Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Argentina Dove Huntin

Have any of y'all ever hunted doves in Argentina? Exactly a year ago, I was about an hour away from Cordoba having the time of my life. I think I shot 96 boxes of shells in 2.5 days. I wish it was August 3, 2000 right now...

BuckFever:<P>I have hunted down there many times, and am chomping on the bit to go back. I am sorry that you had such a limited hunt, only being able to shoot about a case a session, unless you just restricted yourself to that many shells. Now that I have been, that is usually more or less what I shoot by choice. However, the first time I went down there about 15 years ago, I shot 4000 shells the first day, 13,000 in 5 days. It was and is incredibly wonderful. And incomprehensible to the average American dove hunter.

HOW DID YOU SHOOT THAT MANY SHELLS! :-) Man, I shot all that I wanted to...I was actually tired by the end of the last day. There was certainly no lack of doves! I hope to go back in the next couple of years, and I honestly don't see myself shooting any more or less next time.

I just kept pulling the trigger. No, seriously, at that time, I was shooting competitive trap and my shoulder was used to a lot of shooting, I probably shot at least a 1000 shells a week at home, so it was not such a major step up as it would seem. Second, we bought a sheet of polysorbathane and duct taped it onto our shotguns as a recoil pad. Worked great, if ugly.<BR> <BR>Of course, I also developed my first case of shoulder tendonitis as a result of lifting my 101 a few thousand times a day for 5 days. Well worth it, it would have happened anyway.<P>Like I said, I normally shoot about 2 cases a day now when I am down there and that is enough. I always want the toughest spot, and after the first few, I pass on a lot of the gimmes. I like them long and fast, don't kill quite as many, but it sure looks good when they drop in pairs out or up there.

If It Flies,<P>One day I HOPE to get there as I love dove hunting. Like you, I used to shoot competitively (skeet). I used to shoot 35,000 rounds a year. I bought shot by the ton, primers 25,000 at a time and powder from the US Military in 150lb drums. I used "Clay Buster" wads. I could never tell the difference between the pink wads from Clay Buster and Winchester (one ounce). I did own an Army/Navy store at the time so I got good pricing. [img]images/icons/smile.gif" border="0[/img]<P>I have about 12,000 Double A hulls. I like the grey hulls better then the red ones, they seem to last longer. I got a pretty good deal on 65,000 hulls a few years back. Once fired for 2 cents each - I bought em all. <P>You are correct about the shoulder getting used to the recoil. When I shot registered skeet I would shoot 625 rounds in competition and another 500 during the week for practice. <P>If you have any info about where to go in Argentina I would appreciate it. Costs and so forth.<P>Don [img]images/icons/smile.gif" border="0[/img]

DK:<P>I believe that I have used Trek on all of my trips to Argentina, which is at least 6 and maybe more. They were one of the first to offer these hunts and do it well. They offer various hunts in various areas of the country, as far as I know, you really can't go wrong on the area, Parana and now, Cordoba are the standbys. I can direct you to other reputedly reliable outfitters if you wish, some more expensive and some cheaper. <P>With the exception of a few of the really 5 star operations you can figure about $500 dollars a day, all inclusive, except for tips, time in Buenos Aires--- a truly wonderful city which arguably has some of the most beautiful women and women of the evening in the world---airfare to and from BA, and finally, and the real inflator, shells. They usually run about $9 or $10 a box for good quality 12 or 20s and more for .410 or 28s. Therefore, if you restrict(????) yourself to 2 cases a day, your shell cost for the normal 3 1/2 day hunt would be about $1400. BUT, you can shoot multiples of that amount, a $5000 shell bill is not unheard of, and is common on a 5 day hunt. I advise most people that a 3 1/2 day hunt firing 1000 shells a day will run them about $4 to $5K depending on where they live, ie, airfare costs.<P>Great thing is that their winter is our summer so you can hunt in june or july and have air conditioned dove hunting while shooting all you can stand, physically or fiscally. Competition has lowered prices for many of the hunts and I have read good reviews of many of the newer operations.<P>Finally, for those who stand back aghast, the earred dove in Argentina is a declared agricultural pest, with no season and no limit. The people and officials are almost universally friendly and completely unlike the atmosphere which is common in today's Mexico. Years ago, the record for most birds killed in one day was about 3600 and I am sure that has been exceeded by quite a bit by now.<P>I have killed over a 1000 several times and, since it was a completely new operation at that time, and no one was keeping count, least of all me, I am certain that I killed over 2500 the first day I ever hunted there. I normally run about 70% unless I am picking my shots where I have shot a case at almost exactly 90%, but that was on a dare and I was passing on the longer shots that I really enjoy. The earred dove is almost identical to our mourning dove in size but it has a squared off tail instead of the long pointy one of the mourner. I think that they may be a fraction smaller and a tiny fraction harder to kill than a mourner, but that is a very close call.<P>I'll be glad to provide more detailed info via e mail if you have any specific questions

oops, sorry, double post.