Argentina

I've been before and am ready to go again and shoot doves in Argentina. Wanted to see if anyone on here had experience with a outfitter and positives or negatives . Any recommendations are appreciated

I remember seeing someone on here posting about it a year or two ago. All I know is, that junk looks fun. I think it may have been doekiller, but I could be wrong.

Yeah, I believe it was doekiller.

I went last summer for 7 days, 5 days of hunting. We used Mears & Goldman in Córdoba. We were very pleased with the hunting and the lodge.

Every guy I've talked to who has gone has said to mix in hunting something other than doves too. Perdiz (some sort of upland bird), duck hunting are good mixes. This is from guys who are pretty hard core bird hunters too. I guess shooting cases of shells at doves every day gets old?

Can you guys speak to this?

I took a group to my place in Cordoba in March 2014. First class all the way.

I'm taking another group in September of this year.

Most all lodges are priced within a few hundred dollars of each other. Once you add up what they are giving you the price usually comes out the same.

When are you wanting to go? How many in your group?

Parana Sunrise looks like a good spot. The mixed bag package looks real appealing. Dove, ducks, and golden dorado.

Sometime in 2018, and not 100% on group size yet.

Save your shell money. Spent close to $3,400 on shells down there. That was shooting over 70% for the week. At $14 a box it gets expensive. The last day we were there I killed 1018 birds.

One thing I will tell you. By the end of your trip you will be ready for something other than steak to eat.

Get ready for great meals and a lot of wine. If you want American whiskey you need to take it with you or buy it duty free. Otherwise you will drink Argentinian beer and Malbec wine.

When I went in 2006 we pre
Paid for shells at $ 8.50-9.00 a box I didn't look until recently that they were that much more . I agree the steak was fabulous but , gets old after a while

12.50 per box is the average now.

You shot 70% of the birds you aimed at? I'm sure you shoot well, but those must've been chip shots to be that good of a batting average.

Once you realize that you don't have to shoot at marginal shots, your average will improve. The first hunt most folks have the "Alabama Dove Hunt" mentality. They shoot at most any bird that is somewhat in range. Once you realize that you don't have to shoot at all of them your average goes up.

My first shoot down there I shot around 50%. The next 3 days I shot closer to 80%. My 3 day average was 72% as was most guys on that trip.

The last full day there I shot 1204 birds. We hunted about 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. That night at dinner our host was going over the number of shells each shooter shot and the number of birds each shooter killed. I was very happy with my 1204 bird day until he said that his lodge best was 5294 birds for one shooter in one day. Then he tells us that the province record was 9,236 birds in one day for one shooter.

You really can't imagine what it's like until you see it yourself.

I've always wanted to go down and shoot birds like that but have to imagine that hunting here would never be the same. Did either of you guys find that the luster for an Alabama dove hunt was no longer there once your returned?

I still enjoy going to a bird shoot here but it's not the same as a trip down there.

I would love to go one day just for the experience but as much as I love to shoot I honestly don't know if I would enjoy shooting 1000 to 1500 rounds a day.

I shot 4000 shells in 3 full days of hunting.

The only reason I didn't shoot 8000 shells is because I didn't want to have to pay for them.

I had a blast it's a long trip but worth it. No doubt he shucks 70% down there it's nothing like Alabama shooting. Yes I've some what lost the lust for shoot doves here more to the reason the last 10 I've been on suck so bad. Yes they are a lot of chip shots and it's easy to kill 3-5 a shot they are grouped so tight. My first am i killed just shy of 500 in about 3-3.5 hrs my best day ( I just looked it up ) 1,486 birds and dad killed 1,319 like said above you don't shoot day light till dark but can. I never got tired of it I bought a limb saver shoulder pad Not a bruise on me . I was timid on shooting wide open was afraid I would shoot up the pre bought shells and have regretted it since inlegt

I've been to Córdoba a few times with Trek Safaris. Awesome trips. I'd shoot 1500 to 2000 shells a day.

So what does an average trip cost door to door? And is that normally a 3 day, 5 day or what's the norm?

http://www.argentinabirdhunts.com/Doves/newdove.htm

$3k+flights+license/fees+additional shells

I'm guessing $6k if you only shoot your allotment for a 3 day trip.

