I know this area is for big game, but I'm going down to Argentina in 2 weeks to shoot doves and I'm wondering what advice I can get from those who've done it or those members who live in Argentina. I arrive in Buenos Aires on the 16th and then fly to Santiago del Estero for 5 days of shooting. We're booked with Caza & Safaris, Jorge Noya.

What should I know before I leave New Mexico?

John - Five days of dove shooting is a loooot of shooting. I would suggest one of the molded shoulder shooting shirts from Cabelas. I took one and it really helped the old shoulder. Also a case of Advil will be helpful. Are you taking your own firearm? What airlines and route are you taking out of ABQ? Don't know the weather conditions this time of year, most likely quite warm, but your outfitter should be able to prompt you on types of clothing. I always pack some light raingear, stocking cap, light gloves most everwhere I go these days.

PM if you like as I was down there last May. Where is your shop as I am just up the road in Jemez. Have a great trip and good luck.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

I have been 10 or so times. I will be there again about a week after you.

Bags are slow off the plane. Guns come off with the rest of the bags. Guns must be registered with the RENAR office which is in the airport. Their English is not very good. I think it is about $75 per gun. Unless you are really lucky, the process of clearing passport control, getting bags, getting gun permits (including paying at a separate location) and clearing customs will take about 2 hours.

The drive across town to the domestic airport is hair raising. The way these people drive in insane. It is at least an hour across town to the domestic airport.

Aerolineas Argentina is not the most efficient airline in the world. Delays are common. Announcements and signs in English are few and far between in the domestic airport.

I would give myself at least 3 hours on the return. One has to deal with many inefficiencies and bureaucrats. Try to check in, long line. Have the airline people go to RENAR with you. Come back to the airlines. Go through customs and passport control. It takes time. This place isn't the USA.

Learn a few very basic phrases. For example, Donde esta banos por favor. Where are the bathrooms please

Food is fantastic generally. Nice people. Ask about the water in your location. Make sure it is ok to drink.

I love the place. Good luck!

John:

For dove hunting, I would strongly recommend the Evoshield shirts. They are far superior to the pads. Also there is a set of gloves made for high volume shooting. They are Gripswell gloves. These are by far the best that I have used. They really protect the hands.

John ,prepare for extreme hot climate ,Santiago del Estero is a northen province very hot .
Shoot a few shells in the first day just to get in training.
5days is a lot try to shoot pidgeons too drink a lot of gatorade in the shooting ,you will shoot a media of 1000shellls a days try to choose your targets .
Jorge Noya is a well known PH very experienced ,i dont know if he will be there personally .
Use gloves ,and shooting vest .
HAVE A GOOD HUNT .

Thanks to all for the info so far. We're not going to take guns with us so won't have import to deal with. I'm fling Delta to Atlanta and Delta to BA overnight. I don't have any info on the domestic flight; told the outfitter is making those arrangements for us. We plan on taking light clothing and wide-brimmed hats along with sunscreen.

One other comment. Let your bird boy load for you. They are far faster than you will ever be. It will also save your hands.

I would also advise putting moleskin on your trigger finger under your gloves.

Bug repell is also a must!!

Larry Sellers

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
Thanks to all for the info so far. We're not going to take guns with us so won't have import to deal with. I'm fling Delta to Atlanta and Delta to BA overnight. I don't have any info on the domestic flight; told the outfitter is making those arrangements for us. We plan on taking light clothing and wide-brimmed hats along with sunscreen.

I would inquire about the bug stuff. I have never had a problem. However, that could be a location issue.

Lots of money for ammo. And don't stop the swing.

Larry pretty much covered it all.

Evolshield and Gripswell are must haves.

I also like to take a fiber optic shotgun bead/sight that affixes to the shotgun rib magnetically. You can get a set with three different sizes of rib adaptors and 6 sight tubes (three colors and two shapes) for 30 bucks.

I also take suncreen, advil, shooting glasses, and cushioned athletic wrap for my trigger hand.

