South American dove shoot?

Never done it personally, but the footage I've seen is unreal - I'd do it in a heartbeat, especially if I was already going down there!

-M
 
DO NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DOVE HUNT. you will be humbled the first half of the day then you won't get the smile off your face for two months after
 
Boomer said:
I've wondered what one does to top an African ele hunt.:D
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I don't think anything can top it, but a better ele hunt. One of my partners in Zim set this one up.Its primarily a red stag,water buffalo, black buck, pig kind of thing.
Some consider Argentina dove hunting the finest wingshooting in the world, and some even speculate that its the best thats ever been. It would be a shame to get that close and not do some. Besides, the opportunity to put a lifetime's worth of birds on the 687 in a day has a certain appeal.:D
 
Dogleg said:
Has anyone tried this? I've got an option to add dove shooting to an Argentine hunt.
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Dove shooting...it's shooting not hunting... is incredible in Argentina. Expensive though as you have your own "bird boy" that collects your kill and picks up your empties. They also carefully flatten each shell box out as you will be billed by the number of boxes of shells you fire/day. 1000 rounds of 20 ga. in a day is a slow day.

The doves are the same variety as our common mourning doves here in North America. They are viewed as agricultural pests down there. Some wealthy Europeans shoot there but most clients are Americans.

The huge numbers of birds killed are said to feed the hungry. Most Americans believe this but IMO the lions share are just "bushed".

Accomodations are first rate and meals are incredible. Clients are treated like royalty. Tables are even set up for a field lunch if you can believe that!
 
It sounds like a lot of fun from what I've read. As I understand it, doves in Argentina are so plentiful as to be like winged gophers, hence the lack of any sort of limits.
 
tjhaile said:
It sounds like a lot of fun from what I've read. As I understand it, doves in Argentina are so plentiful as to be like winged gophers, hence the lack of any sort of limits.
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Flights of doves blacken the sky at times. Something to see. Would have been what passenger pigeion flights in North America would have looked like during the 19th century...before they were all exterminated and made extinct. Likely the route doves will take in Argentina in the future as well.
 
Any thoughts on guns, shells and chokes? I'm thinking my Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon 111, a handfull of chokes and whatever shells they supply at $14 a box for a simple answer, but what kind of Gun-nut wants a simple answer? I'm guessing trap loads, IC and Mod.
 
Well, I got to try it. We tacked on an evening of pest pigeons, and just used the loaner guns the owner had. Mine was a 680 series Beretta in 12 gauge, which is close enough to my 687 for goverment work.
Long and short of it, I shot 15 boxes of field loads in about 2 hours, probably hit a little over half taking shots as they came. When I picked shots for ease of hitting the percentage went way up. We were happy to not go out the next morning like we had initially planned, as the flinch monster was starting to show up.
 
Sweet! :D

I've heard of SA trips where guys saw thousands of birds in a few hours?
Sounds like a 20 gauge trip?
 
A matched set of 20 gauge gas guns would be just about perfect if you wanted to shoot for a few days.
It was well worth the evening and ammo spent. You'll run out of ammo, endurance or break your gun before you run out of birds. Getting 1000 shots in a day wouldn't be much of a trick, standing up to it is a whole 'nuther matter.
 
I did it in Uruguay, and it was a hoot! :D We would alternate hunts for ducks or perdiz in the mornings, then hunt doves in the evenings. You will easily shoot a flat of shells every night. I shot a loaner O/U Beretta 20 for a few days until my semi 12 guage showed up, and I would definately recommend a gas operated semi 20 gauge.
 
Riflesmith said:
How did the stag hunt turn out? Would you recommend the hunt for a husband and wife team? Thanks for posting your results.

Kurt
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I ended up with 3 descarate stags, 3 buffalo, a blackbuck, russian boar and some kind of goat that looks like an ibex.
The hunt would be OK for a husband and wife team assumeing you both like walking and seistas. A working knowledge of Spanish would be good, since the guides couldn't say much more than "shoot", and " No problem". We got by without knowing a lick of Spanish, carried soley on the desire to hunt hard and have fun.
 
Wow that sounds like a ton of fun! Lots of shooting and exercise! The wife isn't a hunter yet but she has shown small amounts of interest. Seeing a different country and being in a relaxed atmosphere may just be what she needs to get started.

How did you find out about your outfitter? Some friends of mine and I are planning africa in 2012 so this may be something for the wife to enjoy as well. What caliber of rifle/rifles did you use?

Thanks again for your info
 
Riflesmith said:
Wow that sounds like a ton of fun! Lots of shooting and exercise! The wife isn't a hunter yet but she has shown small amounts of interest. Seeing a different country and being in a relaxed atmosphere may just be what she needs to get started.

How did you find out about your outfitter? Some friends of mine and I are planning africa in 2012 so this may be something for the wife to enjoy as well. What caliber of rifle/rifles did you use?

Thanks again for your info
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I found out about the outfitter when my partner emailled me and asked "Hey, ya wanna".
I used a Remington Custom shop .375 with 270 grain A-Frames and 300 grain Banded solids for the buffs and 2 of the stags. There's a Zeiss 3-9 Diavari on it. The buffalo are bigger than the African variety, and the guides don't carry rifles.
The second rifle was a Weatherby Ultralight weight that is rebarrelled with a #2 Gaillard barrel in .300 Win Mag, loaded with 168 grain TSXs and scoped with a VXL3 3.5-10 X 50mm with illuminated B&C reticle. I got to use the 300 yard crosshair for one shot, and got well into the infinity pin for another. Average range very short though.
Unless your wife is firmly in the supermodel category, I would suggest a set of mirrored sunglasses and blinders for yourself, and a blindfold for her. That might get you through Buenos Airies with your marriage intact. I've never seen so many hot women in my life.:eek:
 
Argentina's economy is in the tank as is the U.S. Dove hunting packages can be had for 50 percent of the normal value as the American are not travelling much. Still an expensive trip.
 
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