Just returned from 10 days with Juan Pozzi and Alberto Foerster of Hunting in Argentina/ Los dogos. Had a wonderful time, and will try to relate some of the experiences.
Arrived with companion, Nancy, in Buenos Aires on July 19, spent 1/1/2 days touring Parks and restuarants, then flew to Rafaela where we were met by Alberto and Fernando. Short drive to San Francisco, where Juan is chief surgeon at his family's hospital, with 99 physicians on staff. Stayed in a private residence owned by a very nice lady, Maria.
Day 1--Hunted doves, pigeons, and parakeets in am--they are there by thousands. Ate lunch of fried fresh Mountain Oysters at a small ranch house with Juan and his father, friends and ranch hands. Icky, Juan's 11 yo son, plays prank, gives me Fernet instead of wine. Still manage to hit long range goat with double rife, and get two hogs, one with Lanuel (dogo) and a knife.











Day2-too windy to hunt. Much dust

Day 3- searched local ranch for any game. Found week-old lion tracks from last rain. Saw rheas, got a partridge. Back at the truck , I happened to look down between Juan and myself, and a Yarara' (poisonous viper) was crawling from under the truck. I yelled "snake!", but Juan turned and almost stepped on it, till he saw what I was looking at.











Day 4--Drove to Esquina, passing thru the tunnel under the Parana' River (2nd longest in world). Corrientes Province. Hunted on the Huge Laguna Limpia Ranch (28,000 Hectares). got a capybara with a head shot at sundown.Juan waded thru piranha waters to get head shot capy (carpincho













Day5--Drove thru the ranch to the next ranch, met a gaucho boy on horseback who led us across the Pampas to where we met several Gauchos on horseback to lead us across the river and on to the swamps where the buffalo lived. got 3buffalo. The highlight of the trip for me, was the long ride with the gauchos. Visible wound high on shoulder is exit from shot to sternum as bull was down.





















Caiman




Day 6 Drive back to San Francisco. Shop with Nan.

Day 7 Hunt Puma in am, find fresh tracks, but dogo and lab can't pick up scent. Shop with Nan and supper in restuarant with Juan, Alberto, and Lilliana, Alberto's very pleasant wife.

Day 8, Drive to Santa Fe and to Sauce Viejo, where the airport and Albertos fishing cabin are minutes apart

Day 9 Fishing in Coronda River. Several small yellow spotted catfish. Very cold and windy. Afternoon to old city of Coronda, nice tourwith alberto and Lilli.


day 10-shopping with Nan in Santa Fe, buy books, Mate cups, visit beautiful old churches.

Return

Fantastic! I think I would enjoy myself there.

Conratulations on a successful hunting trip.

Many thanks for the great pictures and report. A very nice trip indeed.

Steve, great pics! Tell me a little more about the buff hunts. How close were the shots? What was the double you were using? Did they need multiple shots?

What are the trophy fees on water buff?

I have been interested in a water buff hunt, in Argentina for some time. My son and I are going to RSA for a plains game hunt next year. I think a guy could go to Argentina and hunt water buff and cebus, for a lot less than cape buff, in Africa. Especially since the fees are going up in TANZ.

Mad Dog

Mad Dog, Yes, multiple shots on each buff with the 375 Merkel double ( 4 on each, I think).
Did a crawling stalk to within 35 yds of first buffalo, the other two were pushed out of the bush by the gauchos, and were at about 40 yds each, walking briskly, but not really at a full run.
The time of year makes a big difference in how the buff are hunted--it's much more difficult in their summer with water, snakes, mosquitoes, etc.
The published trophy fee for Los Dogos/ HuntinginArgentina.com is $2500 plus a daily rate. Obviously, we were far out in the wilderness, but there are other places/outfitters where the buffalo are kept on smaller fenced ranches. Each has its benefits and potential drawbacks.

We hunt buffalos in totally wild places ,sometimes is required to spend a nigth or two in the wild ,a minimun of 4 hours in horseback ,you will see many ,many buffalos and another game but we hunt totally free and wild area ,in summer of course is our low season ..Juan

Steve,

It looks like you had a wonderful time there with Juan, Alberto and families. The Gauchos are certainly colorful, looks like great fun!

Ann, you probably noticed how handsome both the gauchos and their horses are. They take great pride in their horses--as indeed they should. Beautiful animals. Those saddles were very comfortable. Alberto told me they are called "ricado" saddles, and have several separate adjustable pieces. He showed me his saddle at home. I wasn't sore at all from using them, and I would have been using a western pleasure type saddle.

As usual Steve you are right, the dark bay horse and the two (look like) grullo colored ones caught my attention.

What breed are they and how many hands on average?

Juan Pablo- Cute legs for a surgeon!

I am not for sure, but I suspect they were what is called "Criollo"; my guess is they average little more than 15 hands.

Darn, Steve for a moment I thought that was you in your skivvies and rubber boots and began to think of all of those Arkansas hillbilly jokes!

Seriously, looks like a great adventure. Glad you had a good time and broke the Merkel in properly.