It will be late to get this neat toy, but I had custom fitted ear plugs made at DSC that will plug into my Iphone and allow me to "rock out" while shooting. I'll go deaf from the rock and roll rather than muzzle blast.

Will is right. Ear protection is an obvious omission from my comments.

The cheapest and arguably the best but the biggest nuisance are those little foam plugs.

I got a pair like Will is referring to at DSC after Will told me about them. I think they will work great. I would avoid the muffs. They are way too hot.

Thanks to all for your inputs. I've added two EVO shirts and a pair of Gripswell gloves to my kit. I'll be using the little "foamies" as I became quite used to them during my USAF career. We leave a week from today!

Good luck John. Every single trip I have taken to Argentina was nothing less than fantastic. Please report when you get back.

You have the right equipment. Believe me, I come back a lot less battered and bruised than I used to once I got those shirts and gloves. The foamies are probably the best at noise reduction.

We leave the 22nd for Los Chanares. We have a pretty big group going.

The numbers of birds there are amazing! The sky will literally blacken when they are coming back to roost. I found it difficult to pick targets at first with so many birds coming in so close together. Like the guys said, stay hydrated and take plenty of money for shells. Great people. I guarantee you will have a sore shoulder.

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
Thanks to all for your inputs. I've added two EVO shirts and a pair of Gripswell gloves to my kit. I'll be using the little "foamies" as I became quite used to them during my USAF career. We leave a week from today!

Have fun, but pace yourself!

Boy, you guy's don't make this sound very appealing! Moleskin on your finger's under the gloves? Sounds like some kind of crusade!

Let's be conservative. Shoot 2,000 rounds a day for 3 days. You will feel it.

So, how was it?

On my way back; currently in Buenos Aries waiting for our next flight. Wanted to show you that I'd found more than doves in beautiful Argentina. I'll tell the story later when I don't have to type with one finger.

Congratulations my friend hope you return many times to my country ,you will take many more species ,THANKS FOR SHARING

Nice heavy horned stag!

quote:

I'll tell the story later when I don't have to type with one finger.

Are you related to Jtex? It took him six months or so for "later" to come around.

Here' as much of the story as i can think of right now. We hunted with Caza y Safaris, owned by Jorge Noya, but we never met or talked to him. It would be difficult for me to rate the outfit as its the only trip of this type I've ever been on. We did have a great time but I don't have anything to compare it to. I flew from here to Atlanta where I met my Son who traveled from Alaska. We then flew overnight via Delta to Buenos Aires, where we were met by a driver who took us to the domestic airport. There, a representative of Caza y Safaris, Marisa, met us and gave us our tickets for the flight to Santiago Del Estero. Marisa was our contact via email before we left and she made all arrangements for us and met us back in Buenos Aires after the hunt to settle our accounts. The flight to SDE, was about an hour-fifteen, where our guide, Leo Destefani, met us at the airport and drove us to their lodge just outside the city. Leo is a great guy, about 35, with good command of English, and a very experienced hunter. The lodge was nice but not overly fancy. There were only three in our party so we each had a private room each with a private bath. The lodge has a fairly large swimming pool, but due to weather we did not use it. All meals were at the lodge, cooked by a local woman who also cleaned the lodge and did laundry--by hand--if we needed it. They told us the washing machine had just broken. Food was very good but not fancy. Lots of beef. Plenty of wine, beer and whiskey.

The first morning we shot, we were driven twenty minutes to a feed lot which became the only place we shot birds. We'd decided not to take guns with us, so the outfitter rented us Beretta 391, 20-gauge autoloaders for $50 per day, and they worked great. It was sunny and hot that first morning and the doves were thick; choosing a target out of the dozens in range was the biggest challenge. But that afternoon while we were at the lodge having lunch and a siesta a front came through dumping several inches of rain and carrying tremendous winds. Power was knocked out at the lodge for over 6 hours, and when the rain cleared enough to go back out to shoot, we found many trees down in the road and a row of power poles a mile long down along the road. Fields and many houses along the road were flooded, and our feed lot was a quagmire, except for the road along the feed trough so we stood on the road and shot. After the rain the birds were nowhere near as thick but I never waited more than ten-seconds to take a shot. The up side of the storm front coming through was that for the rest of our stay the skies were overcast and temperatures were in the 70s. The three of us ended up firing just shy of 10,000 rounds and I figure we killed over 6,000 dove.

