I've got a hopefully simple question about the dove/pigeon shooting that Argentina is famous for. A comment on another thread about habitat destruction being a greater factor in the demise to the passenger pigeon than market gunning has got me thinking. What combination of factors has made high volume shooting sustainable for so long? They must be doing something right to maintain that quality of shooting for decades. As an aside, what do you do with a couple thousand doves at the end of the day?

Cheers,
Dean

Their numbers continue to increase as a result of more and more conversion of native land to farming uses. Essentially the same thing, conversion of forested habitat(destruction of forested habitat)caused the destruction of the passenger pigeon. Their habitat requirements were/are almost exactly opposites.

The doves are given away or disposed of. I've heard of them being given to orphanages but can't confirm. They may be fed to pigs or just dumped somewhere, it depends on what the locals want. Unlike many Latin countries Argentina's rural population is generally not protein deprived. One must remember that in Argentina doves are a DECLARED agricultural pest (as are green parrots) and can be killed or destroyed in any manner 24/7/365. In addition, even tho visiting shooters kill a LOT of doves, Argentina is a big place and they really don't make a dent in the population. In general, most locals don't shoot doves, the shells cost too much.

On my first trip down there over 30 years ago, I was talking to the segundo and, since I had never been before, and, as far as we knew, we were the first or second group of Americans to ever hunt that area (seems kind of laughable now as it was not far from Parana), I asked him if there were a lot of doves. He laughed and said, in Spanish, of course, "Si Senor, we poisoned the roost night before last and we think we killed about 2 million." "2 Million,(Dos millones)" I said, in astonishment! There won't be any doves left." He really laughed and said, "No tenga miedo (don't worry) hay muchas palomas (there are plenty of doves)." He was right, my buddy and I got into position and at first light I fired at a dove overhead beside a milo field. The field literally got up and blackened the sky with doves.

It is difficult for those who have never been to understand the numbers, especially compared to our usual US limits of 12 to 15 doves a day. Down there you can easily kill 15 doves in less than a minute if you're in a hot spot and can load fast enough. Firing a 1000 shells a day is usually a minimum amount unless you've already destroyed your shoulder. In my case, I was used to shooting and shot 4000 shells the first day on that field I mentioned above. Many people shoot more than that, but the costs add up. Now I usually shoot about a case in the morning and a case in the afternoon, all things being equal as long as the beer holds out.

I've seen some local people that were offered doves look at you just like you were offering someone rats in the US.

dovers and gree parrots are a big agricultural problem in Argentina ,its expected that near 5000000 more will fly in Cordoba next year ,althoug 20000 hunters from all over the world came to this province alone to hunt them each year .
They have here croplands more each year ,water and trees so they will continue increasing the population and they are causing great troubles even in cities .

quote:

Originally posted by juanpozzi:
dovers and gree parrots are a big agricultural problem in Argentina ,its expected that near 5000000 more will fly in Cordoba next year ,althoug 20000 hunters from all over the world came to this province alone to hunt them each year .
They have here croplands more each year ,water and trees so they will continue increasing the population and they are causing great troubles even in cities .

En realidad, al menos La Argentina necesita darnos cartuchos a combatir esta plaga.

Posibliment cerveza libre tambien?

Thanks for the info. I knew they were declared pests, but nothing about the habitat dynamic that leads to such huge numbers being sustained for generations.

Dean

quote:

Originally posted by maki:
Thanks for the info. I knew they were declared pests, but nothing about the habitat dynamic that leads to such huge numbers being sustained for generations.

Dean

Five or more broods per year yields the number of doves needed for s sustainable harvest at the level that Arg has become famous for.

Climate, food, water, cover, etc play a role as well.

+1

From the research I have done on Passenger Pigeons, not only are the habitat requirements different as Gatogordo mentioned, but Passenger Pigeons supposedly were colony nesters and only layed one egg at a nesting attempt instead of two.

Evidently they were highly specialized and could not adapt to changing conditions.