Argentina Duck/Dove/Perdiz Trip

[Shannon]

Has anyone been to Argentina on a bird hunting trip? I'm heading down soon and was curious if anyone had any last minute advice of what to bring. Maybe something I wouldn't expect or think of. I'm looking forward to it. Its been a bucket list item for a while and I finally decided to pull the trigger.

[10mmg]

My wife and I did the Argentina tour in 2014. Best advice is bring more money for shells than you think you need. The addiction is real and it’s not hard to shoot more than you think. Also if possible pay the gun rental fee vs bringing your own. I felt better not having to worry about a gun getting stolen or some paperwork snafu messing with my trip. If you are in the city at any time the shops love US currency and will typically do better deals conversion wise than the banks or hotels. Cash really is king. I fact at a couple of stores I say the clerk take my us dollars pocket them then pay the register in pesos. The beef is great but read what you order carefully as organ meats are common and cooked next to the real meat. If you like wine I suggest booking a tour of Mendoza wine country really reasonably priced and Mendoza is an awesome city. Also you can fish for trout in the Andes Mountians in the summer. They like to talk about the Italian influence, they dislike the Spanish and don’t want to talk about the German influences. It really is a fascinating place that I really want to go back to. Enjoy it. I am jealous.

[10mmg]

Last note in our case we where told to not shoot birds in the low trees. We thought that was weird until we say a local down range picking up dead birds as we shot them. We did 5 half day hunts and killed 5800 birds.

[Shannon]

Thanks for the advice. I’m looking forward to it.

[EWUeagles]

I have no advice but a simple request, please do a full write up with pictures for us who only dream about that trip currently. Thank you

[Shannon]

I will do a write up when I get back. Its not as expensive of a trip as you would think. One bit of advice I learned, fly out of Vancouver if you can. Seattle plane tickets were $2,500 but if I flew out of Vancouver it was under $900.

[curtdiesel]

Thanks for the tip on the Vancouver, BC? flight.  I am planning to go next year with getducks.com.  Hoping to do Ducks and Red deer plus a side trip to Mendoza if time allows.

[WSU]

Can you post details of where you are going?  And 10mmg - Can you post where you went?  This sounds like a ton of fun.

[Shannon]

I just got back. Definitely a trip of a lifetime! That I hope to repeat yearly
I'll post some pics when I get some more time but I shot close to 400 ducks in five days. It was lights out every day. I booked through Getducks.com. Ramsey is a good guy and knows who to use. Food was amazing and the people were extremely friendly.

[gaddy]

Curious about the food. Did you eat a bunch of Duck and Dove ? I would imagine they have a ton of recipes for each that we have not been exposed too. Sounds like it was a great trip, How's the shoulder ?

[Shannon]

They had empanadas filled with spicy duck meat for appetizers most days on there spread. Meat loaf made from duck for dinner and a deep fried spicy duck meat rolled in some sort of bread crumbs. It was all good. We ate like kings. I think I gained a pound every day. Not good:)

[knophish2]

Just got back last week from our 2nd trip to Cordoba, Argentina. Not as many birds as when we went 3 years ago but still a blast....literally. I believe they are suffering some drought conditions and birds have moved to different areas. Went with JJ Caceria out of Cordoba. Weather looks to be decent for you, we ran into a travel nightmare due to the cloudy weather and low visibility. Airport in Cordoba is not technologically advanced enough to land by instrument. Needs 1.5 miles visibility. Our airfare from Seattle was about $1400 and we booked 9 months ago. Kept getting updates that prices dropped as low as 800. We had 17 guys in our  group that went down and 6 did the duck/dove combo. They shot limits of ducks every day. Have fun and definitely bring more cash than you think you need, pretty easy to shoot 4000+ rounds in just 3 days. Bring light long sleeve shirts and bug repellent. DO NOT Check any bags. Carry on with a backpack, with all the transfers, your gear may not make it at the same time.

[shootem]

Ditto that. PM sent knophish2.

[Shannon]

They are definitely in a drought. The place we stayed at is 3 hours away from where we actually booked. The guide went to where there was water. We shot 140 birds in 30 minutes one morning so if you found the water you found birds. It actually helped us I think because it concentrated the birds.

[Dan-o]

Just got back last week from our 2nd trip to Cordoba, Argentina. Not as many birds as when we went 3 years ago but still a blast....literally. I believe they are suffering some drought conditions and birds have moved to different areas. Went with JJ Caceria out of Cordoba. Weather looks to be decent for you, we ran into a travel nightmare due to the cloudy weather and low visibility. Airport in Cordoba is not technologically advanced enough to land by instrument. Needs 1.5 miles visibility. Our airfare from Seattle was about $1400 and we booked 9 months ago. Kept getting updates that prices dropped as low as 800. We had 17 guys in our  group that went down and 6 did the duck/dove combo. They shot limits of ducks every day. Have fun and definitely bring more cash than you think you need, pretty easy to shoot 4000+ rounds in just 3 days. Bring light long sleeve shirts and bug repellent. DO NOT Check any bags. Carry on with a backpack, with all the transfers, your gear may not make it at the same time.

I heard that you didn't have a single verified hit.
Is that true??

[knophish2]

yah, I went 0 fer 4,000 ....lol. Definitely didn't get the 1000 in a day trophy this trip.

[10mmg]

Can you post details of where you are going?  And 10mmg - Can you post where you went?  This sounds like a ton of fun.

We booked our trip at Los Ombues. They also connected me with the tour for Mendoza. If you do Mendoza make sure you see “The Vines of Mendoza” winery. We flew Seattle to Miami to Buenos Aires.

[curtdiesel]

I booked with Ramsey as well.  I went to Mazatlán in February 2018 with his outfit and it was incredible.  My Argentina trip will be in April - May 2020.  I will be hunting Red Deer and then Ducks.  I cannot wait.  I am flying Pasco - Seattle - Atlanta - Buenos Aires.

Curt