Anybody hunted birds with this outfit. Supposedly going there next month for dove and pigeons.
Good, Bad, Ugly ???

I have not hunted with Paco... yet. But I am planning my next trip to Argentina, and it will be with Paco. I have met a number of people that have hunted with Paco. They were all repeat customers and recommended his outfit highly.

AKH..thanks for the reply. I will let you know how it goes.
Better tomorrows!

Harry,

I did a fair amount of reference checking on Paco Riestra for his pigeon hunting. Feel free to PM me for more info, or I'd be glad to speak with you on the phone about it. I'd just have to dig up some of the notes.

Brant

Harry,

I have hunted with Paco's company a couple of years ago and highly recommend. I went with a group of buddies that hunt ducks together in Mexico and they invited me to tag along. This group wanted to experience all the bird hunting Argentina had to offer and expressly asked Paco for dove, Perdiz, duck and pigeon. Well, Paco agreed. We later realized that this would require three different venues with some serious driving. Paco made less money than he usually does with all the transportation, and of course we lost some hunting time. But everyone was happy. It was a true adventure taking us from Paco's primary base outside Cordoba to up north for Pigeon and then to the north east along the river for ducks. But the shooting was fantastic and the hospitality was equally fantastic. The Asados were excellent and lots of great Malbec (the Argentine red wine) to wash it all down. I am a pretty sorry bird shooter, but even I bagged several hundred doves a day and we limited out on ducks every day (30 per shooter). The duck shooting is fabulous, it is funny to me that all you hear about in Argentina is the doves shoots. The ducks obviously do not get hunted much, becuase the are pretty call ignorant and the blinds they use are set up by two guys in five minutes; not exactly elaborate.

Good outfitter. He wanted to please the guests and provide value. Hugh

I can see here that I never posted the results of the trip. It was good enough that I am scheduled to go again Oct. 1,2007 with three friends.
Last year we flew D/DW to Santiago and then Cordoba. We shot dove for two days and decoyed wood pigeons for two. I shot 3100 twenty ga. shells out of my Benelli in those four days and had a wonderful time. The food was super and esp. in the first lodge. The first lodge was an old farm house re-done into bedrooms and baths. The bar/lounge and dining area was a new building next door. We were never more that a 10 / 15 min. ride to where we shot zillions of birds.
The second lodge was more remote but had just been re-modeled and was very nice. The electric there was generator powered and our only bitch was the A/C in our roooms would not be on upon our return from shooting wood pigeons and we had to remind the staff that we needed plenty ice for our sundowners and meal. We also had about a 45 min. run from this lodge to the wood pigeons but still the Fiat, turbo charged AC van had plenty of drink, room etc. so it was not a real problem due to the amt. of shooting we got anyway.
Overall the service was plenty good as was the lodging, the amt. of birds etc. The smartest thing we did was to get into Cordoba one day early and stay at the 4 star Holiday Inn. This way we got a couple of good showers, meals and a good nights rest before hitting the bird fields. If you do it the normal way you get off a plane after 11 to 12 hrs. flying and then hit the bird field for an afternoon shoot. The getting in the one day earlier was really worth the big $85 extra!
This time the four of us fly into a brand new place that Paco has and we arrive B A instead of Cordoba. At the end of the hunt we plan a day tour of BA and fly back overnight to D/FW.
Paco said we will see more birds than we did last year and this time I am taking both of my Benelli 20's so we will see how it goes this time. I am looking forward to it all except for the damn long plane ride of course.
Better tomorrows!

