some pics from driven hunt. This is a lot of fun, or at least I think it is. I love to hear the dogs bringing game to me.

Neat Pix. Some of that brush is so thick, that your first glimpse of the game is at 5-6 yds!! and its moving!

quote:

Originally posted by SGraves155:
Some of that brush is so thick, that your first glimpse of the game is at 5-6 yds!! and its moving!

So true. Sometimes the pecaries come through in big groups. Good place for a lever gun in 44 mag.

Preparing for a drive by the dogs


Blood from thorns


Peccary

Never had the pleasure of being part of a driven big game hunt looks like fun, I'll have to try it some day. I haven't made it past the dove fields down there yet!

Steve is that your 9.3 you were using?

quote:

Originally posted by Cumbrian:
Steve is that your 9.3 you were using?

We all had shotguns for this drive. We were stationed about 60yds apart along a recently cleared fence row, which was the only place one could see more than a few feet.

John Air; Looks interesting!

Tell us more about your operation, particularly your organization for groups of six or more. What are your accomadations for hunts? How many translators? Ammunition supply? Trophy shipments for clients?

What about securing in-country flights for clients?

Matt Norman
NRA-Life Member
SCI-Life Member

Looks like it was a hell'uva time. Congrats!

GAYNE BILL SAW YOUR BOOK AT HOME AND WANTS TO BUY ONE ,JUAN

Its deja Vu all over again!

I have hunted with john twice. Both were an adventure.

Jim, Greetings. Havent talked to you in a long time. You and Matt are being way too polite. "Adventure" hardly even begins to cover it. Why dont you guys tell everyone about the lack of organization? How about your night at motel hell when I went back to Buenos Aires? Maybe the shipping charges for the "trophies"? Maybe the estancia refusing service in the middle of a hunt for lack of payment? How about the "guides" wanting to leave shot ducks floating rather than retrieve them. This was why the group quit shooting. You dont just leave things to go to waste. This is probably enough for now. Although I loved Argentina and the people I will never book a hunt with this gentleman again.

Your group got a free repeat hunt for that time. I wasn't there so don't even know if all you say was that way. What I do know is you decided not to take me up on the repeat and then changed your mind after your friends took it. So it couldn't have been that bad. Internet is just a good place for you to spew venom. Sometimes a hunt will not go as it should, this is inevitable. The important thing is to do all possible to make it right.

Ah yes....

Guess it depends on your definition of 'adventure'. How about 'a screw-up that you survive'?

And just what are accomadations described as a 'country hotel'? Would that be a hotel in a city across the street from factories and such? Or how about a $8 a night flop-house that wouldn't pass muster in the worst part of the city of Detroit? With breakfast consisting of a package of stale pastries tossed out on a table?

And several hours of transfers where we are eating packages of crackers.

And organization consisting of fishing boats but without trailer hitches that fit? We waited a couple hours for that to get sorted out.

And yes, one retriever for three duck shooters and the dog just giving out. Remember it well as I was there. Compounded by no translator. Ducks floating but no way to get them so we stopped shooting. Ate lunch that day standing on a muddy road with no means to even sit down.

And what about the $400 USD that I sent for an in-country flight on the 'make up' hunt that I never got back. It was NOT a deposit for ammunition and I SAVED ALL THE EMAILS!

I was impressed with Argentina and most of it's people. I will go back (with a reputable outfit) but certainly not 'JohnAir'. Jim, Mike, myself, and others learned the hard way.

This was not my first rodeo. I've hunted four continents including Africa seven times, several U.S. states and several Canadian provinces. This was the WORST operation I've ever booked with.

If any of you want details feel free to PM me for more details.

P.S. John, sue me or call me out. I'm easy to find. You embarrassed me with my friends as I vouched for you! The rest of the crew has their story to tell as well.

Matt Norman
Union Lake, Michigan
SCI Life Member
NRA Life Member

I already answered above. You decided not to take the offered free hunt. I can't avoid things going wrong on very rare ocasions, especially when other service providers are involved. I can and did provide a free hunt to make up for it. Thankfully you are in a small minority of people who did not enjoy hunting with me, a vocal minority but still small. Such is the internet.

John, I didnt want anything from you then and I dont now. I suppose I can email several people and get them to chime in as well. I hold no ill will against you personally. In fact I could care less. I waited a couple of years to even say anything publically. I was trying my best to give you the benefit of the doubt. There are more things you fail to mention. I wont bother to go into most of them as I have already made my point. I would like to correct a couple of things you are misrepresenting. First Matt and I were unable to "take advantage" of the "makeup hunt". You stated at that time that we could do it at any time and you would make it good. We did not as you say decide we wanted it after our friends went back. In fact the opposite was true but I will leave that up to the friends to discuss as I was not there. Second when Matt and I tried to come back there was no plan in place and according to your own communication, (what little there was of that) you had nothing in place. That was almost up to the time we were supposed to leave. We decided to pull the plug a couple of days before said departure because you could not confirm anything. Also our friends had the issues with their second hunt. As far as the small minority of people go, it is a much larger group than you would care to admit. Perhaps you really dont know but I doubt it. Lastly, there is the $400.00 that Matt sent you for internal airfare that he never got back. Dont try to feed me the same stuff you are everyone else. I was there I know what was and was not said and done. To everyone else, Argentina is an increadible destination forboth big game and wing shooting. The shooting is fantastic but that is in spite of and not because of Johnair. My problem is with the lack of organization, planning and just plain misrepresentation. You make good on the money you owe Matt and it will go a long way in restoring my opinion of you. I agree that things happen especially when dealing with third parties. In this case it was you and your people. That is, unless you are talking about the estancia that you owed money to.

