I am interested in booking a hunt in Argentina. I tentatively think I have read enough on this forum to get an idea of what I want, but will gladly be educated.

First off, time of year – I want to hunt stag. My general impression is that that means March and April. Due to work commitments, I can’t go until the second half of April at the earliest. Does that put me post roar? If it does, how much more difficult will it be to score a stag? I am also a waterfowl nut, and I have seen several websites that say that duck/geese starts in May. So if I miss the roar by going in late April and will have a bit tougher hunting, why not put it off until the first week of May and at least get some waterfowl hunting in? Overall, between work and a bear hunt in late May – the second half of April does work better for me.

Moving on – I think it is perhaps easiest to describe my ideal hunt and folks can comment as to how feasible it is and where compromises will need to made. A word about cost – I don’t consider myself cheap, but I don’t particularly care to pay for stuff that doesn’t matter to me at all. In this case, as long as accommodations are clean and safe and the food is acceptable, that is perfectly fine. So paying for all the frills in a fancy lodge is completely wasted money in my book. It’s nice to have that stuff, but if it’s between that and another trophy, I’ll take the trophy every time. I also don’t drink alcohol, so a fancy wine list is another completely wasted item on me. Remember – I usually hunt out of a tent in the rain in Alaska and have to fit everything with me into a raft or a pack. So anything above that is luxury. An extra room in a rancher’s house or a western style bunk house – totally fine. I saw a horseback hunt into the mountains on a website that sounded like they used wall tents – I think I might like that even better.

Now that we got that out of the way, I would like to hunt stag and blackbuck with some wing shooting to fill in the cracks. 5-7 days. Free range. (I really, really, really, really prefer absolutely no fences. If I have to compromise here, the ranch had best be HUGE.) I would be hoping for a realistic possibility at a silver medal class stag. I would say gold, but those seem to mostly come from high fenced preserves, where I am not interested in hunting. There will probably be 2 of us, and we may bring the spouses. I need to experience the dove hunting I am always hearing about, but Juan’s duck and geese photos also have me salivating. As the budget and time allows, I think boar would be really fun too. Other targets of opportunity as they come up – just try to be flexible and have fun.

From some websites, I somewhat get the impression that it may be necessary to move locations for unfenced hunting and the wing shooting. If need be that is fine, but in the order of what I want, the big game hunting comes first. Also, if it’s a matter of shooting 100 doves in the big game location or 1,000 by moving – I am fine with not moving and only getting a shot at 100.

Juan Pozzi – if you see this, please send me a pm or email at ehoof@yahoo.com. I couldn’t get the website in your signature line to work and I did already send you a pm, or at least attempted to.

All other suggestions would be welcome and feel free to clear up any misconceptions that I seem to have acquired along the way.

Well, a pity I didn't read this before the PM, it would have save me a lot of time hahaha

My friend, you are asking for hunting in paradise !!! don't get me wrong but a wild silver/gold stag is not just an easy thing !!!

For second part of april you are post roar so yes or yes you should go to the mountains where you will be able to do some glassing. And it can be cold and wet, better to stay at a house and not in tents.

No doves here, not even those 100 you want.

For blackbuck you should move a LOT, the nearer place you will find them will be in La Pampa.

Honestly I think you are asking too much of everything in a single trip for the second part of April.

L

Hey,
Thanks for the feedback, both via here and PM.

One has to think big, eh?

I just want a good stag to be a realistic possibility - I realize I can go shoot a gold medal in a pen somewhere, that's just not what I want.

You have a big country down there! I am clearly still trying to get a handle on what happens where and when. Thanks for your help.

JVinAK: I may add that this is a big country and there are many private ranches, where general hunting is usually not allowed and are full of game. Perhaps you should ask the best outfitters or get in touch with other visitors looking for such a place, because certainly the last days of April are a rough time to get a record red stag. The other game should be easier.
Good luck

Hey Nainital,
Thank you for the input. If you have any suggestions of such ranches, that would be greatly appreciated.

I have thought about this a bit more, and wonder if just dropping the stag from the wish list might not get me other game animals. Like if blackbuck would be doable in La Pampa, perhaps some other game could be thrown in and perhaps some birds?

All kind of hard to get a handle on I guess. Perhaps the easiest way to go would be to compile a list of reputable outfitters and start asking some questions of them. Again, suggestions would be appreciated.

...http://www.cazaysafaris.com.ar/ this Outfitter looks pretty good IMO

Seloushunter

I've only been to Argentina once. I fully intend to go back a second time.

On my one and only time to Argentina I did experience the most fantastic wing shooting (dove) that I could ever imagine. I also saw the potential for fantastic duck shooting.

However, I also experienced some problems. Actually, some big problems with the outfitter we chose to go with. Lack of organization, shortage of interpreters, equipment issues, substandard accomadations, long drives to from the shooting areas, etc. Here is what I learned.

A). Don't try to do everything on one trip in a short amount of time (there were too many of us wanting to do too many different things). We tried to do a day of fishing, a day of duck shooting, perdiz, doves, pigeons, and sight-seeing. With our outfitters limited abilities it just didn't work out.

B). Go with a proven, top-drawer outfitter. The extra money you might spend will be worth it. Go with somebody that has the quality properties and organization. Saving a couple hundred bucks with a marginal operation is a false savings.

C). Find out in advance what the ammo price is as this is where the outfitters make a lot of their profit margin. Get it established in advanced as you will be pulling the trigger about double what you expect. Picture having a thousand rounds of ammo stacked up in front of you and before long you are signaling for them to bring more! (that is a good problem to have!) Just remember that a big ammo bill is a good thing so work it out in advance!

D). Pay attention to the trophy shipment costs and discuss that issue in advance!!!! Otherwise you might get a call from Miami saying 'Your shipment (red stag horns) are here...that will be two grand please'.

E). Consider renting guns once you get there. They will usually have some decent Italian firearms for hire. Otherwise you will be jumping through hoops getting your own firearms checked through, going from one end of the International airport at B.A. to the other, paying some silly fees, etc.

F) Schedule an extra day (at least!) to spend in B.A. Very cool city to visit. Just remember that dinner doesn't really get started until after 9PM. Make sure you have enough interpretors.

In summary; very clean country, great food, great wine, great people, and considerable shooting potential.

ask PN375 or any of the members of AR that hunted with Juan ,he will guide you personally ,you will hunt with labs retrieving not bird boys ,he has many new shotguns and the food is excellent .ON WING SHOOTING HES THE BEST PERIOD.

If you can't go this year during the peak of the roar, wait until you can. It is an experience not to be missed.

There's plenty of ranches in La Pampa which are low-fence from what I've seen.

Matt's advice is spot on about trophy shipments... my bill was $800 for one cape and 2 sets of horns. Wish I had packed them in a suitcase and just brought them back myself.

And learn to drink the wine while you're there... you won't be sorry

I think what you are asking for is almost impossible given the time you have.