I originally went to Argentina to shoot geese. Childhood memory of a goose shooting show on TV. Took me 50 years, but I made it. Made it a few times. As I've written before, I am a waterfowler. Ducks first, then geese. But I am also a wingshooter, so all the birds in Argentina were fun. The world renown dove hunting was actually the only thing that didn't interest me. Actually, I only shot doves a couple days on my trips down there. Too many birds, flying every direction, not challenging at all. I shot doves the first afternoon of a couple of my trips. After the long ride from the airport, to the lodge in La Pampa, there really wasn't enough daylight left to go anywhere too far, so we shot doves at a roost just a couple miles from the lodge. Both times I only shot two boxes of shells. Positioned myself to shoot 12 birds coming at me. 12 going over from behind, 12 going left to right and 12 right to left. Just enough to get comfortable on my gun and a little practice for the duck marsh the following morning.
So, each afternoon after the morning duck shoot, the outfitter would ask what we wanted to shoot in the afternoon. Everything from big game to hares, pigeons, perdiz, parrots, just take your pick. Well, I've always enjoyed pigeon shooting so most afternoons that was my choice. Spot-wing Pigeons are a specific species, as are Blue-wing Pigeons. Not multicolored barnyard pigeons, but actual wild species. I was incredibly lucky to shoot a Blue-wing Pigeon. Only saw one of them in all my years in Argentina, but I got it. Shot hundreds of the Spot-wing Pigeons decoying to cattle and hog feed lots, just like barnyard pigeons back home. But along with the pigeons, there were often a lot of parrots.
There are two distinct species of parrots that we shot down there. One about the size of a dove, the other as big as a pigeon. They are fast flyers, and incredibly enough, they can hover in place, just like a hummingbird. Many times they transition from a hover to full speed flight in just a split second, and can slow down from full speed to just a hover in an instant. Seemingly, they fly around stopping and starting for no reason. When you don't see it coming, it can lead to some terrible missed shots. I shot at birds that came screaming by at 50 mph and stopped about the time I swung on them. Probably missing them by 25 yards. I didn't ever try to shoot them when they were hovering, not much sport, just a way to embarrass yourself when they accelerated away about the time you chose to shoot.
The parrots fed on whatever wild birds feed on, but they were also able to break the shells on nuts with their incredibly strong jaws and beak. Like Brazil nuts? Imagine the chomping power of a half pound bird that can easily crack open Cashews and Brazil nuts. Also imagine how tasty a bird is that dines on those nuts. The very first parrot I shot, came as a surprise. I was hammering the pigeons and saw a few parrots around, but really didn't pay them any mind. Jokingly I swung on a flock of them and the bird boy said to shoot. I crippled one down and walked over to pick it up to examine it. The bird boy virtually tackled me and hollered at me to stop. He cracked the bird on the head with a stick and then handed it to me. After I went back to my shooting stool, he walked over to a bush, plucked off a big nut and brought it over showing me that the parrot was able to break them open. He also indicated how they were capable of easily removing your fingers. A lesson that I never forgot.
I don't kill edible birds and let them go to waste. The locals were glad to eat all the pigeons that we could kill. So I felt no remorse in shooting hundreds of them, but I wondered on the parrots. Before I shot another one, I asked about eating them and was told they were very dark meat, which was surprising, but very tasty. That was an understatement. I supplied the parrots for everybody at the lodge to have a few of them as an appetizer for each meal.
So, all in all, the abundance of different species make the wingshooting in Argentina a real blast.
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