Everyone has certain things they want to do or accomplish before they die; I now have my first one checked off.
Last week, four buddies (Sam, Michael, Moon, Zach) and I took the 10 hour trip from Houston to Buenos Aires. After a few “Cultural” days we took another flight over to the Province of Cordoba. After two hour bumpy dirt road ride that would make a Texas dirt road look like a brand new Interstate, we finally arrived to the Paco Riestra la Macrena Hunting lodge. The lodge was an older but newly updated 5 bedroom house complete with 4 bathrooms/showers, eating areas inside and out, huge lounging/napping couches, swimming pool, satellite TV, Cuban cigars, 3 maid servants, and a fully stocked bar that had an unlimited supply of our favorite beverages (believe me, we tried).
Unlike the United States, dove in Argentina are considered pests. There are millions upon millions and destroy over 30% of the country’s crops. The Argentines welcome everyone and anyone willing to shoot as many doves as your shoulder could stand.
We took the fields, which resembled nothing unlike a hunting field here in Texas. They were large vast areas separated by tree lines that we posted up in and used for shade. We hunted twice a day; mornings from 9 to 11:30 and in the afternoons from 3 to 6. We each had a “bird boy” who were men from the ages of 25 to 60 who would stand right next us (all day if we desired) and served three purposes: keep our Beretta Semi-automatic 20 gauge shotguns loaded with 4 shells, keep our bird count with a small clicker, and keep us “hydrated” with the famous Argentine cervesa Quilmes Beer. These guys knew very little English, but were not hesitant to teach us any Spanish that we needed to know.
On our first hunt, after I had run through my first two hundred shells, my shoulder was starting to get sore, and after taking a look at my clicker I realized that I had just killed 87 doves. We had been hunting for 24 minutes.
The next three days were no different, thousands of dove flying from all direction and we sent off hundreds of pounds of lead off into the blue sky. There would be times when I would just stand in awe at the waves and waves that would come over the top, from side to side, and come right in front at the same time.
One afternoon I even skipped a hunt to let my shoulder rest. I took a magazine to the pool and spent the afternoon taking in the Argentine sun, it was 85 degrees with a slight breeze (43 degrees in Lubbock that day). I got made fun of relentlessly by my buddies and the help, but I cared not.
It was great to take in the majestic scene in front of us, millions of Dove crossing the large soybean fields. Strangly we learned early on that it was just as fun to watch each other, including the bird boys, shoot at the birds. Everyone was very quick to laugh and trash talk at a missed target, but also quick with a compliment for a downed bird. We also enjoyed watching our bird boys shoot. These guys worked their tails off for us and we had no problem letting them partake in the fun. Later we learned that of the 12 years they had been in business, no group had let them hunt as much as we did.
All in all, this was truly a trip of a life time and we seriously had the time of our lives. It was unlike anything that I could even begin to describe and it was great to share it with great friends. The shoulder and 10 hour plane ride pain will soon pass, but the memories can never. I know that I am extremely fortunate to have the opportunity and would recommend it to anyone who loves wing shooting.
Lastly, this experience gave me a great perspective of a different part of our world where people live in unimaginable poverty. I know its very cliché to say, but there are so many things that we have and have access to that we take for granted every day. I know for a fact that I got far more from this trip more than a just a fantastic time and a great dove hunt.
Addition!! I have been asked several times so I want to add that in our three days the five of us killed just over 7,500 birds.
