK

FWIW, many years ago, in the early 80s on my first trip to Argentina, somewhere in the vicinity of Parana (at that time, we were among the first, if not the first Americans that had dove hunted in that area), I shot 8000 shells the first day in my Winchester 101 with no loader. That includes a long break for lunch. Of course, then, as now, well, it would be now, if I could shoot like I used to, I preferred longer more difficult shots so I was shooting longer shots by choice. I don't know what the kill percentage was, but certainly not over 70%. Our bird "boys", a father and son combo, had never been on or seen a dove hunt before and had no clue. Counters or clickers were unheard of at that time. I was used to shooting high volumes of clay targets (mostly trap) back then, and had made some special recoil pads (polysorbathane duct taped on buttstock) so recoil was not a problem. Lifting the gun that many times was tiring and eventually led to my first case of tendinitis in my shoulders. For the week (4 more days), I shot about 13,000 shells total, so I "shot my wad" on volume the first day.

That same day, as we walked back to the asado for lunch, we crossed a deeply cut creek, on the high bank side of the creek, I got on a point, probably about 40 yards or so above the creek, and the doves were flying UNDER me right at water level. Some of the neatest shooting I ever done, shoot, watch the pattern hit the water on or around dove, shoot next one, watch pattern hit water, doves floating downstream. Really fun.

Shooting 12,000 shells in a day would not be all that difficult in the right spot with loaders. Killing 12,000 doves would be a helluva lot harder.

One time, on a bet, I ran 90% for a case of shells (BTW this is birds fallen to the ground, not feathers, not flinches) and just barely made it with, like, one shell to spare and that was choosing easy shots. As anyone who shoots them knows, you can knock a double handful of feathers off a bird and it keeps flying, there goes a second shot, which means you now have to kill 8 in a row with one shot to average 90%. It was a pain in the ass and took all the fun out of it. In retrospect, I probably could have done a bit better by taking mre time, and only taking really easy shots but that wasn't fun to me, so I went after most reasonably close shots.

Like most, now I shoot a case (500) or less, sometimes much less, in a session, but my shooting has gone to hell. I'm not sure if it is lack of practice, age, or some combination of both. I hate missing and that takes the fun out of it for me these days. I'm not sure I'll ever go back dove hunting.....I might go back watching and beer drinking.....I don't miss many of those.

FWIW the toughest feathered targets I've ever shot were some downwind white wings in Mexico, coming in front of a thunderstorm with possibly 60mph winds, and rockies in South Africa coming downwind.....I'd hate to think what my percentage was on those rockies, but 50% would have won the world championship in that place on that day, and I wasn't even close to that.

great story Gato, thanks for sharing

I shot doves in Santiago del Estero back in 2008, shot 8250 shells in 4 days, clicker said I got about 6250 doves. One day is was super windy and the doves came screaming out of the roost past a tall hedge row that we where spread out along, sporty to say the least. I motioned to my bird boy that I would like to shoot on the other side of the hedge, few minutes later he had taken his machete and burrowed a hole right through, waved his arm to signal me to sunflower field on the other side. Needless to say my percentage went way up and the swarming doves where thick and low right behind the big hedge. On another occasion at a different roost, the doves looked like a long black continuous snake coming back from the fields on a afternoon shoot, I got a picture of the road we where shooting on, completely covered with doves and yellowed with empties, quite the site.

Entirely possible. It's not something I wish to try, but others want their names on the boards. The bird boys can be very liberal.

What impresses me more is that we've had two brothers in their mid 60s shoot from 7k-11k per day for three days.

I have been on shoots (either a morning or an afternoon) where one could shoot as fast as one could pull the trigger and the shots were easy. On the other hand, I have seen some extremely difficult shoots where there were only a fraction of the opportunity and those opportunities are far more difficult. I suspect the operators put the high volume people in the former.

Clickers can be a problem. I bring my own. On one trip, on ducks, I looked at the clicker and it indicated that I had X # of ducks. No problem. I was shooting well and I was only clicking downed birds. Then I looked at my shells. I had more ducks than shells. WTF I thought. I paid close attention to the clicker after that. I then noticed that occasionally, when clicking rapidly, a click would increase the count by 11 rather than 1. I suspect my clicker was not the only one to fail.

We started bringing our own because I had no faith in the bird boys count.

In a half hour, I fired 500 shots and killed 364 doves. That's one every 6 seconds and I was doing my own loading with a 28ga O/U. I was exhausted after that and never fired another shot for the rest of the day. Had blisters on my hands from the heat of the barrels and was wearing gloves. That was enough for me.

Bwana:

Get yourself a set of the Gripswell gloves. They have heat shields and extra padding in the appropriate places. They are by far the best thing.

I used to use regular shooting gloves or batting gloves. No comparison.

15,208 doves in one day.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0G_ZOsPlGw

Damn! There were at least 4 guns. He did it with a PAST pad as well. Damn that had to hurt. I was bleeding on my shoulder averaging 2,000 shots per day using a PAST pad.

