The hunt was booked with Algar Safaris at the 05 SCI convention in Reno. We were enjoying? a cheeseburger and much needed rest from walking the aisles when Mrs. Blacktailer noticed that the two gentlemen sitting next to us were from Argentina. We began talking to them and it turned out one of them was Jose Martinez de Hoz who was there to do a signing of his new book "A Sporting Life". We asked him what his favorite hunt was and he said that while elephant was probably the most exciting, red stag in Argentina during the roar was his favorite. I mentioned that I would like to go to Argentina to hunt stag but wasn't sure who to book with. At this point, Jose became very excited and said as soon as he finished his lunch, he would introduce us to someone who would take very good care of us. He led us to the Algar booth where he introduced us to Lilliana who booked us for the last week in March 2006.
The flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires is 11 hours. American Airlines does not offer enough legroom on their planes for 6 footers and Mrs. Blacktailer at 5ft 7inches wasn't very comfy either. Next time I'll look for a different airline. We arrived in Buenos Aires and were waived right through customs and were standing with all of the other arriving passengers where the tourguides were holding up signs but there was no sign for Algar. After about 20 minutes, I called Algar's office and they said they would locate our contact. 5 minutes later, Carlos arrived looking puzzled. He was waiting for us all along where the police had to check-in our guns but customs must have thought the Tuff-Pack had golf clubs so instead of directing us to the police, they had waived us right through.
We spent the nite in Buenos Aires and got some much needed rest, then were taken to the domestic airport the next afternoon for the two hour flight to Bariloche and the 1 1/2 hour drive to Algar. All connections were taken care of but due to Argentine Airlines' flight delays we arrived too late to sight the rifles.
After a hearty welcome from Dr Tomas, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner. He informed us that since we would have to wait for daylight to sight the rifles, we would get a later than usual start. After breakfast the next morning, we checked our zeroes and headed out on horseback for most of us although you can also use vehicles if you want. We were not 20 min from the lodge when we saw our fist stag. Nahuel, our guide, stopped and scrutinized him through his Zeiss binoculars. "Quanta puntas?" I asked. "Ocho" was the reply. We continued to ride along and check stags but 10 pointers (diez) were about all we saw. At noon, we unsaddled the horses and a truck picked us up to take us back to the lodge for lunch and siesta. Marcus, one of the other hunters said he and his guide stalked up on a 14 point (catorce) but the horns were not very heavy and his guide thought they could do better. After siesta, we were taken back to the horses and continmued to hunt until dark. When we got back to the lodge, we found that Marcus had taken a large 14 point. He said he was hesitant to take one on the first day but his guide said it was outstanding and he should take it. He was right as it turned out to be the largest stag taken that week.
The next morning Dr Tommie's wake up call came a 6:00am and after a great breakfast, we were back in the saddle before daylight. We saw many stags and at one point, after Nahuel and I had stalked on one stag for about 150 yards, as I lay there on my belly, I counted 15 stags around us that were 8 or better all roaring and fighting. That's exciting! The stag we were stalking turned out to be a doce (12 point) and Nahuel said I could take him if I wanted but he thought we could do better (this communicated through my limited spanish and lots of sign language). We stood and rejoined Mrs. Blacktailer and walked back to the horses. After lunch and siesta, we were again glassing and stalking when Nahuel noticed a stag lying down about 500 yards away. He was down the ridge with absolutely no cover between us and him but since he was looking the other way and we had a strong wind coming from our left, we began to slowly move towards him. If he looked right or left, we would all crouch down but as long as he remained lying down and looking down the ridge, we kept advancing. Finally we stopped and Nahuel looked long and hard through his binoculars. He said that the carona on the left side had 4 points but because there was a bush directly behind the stag's right side, he couldn't be sure if he was a catorce or not. I asked Nahuel how far away we were in case I needed to shoot and he held up three fingers (300 meters). Mrs. Blacktailer asked if we could get closer so I asked Nahuel "Mas cerca?" He nodded and we continued our stalk. We had gone about 30 yards when the stag looked to the right and we all immediately crouched down. Now the bush was not behind the right antler but both antlers were exactly in line so all we could see were points! Finally the stag turned his head partially and Nahuel gave me the thumbs up sign and patted his right shoulder for me to rest my rifle. I shook my head and scooted off to his right in a sitting position and got ready to shoot. The stag slowly stood and took about 10 steps to the right as I kept the crosshairs on his shoulder. When he stopped, I put the crosshairs about 6 inches below his backline in line with his front leg and began to squeeze the trigger. I saw him drop from the scope as the rifle came through recoil and heard the WHUMP as the 165 gr Barnes TSX struck home.
When we walked up to him Mrs. Blacktailer counted the points as I was afraid to look. I couldn't believe it when she counted 16. Nahuel looked at his teeth which were worn almost flush with the gums and said "Muy viejo" (very old). Tommie later confirmed that he was at least 10. He had one brow tine completely broken off and another with about 3 inches missing from all of the fighting he had been through.




The next day we began looking for a fallow deer for Mrs. Blacktailer. She took a large white one with a 200 yard shot from her Kimber SuperAmerica in 308 Win just at dusk.




We had a great time and made some wonderful freinds.

Very nice stag !! thanks for sharing pictures and story. Did you see any wildboars? Mike Detorre shot a nice one last year in that property during daylight.

More pictures please..

L

We hunted for boar the last two days but did not see any although they were around judging by the sign. Marcus who got the big stag on the first day spent the next four days hunting boar and got a nice one on the last day. It was not cold enough for them yet and they were still higher in the mountains. Evidently when it is later in the fall there are lots of them.
I'll try to add more pics tonite.

Nice stag! The roar is a really special time to be hunting.

The fallow is not too shabby either, did you see many white bucks?

That was one of the few white one we saw. There were several chocolate ones and one was spotted.
Here are a few more pics.
Our transportation


Just another sunset in Patagonia


And a view of the countryside



The air is so clear down there that distances are deceiving. We also never even saw a contrail the entire week.

Congratulations on a satisfactory hunt !

The magic of the roar experienced in an environment as the Patagonia offers is something quite unforgetable ...

Russ,

great story and a muy bueno stag

Looks like a great adventure! Congratulations on a beautiful trophy well hunted!

Very good stag, you know the weight of the trophy? You can talk abot the costs - only for comparison german stag hunt.

quote:

Very good stag, you know the weight of the trophy? You can talk abot the costs - only for comparison german stag hunt.

Monastery- The hunt was about $5K US, but of course we added some days in Bariloche and Buenos Aires for sightseeing as well as did all of our Christmas shopping and covered most birthdays for the year as well because compared to the US (or Europe), the prices in Argentina are very attractive.
The stag probably went about 200 kilos or less (just my guestimate, we did not weigh).