Anyone out there hunt Colombia, South America? I spent a couple years in Colombia and they had a decent population of deer. Also a lot of waterfowl. Never had the chance to hunt, but was interested in anyone's experiences.

No personal experience but recently read a book written by an Expat German who lived and hunted whitetail deer and waterfowl in Venezuela.

Nice place to walk around carrying a gun and using camo clothes.....

L

Duk- If only I spoke German then I could have a good read! There are many, many German descendants in Colombia.

Haha, Lorenzo. I had considered this and the dangers. Especially now Venezuela and Ecuador have sent forces to the boarders. It does interest me though and the experience could be had on private ranches.

I spent 2 years in Colombia during the early nineties, when Pablo Escobar was killed. We were on our toes the whole time and spent many days in-house during the tumultuous time. I have been smuggled out of danger in the trunk of a car, stopped by Gorillas (not Jane Goodall's type) in the backcountry, and shot at by the same. A very dangerous place for sure, but it has some very nice areas also.

While there I met a family who had a family ranch in the mtns of Southern Colombia. They had many mature 4x4 and 5x5 whitetail racks decorating their Bogota home. Nice mature bucks with great mass and tine length. They stated that the deer population in their area was stable. I figured some ExPat may have had the experience.

There sure are many areas of the world which would provide different hunting experiences.

I have heared reports that basically in most Latin American countries along the Pacific mountain ridge from México at least down to Perú there are Whitetailed deer, including such exotic places like Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the highlands of Perú.

When I still visited there for business unfortunately I never took the chance to go hunting. Too bad...

I visited Colombia in Sept. '06 to give a presentation to the Colombia Government about aquatic weed control using herbicides. From the time we stepped off the plane till the time we got back on the plane, we had an armed escort. We visited a few of the resivours were the weeds were causing problems with their electricity production. Even at these locations, there were armed security.

I'm sure there is some great hunting in portions of the country, but I can think of several other locations for great hunting too; that would be much safer.

Graybird is correct about the security everywhere and well it should be if you can trust them?? Been years since I was down that way, but did see on the news that Columbia and Equador have "kissed and made up..." and Columbia has apologized for the attack some few days ago where they killed a prime terrorist target. Chevez is in a world of hurt these days and peace and tranquility are not good for him so doubt the calmness will last much longer than the next phase of the moon. Conditions there are not as tribal nor as "holy" as the Islamic world, but like them, been fighting over some land dispute, power struggle, riches, etc. for several hundred years. Believe I would check out the deer hunting in Canada, not so violent there and hear the deer are very large to boot.

Hunted doves several times in the Cuca valley several times about 20-25yrs ago. Stayed in the town of Buga. The hunting there stopped as it became to dangerous.

as long as your life, health and kidnapping insurance is paid up, you should be OK. FARC and their friends have been pretty quiet for 7-8 days and the Columbian army has pulled out of Ecuador. seriously, is a f---king whitetail worth risking your life? even on so called private land or transitting to there, you are still a high value hostage.

Bwana- Thanks for the response. I stayed in that valley for about a month and there were 1,000s of doves.

I agree it is probably too dangerous at this time. I was just wondering if an ExPat had any experience. But I do not think it is as dangerous as some think. Not completely safe by any means. It wouldn't be about killing a whitetail. I have done that before. It would be about the experience, the hunt and seeing different areas.

All young men are required to serve in the Colombian Military (some get a pass on service) and they are positioned around many cities, standing their fully armed. It is part of what they do. I never saw it as a threat to me. Travel outside the cities should be done with care and planning.

Like I said, I am not booking anything. Just wondering if anyone had done it, such as Bwana1.

Thanks for the responses.