Here is the dove hunting report from my Oct 1 thru Oct 9, 2007 hunt with Paco Riestra booked thru Adventure Unlimited in Corpus Christi, TX.
This trip was one to remember.
First the American flight of Oct. 1 was canceled as the plane was broken and could not be repaired. Now we are shipped to the swank Gaylord hotel experienced two false fire alarms during the very short night which required us to vacate the hotel each time and we left for Buenos Aires at 8:45 A.M. on Oct. 2 after being picked up at the hotel at 5 A.M. It was a damn short night of supposed rest.
The A/A 767 has some metal box under every aisle seat that tales up part of your footroom where you left foot rest. Add to the fact the seats were narrow and not much room between front and back. Hell of a way to travel for 11+ hours. Bah...Humbug!
We get to B.A. and then the next day we are to fly to Santiago del Estero where we will be met by Paco's guys.
We are to stay at the Los Ceibos Hotel in Bandera and hunt near there. The photos of the hotel and rooms look very nice.
We land in Santiago del Estero and there are Ramero and Jaun Carlos. My group leader and driver from last year, a positive sign I think. Now I learn the bad news. Seems Paco's office did not receive the deposit from Adventure Unlimited in time for our hotel rooms at Los Ceibos to be reserved. This means we now have to drive about 4 hours to Paco's lodge called El Picazo. This lodge is powered by generator and may and or may not have hot water for your shower. I stayed there last year while shooting decoyed pigeons and it was not my best experience when it came to lodging.
The bird shooting was fair however we hunted the same spot several times and no matter where we hunted we always had to drive at least an hour or more over rutted dirt roads to get there and to get back to the wonderful El Picazo lodge. One road thru one wheat field was 15 KM long. It was a shortcut.
There were enough birds that it kept the four of us busy for three days as we shot 8,800 shotshells. We lost one half of one morning to light rain, wind and dropping temps. Not the fault of anyone and I had the same thing happen to me in Paraguay in 1999.
My bitch is I did not get what I paid for or was told I would get. I am unhappy that we did not stay the hotel in Bandera and hunt the new area.
I have E mails showing Adventure Unlimited was told they would need deposits sent to Paco in order for the Hotel room to be reserved. The deposits were evidently not sent on time. I checked my bank upon arrival back in Texas to see when my checks to Adventure Unlimited cleared my bank and they did so in plenty of time for the money to have been sent wherever required. I have yet to hear from AU why all this took place.
Would I hunt with Paco again? I doubt it. I am not interested in another possible adventure to
a this lodge in which I wrote a lenthy report to them about last year. I found no improvements in it this year. The service from the lodge staff was still as bad yet they all expected U.S. cash tips. The group leader and driver did yoeman's duty knowing I was not a happy camper.
Would I ever book anything with Adventure Unlimited again? I doubt it. There is going to have to be one hell of a good story coming out of Corpus from a certain individual as to why this happened and why I was not told of the changes before I flew out.

Hugh W ,i notice that you speak about duck hunters here ,calling them ignorants ,first of all here duck hunting is one of the most popular sports ,with expert callers ,excellent retievers ,and depends where you hunt you have pemanents blinds or not ,in my town duck hunting is only under partrige hunting ,we dont shoot doves as much because you get tired of it after hunting all the days of your life ,my family hunt ducks since 5 generations every season ,and you can came and see how we shoot or call ,Juan

Juanpozzi,

Please excuse me if I did not get my point across. I stated that the duck hunting in Argentina is fantastic! Your guides are very hard working. I do believe that part of the reason for the duck hunting being so good there is that the ducks are call ignorant, NOT the guides. The ducks come to calls very easily, not like here in the U.S. You are lucky to have birds that come to calls so readily! If you want to work hard for your birds come here to the U.S.

I hope I get to return to your country to enjoy some more great wing shooting.

Thanks,

Hugh

Hugh. I am sorry your recent trip was not as planned. One of these days give Juan Pozzi a try. He has always done well by me and those I have referred to him. I am a booking agent of sorts, and this is the sort: I send my friends to hunt with my friends and collect no fees from either end. Hunting is my passion and nothing gives me more pleasure than to help as best I can both my friends who are outfitters and those who are hunters. Call me a match maker whose "weddings" don't end in divorce.

Excuse me i dindt understand,here we hunt ducks as part of our life ,for example my family has a pond just for us minutes from my home ,just next time send me a mail and ill hunt with you ...then you will decide .By the way i hunted in USA and the game is very smart due t the hunting presure .Juan