I'd known that big game hunting was available, but I really didn't consider taking advantage of it until I got there and got to know Leo. After our first evening together I knew I could trust him, and also knew he had the heart of a hunter, and I'd enjoy hunting with him. We were offered: Asian Buffalo, Fallow Deer, Brocket Deer, Axis Deer, Puma, peccary and of course Red Stag. The big game lodge was a hour-and-a-half drive, northwest of Santiago Del Estero. Leo drove me up there on Tuesday morning and took me Stag hunting. The game ranch is something like 12,000 hectares of high-fenced forested land, intersected by several dirt two-track roads. In spite of the high fence we saw where the Stag come and go as they pleased. The morning we hunted the clouds were low and the brush was wet, which made stalking a bit easier than I think is usual there. We were met at the big game lodge by an assistant guide, Jose, who didn't speak English, but lives on the game ranch with his wife and three children. He hunted with us. We started seeing game within the first fifteen minutes, and about an hour into the hunt came across the first Red Stag bulls. Leo put me onto a couple real nice ones, but they didn't present any good shots. An hour or so later, we were walking along one of the two-track roads, passing through a very thick area when we heard a stag roar at us. We knew he was close but couldn't see him. There was no breeze at all so we had lots of choices as to how to put a stalk on this stag. Jose stayed there while Leo and I backtracked down the road to an area where the woods opened up a bit. We took up a position behind a small tree and waited about ten minutes, then Jose pushed through the thick stuff towards us. There were two stag in there and the biggest one moved slowly toward us, while the smaller one, stayed in the thick cover and headed away from us. Leo was behind me when I spotted those horns moving slowly through the brush. I whispered a question to Leo, asking if I should shoot this one or not. After about five seconds Leo finally said yes, and almost at that very moment the stag stepped out of the brush, presenting a shot at about 80 yards. He was moving so slowly I didn't have to lead him at all and he had no idea we were there. He presented a slightly quartering shot from the front and the bullet hit just in front of the left shoulder, crossing to the right shoulder. I've never seen a big game animal drop so fast! He instantly collapsed and didn't make another move. We waited only maybe five minutes before walking up on him, but even that little time probably wasn't necessary. I think Leo was more excited than I was. He claims it was probably in the top ten of all stags taken at that lodge. We hiked back to the lodge and got the Toyota pickup, drove back and loaded the stag in the back after clearing a hundred yards or so of brush to get the truck to where he'd fallen. Jose and Leo caped it out and removed the backstraps. We took just the backstraps and headed back to the dove lodge. Jose's family took the rest of the meat. I'm told the horns and cape will be trucked to Buenos Aires sometime in the next couple months and from there they will arrange to ship them to me. I'm not holding my breath on that, as nothing they told me gives me any confidence that I'll ever see them again. I hope I'm wrong about that; we'll see. We ate backstrap the next day for lunch. The flavor was excellent but the meat was too tough for me to chew. I managed to eat a couple bites but that was all. I think it had more to do with how it was cooked than anything else.

The trip home was long. Due to limited flights back to BA, we had to leave Thursday afternoon and spend Thursday night in BA. Marisa made hotel reservations for us and we spent Friday hanging around the hotel waiting for transport to the International Airport. Ten-and-a-half hours overnight and we were back in Atlanta. All-in-all it was a great trip. If there's some question I haven't answered let me know.

Sounds like a great trip. Very nice Stag. Argentina is a great country to visit.

They even let Gatogordo come.......so they are not too selective......


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