Shoot ’Til You're Short

I used to be taller. Thanks to the Argentine eared dove and some volume shooting, I’ve undergone an altered altitude. That’s part of the Latin dove game.

This past August was Shooting Sportsman’s first Readers & Writers Adventure to Argentina. We were the guests of SYC Sporting Adventures (www.sycsporting.com) and shepherded by co-owner Eduardo Martinez. I’ve been to Argentina numerous times, but previously it was always to Entre Rios, in the northeast, for a combo hunt of ducks, partridge and doves. This was my first stab at a dove-only trip to Cordoba.

I thought that Cordoba would be somewhat like the Cauca Valley in Colombia back in its halcyon dove days of the mid-’80s. Wrong. Cordoba has more doves, if that’s possible, and the shots were more challenging because of the brisk winter breeze. It made those devious doves dive, dart and deceive.

If anyone ever tells you that shooting among masses of doves is boring or not challenging, I wish that they could have seen what the clever bird scouts at SYC put us onto. We were always placed along a line of roost trees some 15 or so feet high. Sometimes there was another treeline facing us about 60 to 70 yards away. Masses, hoards and clouds of doves constantly flew over us during our three-hour morning and three-hour afternoon shoots. The flights never stopped or even slowed down.

But the birds had been shot at before and were fast learners. None of them flew in a straight line for more than a wingbeat or two. If they came from over the trees behind you, they would jink madly the moment they were overhead. These were the hardest shots, as the evasive maneuvers were not only left and right but also up and down. When the doves came toward us from the opposite treeline, they would swerve to one side or the other when about 40 yards out.

The bottom line was that “Move, Mount and Shoot” became “Present, Poke and Pray.” I was best off firing the moment the gun touched my cheek. Any riding of the bird was an almost certain miss. I don’t remember the birds I shot in Colombia, Honduras or even Entre Rios moving around as much. I think it was the winter wind. We were in Cordoba in late August, the temperate winter, when steady breezes of 20 knots were common.

How much we shot was a function of our endurance and our wallets. A thousand rounds were included with the trip. One could make that last a couple of days or just the first morning. Eduardo told me that most shooters go through around 1,000 to 1,300 shells per day. He said that SYC annually buys 1.3 to 1.5 million shells. The shells are locally made and of perfectly good quality.

I learned that it was not at all uncommon for Europeans, especially the Spanish, to come over before the opening of their driven-bird seasons to get some practice. Personally, the red-legged partridge I’ve shot in Spain (flying hard, straight and quite fast) are so totally unlike the corkscrewing Cordoba doves that I don’t see the comparison. I think that the Spaniards just come for the fun.

One morning Eduardo, his young Drahthaar and I played hooky and scoured a nearby field for some wild perdiz. This is a kind of tinamou that looks a bit like a big quail and acts like a singleton chukar. Perdiz can hide on a billiard table, so you need a good dog. Eduardo’s dog had been there and done that, so in a few hours we had enough birds to feed everyone flame-broiled perdiz for dinner.

In addition to the perdiz, we enjoyed grilled dove breasts wrapped in bacon at every opportunity. Of course, the main diet in Argentina is fantastic grilled beef washed down with delicious local red Malbec. SYC’s chef did himself proud. One thing’s for sure: Don’t go to Argentina with the idea that you are going to limit your shell usage or beef consumption. Just enjoy yourself, and promise to show more restraint when you get home.

One final bit—and this sentiment was shared by all of the SSM readers participating: I don’t think I have ever met a kinder or more attentive staff. They truly did everything possible to make sure that we had a good time. And that we certainly did.

Next time thoughts on guns for Argentina.

That’s it for now. Boots off. Malbec open.