Gunning in Argentina

My second trip to Argentina was a blast. I was more relaxed and could take time to enjoy the trip for what it was. Not so worried about killing certain birds, or certain numbers of birds or if I was getting my money's worth. The first year I was a nervous wreck the whole time, somehow expecting the bubble to burst and the shooting to fizzle out. Actually I did have a couple not so great days on the ducks my first trip down. But on the second trip I was alright with everything that happened.

There were just 4 of us, which was nice. We had all been with Rancho Salvaje Safaris before so we were welcomed with open arms. I had made friends with the senior Bird Boy my first time down. When I got out of the van at the ranch the second year, Jorge ran over to me, and I could see that he remembered me and felt as good about our friendship as I did. I didn't do anything to bribe his friendship, as some gringos do. I just treated him like another hunter, not a lackey. So right from the start the trip was great. We stayed at a ranch named El Malabrigo (the saddle blanket) near Bragado, a very historic town in Argentina. We shot in marshes around a big lake a couple days. Shot potholes in flooded cornfields in the evenings. 55 Rosy Billed Pochards in 12 minutes :-) Shot at a private gunning club one morning and another day we went out in the big lake in boats and hunted from stake blinds. I shot a couple different species of Swan as well as a lot of ducks. Jorge was in charge and treated me GREAT.

The goose shooting was near perfect. We had plenty of birds, we all laughed and joked. I made everybody take notice with a nice fourfle. Not sure of the spelling, but 4 birds with 4 shells. Even the bird boy was impressed. We shot 3 mornings and 1 evening. Killed plenty of Ashey Head Geese to go along with the Magellans. Fantastic. We stayed at the same ranch as before for the goose hunting. Had some great evenings hanging out with the bird boys again.

The middle of the days we spent shooting perdiz and hares. Very similar to upland hunting here in the states. Just as much fun as it always is.

So, to anyone who ventures down to Argentina, take everything for just exactly what it is. Relax, enjoy the total experience. True, it was fun to have very liberal limits and to shoot till your gun barrel really was too hot to touch. But the Argentina experience is much more than that. Go down there, you'll see what I mean.