Yup John, we (Mike, Jim, and myself) are in a minority and making all this up. You want for the other members of the group to weigh in? Remember, there were eight of us the first hunt group!!!! Then six of the group for the make-up hunt that went bad as well. Then there was Mike and I. Spewing venom?????? I think not.

And to think I nearly signed up with you for 25K for your 'forever' hunt club thing. Sure glad Ed Williams talked me out of that. Would you like him to talk about his experience trying to get his red stag trophies back?

Go away John. Take you act somewhere else besides here.

By the way, Mike Smith and I have had zero (and I mean zero) communication about this entire thread. All of this is independant of one another.

You decide who is telling the truth.

Hey Matt good to see you are well also. I owe everyone especially you an apology for not staying in touch. It is a long story and will take several beers to tell when I see you.

Just to say something else about our group. We run the gauntlet from blue collar right up to and including millionaires. We are different ethnic social and religous backgrounds. One is even a professional booking agent. We are all well traveled and have all hunted a minimum of four continents each. We are all acomplished hunters in our own right. As Matt says this was not our first rodeo. The thing we all have in common is our love of hunting.
Cheers,
Mike

PS Anyone who might think I am the type to just "spew venom" please go back through all of my threads since I became a member here. I am sure my behaviour will speak for itself.

To Whom It May Concern,

I have hunted Worldwide and experienced hunts from the Best to very mediocre ones. After taking game on 6 continents I have gained some knowledge from the experience.

Any time you leave the US to hunt things are much diffrent than in our country. I have hunted with John Air several times and found his operation to be excellent. One can't always control the entire situation when other parties are involved. I am sorry that some hunters had a bad experience but our hunts with John have been top notch every time. I can't imagine anyone not having proper food on one of his hunts. We traveled by truck from Cordoba to Victoria and it was one of the best days I have ever spent. Millions of waterfowl everywhere and the most delicious Lunch at a small roadside cafe that catered to the truckers. Some of the best BBQ I ever tasted. I felt like John did everything in his power to make sure we had a great experience. That's all any outfitter can do.

Hawkeye47

Hawkeye, I am glad you had good hunts with John.
Truthfully it is hard to not have a good time even with all the screwups because the wingshooting is so great. Have stopped at those little hole in the wall cafes the truckers frequent as well. Some of the best asado I have had anywhere. Unfortunately the lack of food on a couple of days was true. If you are paying an outfitter to do a job it should be done correctly. If not what are we paying them for? The logistics on these 2 trips were a disaster. John was either incommunicado, or unresponive. I probably would have let it all go myself had he not ripped Matt off for the $400. In fairness John did offer a second hunt to our party because the first was such a mess. Unfortunately that was a disaster as well for those that went. I was willing to give him a second chance but not a third or fourth.

Time for me to drive a nail into this thread as well. I must admit my blood was up. I apologize to SGraves155, Saeed (as it's his website), and I'm glad Hawkeye47 had a good experience. Hope everybody gets their trophy shipments!

No, I will not apologize to 'JohnAir'. Via Accurate Reloading I brought him a booking for a group of eight paying customers and we had a poor experience. The subsequent free 're-do' was bad too. You can't not meet groups at the airport, not have translators, not have things organized, have trophies held up 'cuz you didn't pay your bills, not have a clue where your clients are going a couple weeks out, etc.

Mike Smith and I have been around for awhile. So has Jim Yackley. Want more confirmation of all this? Contact Ed Williams in Searcy, Arkansas @ 501 268 0550. Ed's a retired Army Colonel (class act!) that has hunted all over the world. Hear his story about JohnAir first-hand and particularly attempting to get his red stag trophies back (he never got them).

And for our Hawaian members you probably know Geoff Hashimoto. He witnessed all this too. Feel free to contact him.

The $400 bucks I lost for a plane ticket that never happened I chalked up to live-and-learn.
I'm subsequently booking a proper trip to Argentina.

Okay,I'll shut up now.

quote:

Time for me to drive a nail into this thread as well. I must admit my blood was up. I apologize to SGraves155, Saeed (as it's his website), and I'm glad Hawkeye47 had a good experience. Hope everybody gets their trophy shipments!

What are you apologizing for? The only thing I can think of is not posting your experiences earlier.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

quote:

Time for me to drive a nail into this thread as well. I must admit my blood was up. I apologize to SGraves155, Saeed (as it's his website), and I'm glad Hawkeye47 had a good experience. Hope everybody gets their trophy shipments!

What are you apologizing for? The only thing I can think of is not posting your experiences earlier.

I second that.

Whatever exeprience you had, it would be appreciated if you tell us about it.

I can appreciate things might not go the way they are supposed ot, but not in the direction you have mentioned.

Gatogordo, Saeed, et all. You are correct and I do apologize.

I hate to see this sort of thing happening, but we now have a big question mark hanging on hunts arraned by JohnAir.

This might get cleared if we get a reasonable answer from him