I don't see the point of shooting till it hurts. 15k birds in a day is work not fun.

Mike

Yup. Pain was involved I guarantee it.

Americans, in particular, seem to have a propensity for making everything a competition, including what should be relaxing sports,.....bass fishing being a prime example. At some point, it becomes sort of ridiculous and we're waaay past that point in the dove killing efforts. JMHO and if someone gets off on being Dove King, so be it.

Yesterday 2 texans shot 472 shells hunting duckson my farm ,today 483 ,we are in the middle of the best duck season ever ,ill post photos later because i have a few hours to sleep .I posted some on facebook because its a lot easier directly from my phone.

That sounds like hard work!!

I average about 300 shells an hour at steady pace shooting two guns ( I try not to hurry) and even then I'm feeling it by the end of a couple of hours.

I think there is a degree of poetic licence with some of the lodges as it becomes a marketing ploy and a way to get people to burn shells. A team of friends got the comment on their first day of: "you lot can really shoot, I think if you went for it you could break the record tomorrow...."

Cue, ego and competetiveness..... and a big cartridge bill!!

K

Shoot a lion and the world goes crazy.
How come the antis don't go after dove shooting?
Cal

My question is, why in the world would anyone want to shoot 12,000 doves in one day?

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
My question is, why in the world would anyone want to shoot 12,000 doves in one day?

+1, or 10,000 or 5,000 for that matter.

It just boggles my mind that someone needs to kill 12,000 of anything to feel a sense of accomplishment or to say they had a great day. I was simply asking what does one get out of it?

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
It just boggles my mind that someone needs to kill 12,000 of anything to feel a sense of accomplishment or to say they had a great day. I was simply asking what does one get out of it?

A sore shoulder I imagine and an over inflated ego!

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
It just boggles my mind that someone needs to kill 12,000 of anything to feel a sense of accomplishment or to say they had a great day. I was simply asking what does one get out of it?

About the same as killing an elephant and at about the same price, all things considered, except there are a helluva lot more people who have killed an elephant than have shot 12,000 doves in a day.

Juan Pozzzi:

Sir: Your post above and others of yours on different threads seem to suggest there is no limit on ducks where you hunt. Two hunters shooting over 400 rounds for ducks? Either they are terrible shots or you have no limits. Do you hunt an area where there are no limits on waterfowl? I have hunted ducks in Santa Fe Provence several times but never without a limit being imposed. Just this past month I was in Entre Rios where the limit was 25 each time out. Perhaps I am misinterpreting your posts.

I feel a little ashamed just killing 10 doves. But that's just me. At an earlier time in my life it seemed important, but so did killing 10 trout that I wasn't terribly interested in eating.

I love shotgunning more than just about anything but I don't know how far I could go. I'd like to try it someday but don't know if it's in the budget for me.
It's a dream and that may be all it is.

poisonivie:

If you choose a reasonable outfitter like Juan Pozzi and don't go absolutely crazy with the number of shells you shoot, it is doable all in, for about $5000 or a little less. A fair chunk of that is the airfare which typically runs $1500 plus.

Now if you want absolute first class in everything, shooting thousands of shells a day, for 4 or 5 days, then you can easily triple or quadruple that number.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I feel a little ashamed just killing 10 doves. But that's just me. At an earlier time in my life it seemed important, but so did killing 10 trout that I wasn't terribly interested in eating.

I have no desire to shoot 12,000. However, until one has been there it is impossible to describe the numbers of birds and the damage they cause. If they don't shoot them, the farmers poison the roosts and kill every living thing .

The first time I was ever in Argentina near Parana, in the very early 80s, on the way to the day of dove hunting where I shot 8000 shells.....

I asked the segundo, in Spanish, if there were many doves where we were going to hunt? (AFAIK, we were the first Americans to ever hunt doves in that area, if we weren't the first, we were among them)

He roared laughing and said...."Si, Senor, hay muchas palomas (yes sir, there are many doves) and went on to say they'd poisoned the roost the night before and thought they had killed about 2 million! All this in Spanish, I said, "Dos millones! There won't be any birds left." He laughed again, and said, "Wait, you'll see." When we got to the field before daylight, my buddy went one way and I went another, and about good seeing light we were on the edge of a ripening maize field. Dove flew by, I shot and the field literally got up. Hundreds of thousands of doves all in air at one time. It was and still is an amazing memory even tho it was nearly 40 years ago.

My question stands. And it's a reasonable one.

As per the poster/outfitter, we have two clients. Day one, 472 shells for ducks. The next day, 482...for ducks. As per the poster/outfitter, all shells for ducks. So....do we have a limit where this gentleman hunts? And what might that limit be?

Perhaps I have misinterpreted the gentleman's posts. There is a language issue. If so, I am happy to stand corrected.

I did not realize the doves cause so much damage down there.