I don't think I want to shoot 2,000 shots in a day.

The deal I get for my clients is as follows:

3-day Hunt
Meals, Lodging, Airport Pick-up, Booze, etc.
3000 Shells
Hunting License
Gun Rental
$2800

Not Included:
Tips to Bird Boys ($40 per day)
Tips to Staff ($40 per Day)
Extra Shells ($12.50 per box)

Air Fare is $1800ish
Reciprocity agreement $160 (extortion from the Argentina Government)

I think all total I was out about $7,000 for the trip. We flew out on Saturday, got there on Sunday. Hunted 5 days (I slept in 2 mornings. So, I had 8 times in the field) and flew home Saturday and got back Sunday.

There were 5 of us that went. The amount spent ranged from a low of about $5,000 for my dad to almost $9,000 for one of the guys that went with us. He shot a loooooooot of shells and kept his bird boy busy.

Argentina dove shoot is on my bucket list for sure.

whats it cost for non-shooters?
ie Wife

I don't think the place we went was something like $200 a day. But, there isn't much to do if you are not hunting.

I'd love to go if you could bring the doves back but piss on killing thousands of birds just for the sake of shooting them, and not getting to fill your freezer with doves. Meat and enjoyment are the 2 primary reasons I hunt. No meat seems like a waste of money.

it's kind of like tarpon fishing.....

Agree...do you get to have some cooked while you are there? And does the (considerable amount of) meat actually get eaten by someone?

They cooked some while we were there very good

I'll tell y'all, I would love to have an extra six or eight grand to be able to do this...and more power to those that do, it must be an awesome trip. I have friends who did the Mexico and Columbia dove shoots years ago until the dang drug thugs screwed that up for everyone!!

Tarpon fishing doesn't require airfare to Argentina and 1500 dollars a day either

My last group killed 18,000 or so and we picked up maybe 100 and had them for an appetizer one day for lunch.

I asked the outfitter about leaving them laying and he said no one down there picks them up. I then asked why didn't they give them to poor folks and he said, "Even the poor folks gets tired of eating dove three times a day."

You can't think about them in the terms of Alabama dove. Think of them as land-fill rats. They are a nuisance and a huge problem for them down there. They have a clutch 3 times per year and they have 4-6 chicks each time. They also have very few predators.

I'm not paying 7 to 8 grand to fix their problems and not fill my freezer. I could probably go on a moose hunt for that kind of cash and bring home all the meat.

The hunter who searches for food will miss the whole point of my hunts. For 7-8K a lot of steaks and poultry can be purchased along with another freezer to hold the bounty. It is impossible to justify the expense of most hunts if meat is the end goal.

The way my heart leaps as a bird puffs into feathers is impossible to put into words. Even if I could explain it, the pragmatist would fail to understand. Argentina is one place in the world where you can literally step back in time. The dove shoots must be remarkably similar to the passenger pigeon shoots of old. Same with the duck hunts. Harvests counted in barrels are simply not possible in a country with limited game and many hunters. Most of us will never experience this kind of shooting. Some due to monetary constraints, some for pragmatic reasons and some because we are scared we would become so spoiled that local shoots would be pointless.

Some of the operations do pick up the birds and I have seen pics that prove it. Standing in front of a small mountain of dead birds. Maybe one day I will be in the pics but for now will continue shooting 15 at a time, at home, when I am lucky.

We ate them twice while we were down there as appetizers. Some of the lodges pick them up and give them to the hog farmers. But, there are only so many birds you can pick up. Some of the bird boys or field hands took home a few here and there. My bird boy said he couldn't eat another dove if you paid him and his wife would leave if he took any more home.

They don'y just lay there to rot. Most of them are eaten by the birds of prey (hawks, eagles and such) while you are still hunting. They will land within a few dozen yards of you while you are shooting and eat them. They have no fear of the gun going off.

If you want a moose hunt for $8000 that includes 2 black bears and a
Wolf incan make that happen this fall.

Very well written.

Im going to start saving