Just out of curiosity, at what distance was the long range goat shot? Open sights or scope? I have booked a moose hunt in Canada next year, and cant decide wether to bring my Chapuis double in 9.3x74R, (Leu 1-4 scope) or a Blaser R93 bolt action rifle (375 H%H or 300 wsm barrel) with a SuB 3-12x50 scope.

"long range" for me with open sights is anything beyond about 70 yards. We just guestimated the goat at 100 meters.
With a scoped double in 9.3x 74R, I believe you should have at least one barrel that will shoot as accurately at long distance as a bolt-action.

Congratulations Steve, Alberto and Juan - looks like a fun time! Thanks for posting the pictures and story.

Steve - Regarding the logistics, what route did you fly and on what airlines? Any problems with the firearms, and what is required for entry into Argentina? What about when site-seeing, did you have them with you? Thanks!

Regards, Bill

Bill,
We flew American non-stop from Dallas to Buenos Aires. The airport police require a form with typical information, which can be filled out in advance--and in triplicate. The forms are available on the internet. The entry fee is 300 Arg Pesos/rifle. They gladly take USD's at official exchange rate (3.09/1)
Alberto had arranged the flights between Buenos Aires and Rafaela/Santa Fe, on SOL Airlines. Everything went smoothly. He also arranged for a translator/guide while we were in BA.
Juan has connections with the police department in San Francisco, and of course we knew we would have no problems there. Elsewhere, one might be wise not to advertise that you were a hunter--there were several police check points in the different provinces and cities, but we were usually just waved thru.While site-seeing, we did not have our long-guns.

Stephen. I really enjoyed reading and hearing about your wonderful hunt and experience with my good friends, Juan Pablo and Willy. Now that you have been with them, you can understand why I have developed such an affection for them and hold them in such high regard.

I can just picture in my mind, with the aid of your photo, Juan wading out to get your carpincho. The piranha would not dare to approach him, he is fiercer than they.

For me, hunting hogs with a knife when I was with Juan was a first time experience and one I am looking forward to repeating. And the house where you stayed with Maria is quite nice, is it not? The Model T Ford in the garage gives it a certain ambiance, and that massive dining room table has to be one of a kind.

Were those partridges the boys were cooking in that large pot?

And a great photo of that young gaucho in the saddle with his pup. That was quite a lariat he had behind his saddle, looked like it was woven of leather. You looked quite at home with the boys on the horses, but next time you need a new hat. If I go down as planned it will be my first request.

Sauce Viejo, and by chance did you get to eat at Danielsâ€s restaurant?

Congratulations on a wonderful hunt.

Bill, no, those aren't partridges. It was castration day for the young bulls on the ranch.
In Sauce Viejo, we ate at a small, unpretentious diner near the airport. Excellent food. Heard some music they call "National rock" by a group called "Mana". I recommend it.

Bill when you came we will try to organize a local AR meeting in my farm besides that you desrve the cap of los dogos that will be gave to you in a barbecue.Local swat guys are waiting you Bill .Its raining here so tomorrow we will try to track the puma ,we saw tracks of smaller puma in my farm too ,i believe its the same who killed some Panchos lambs.Juan

Thanks for the legs Ann ,And we are waiting you.Juan

A few more picts:

Gaucho on the plains


Teeth of the Carpincho


Penis pushed from common cloaca of capy


Juan acting as Retreiver


Butchering buff


Only the oldest gaucho remembered that the ear markings on the cow were done when some buffalo from Formosa Province, up north, were released 26 years previously.

Steven thanks for the photos ,yesterday we have been spotligthing ,but we returned without succes on your lion ,he always evades us ,its pretty cold and windy here so we couldnt stay there all the nigth,we saw a small cougar at long distance but it wasnt the same cat .Next time you must taste the CHAJA empanadas they are very tasty.Juan

Excellent report and photos. Many thanks for sharing your experience.

Nice report, how much does a buff hunt down there cost? Sounds pretty fun!

Justin, Los Dogos/ www.huntinginargentina.com.ar --corrected--was very fair on daily rate (300US/day for hunter, 150US/day for non-hunter) and trophy fees are listed on the web site, but the best thing is to communicate directly thru e-mail with Alberto Foerster from their web page.

That's a bad link. Can you put up the correct one? Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
That's a bad link. Can you put up the correct one? Thanks.

Try this:

http://www.huntinginargentina.com.ar/

Works for me. Thanks.

That was an interesting report. Did you normally hunt in rubber boots?

Allen, only wore the rubber boots when hunting the buffalo. We knew we could be in marshy areas and that we had to cross rivers on horeback. Rest of the time wore regular hunting boots. I was surprised that snakes were out, their winter was the coldest in 80 years, and there was frost every morning. The Yarara' (or Yararaca, pronounced jaw-raw-RAW) is a type of lance-head pit-viper with poison similiar to our rattlesnakes.

As you can see on the head wound on the capybara, the edges appear to be white, rather than bruised. My thoughts are that the piranha in the lake had a few bites during the 30 minutes or so that it took for the body to float up. I believe that the cold weather probably prevented worse damage.

Outstanding Steve. It looks like you had a lot to do and enjoy. I look forward to hunting with Juan and Alberto. David