When putsch comes to dove - S.A. hunting

In My Humble Opinion
1

Without question, the biggest surprise gift this holiday was a trip coming up this spring to Argentina for what’s called a “high volume dove hunt.”

From what I’ve gathered from the brochures and online articles, the eared dove is classified as a pest in that part of South America to the farmers. It descends on their planted fields to decimate crops and does so in numbers estimated at 20,000,000, that population supported by up to four hatches a year. When you consider that they once paid to have the birds poisoned, not to mention the resultant food chain risk, but then saw that hunters would actually pay them to remove the pests, the widespread embrace of these hunting touristas is understandable. That many natives descend to collect the downed birds insuring that beyond what we’ll personally eat won’t be wasted further alleviates any initial concern we might have had about the practice.

I’m curious if anyone has any personal experience or recommendations about such trips, especially with regard to lodges, guns, shells, caliber, travel, shots, gear, etc.

Specifically: we’re thinking we’ll not take our own guns but instead avoid the hassle and just rent there, especially since we’ll each be shooting 500 to 1000 dove a day and that’s a lot of wear on any firearm. Plus, I think I’d rather do so with their 20 ga. instead of my 12.

I don’t see that any medical shots are required but are any recommended? Is malaria a problem or some other nasty whereby it’d just be good common sense to practice prevention even if it isn’t mandatory?

Gourmet meals are served at the lodge and special wine requests can be arranged beforehand. Any recommendations on good South American cabernets?

Any gear suitable for S.A. that we’re not used to here in N.A.? I know the seasons are flipped and we’ll need more padding for that much shooting but anything beyond that?

If you’ve gone, would you recommend the mixed but limited duck, partridge and dove or the high volume dove? 20/10/200 vs 0/0/1000?

Los Ombues is where we’re leaning towards but would certainly give any other recs a long, hard look.

Any travel peculiarities about Argentina?

Many thanks in advance for your suggestions.

2

No specific advice, since you’ve already figure out to use the 20 instead of the 12. I just wanted to say that it sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. Oh, and I’d also hunt the ducks and partridge, just for the experience. But I’ve never been there.

3

No personal experience lieu (man, do I wanna go bad), but from what I’ve read and seen on TV, NO ONE shoots 12 gauge. Hot 20’s appear to be all semi-auto Benelli and Franchi, most shooters bring two. (BTW, the unofficial Argentine record is over 1500 in one day). Take four or five pairs of shooters gloves to prevent “loading thumb”. Standard vaccinations should prevent most of the willies in SA. Your standard shooting vest should be adequate, you don’t want to affect you LOP too much. If it were me, I’d shoot the 0/0/1000 program. Bring your appetite!

4

Who knows, Dag, by days three and four I may have shot my first 16 and 410.

Shooting gloves, eh BF? Didn’t even know such a thing existed but I’ll sure give 'em a look. Thanks.

5

Oh, man. I can’t wait to hear a trip report from you when you return. Heh.

6

Most definitely. Here’s a sampling at Cabelas.

7

Boy, this is not what I expected from the thread title. With the words “putsch” and “S.A.” in the title, I thought you were planning on becoming the new Simon Wiesenthal and hunting some “Sturmabteilung” members. :smiley:

8

I have not been hunting in Argentina. However, the Navy once forced me to stay in a hotel there on per diem for about ten days, eating wonderful meals and trying my Spanish on local young women.

I got an awful lot out of my enlistment.

9

If you’re going SA hunting in Argentina, bear in mind that most all of them are dead by now.

10

IMHO, shooting gloves are over priced. Those thin work type gloves are cheaper and more durable. My dad’s buddy went down there, and his guide presented them with a suprise on one of the days. A fully loaded and fully auto Uzi. He said they didn’t hit much, and what they did there wasn’t much left of, but he said it was fun and the guilt went away when he realized that they were non-native agricultural pests.