THE HUNT

Argentina has a wide variety of hunting species. From small to big game hunting, every need is fulfilled. We team up with the best big and small hunting Lodges in the world, according your needs. 

There is simply no better place for free range Red Stag hunting than Argentina, not even in New Zealand.

Also you will finde the best dove, duck, pidgeon and perdiz shooting in the world, coupled with the finest accommodations.

Throughout the year, big and small game hunting packages  around the country, combining adventure with wild luxury accommodation.

WHERE TO HUNT - SMALL GAME

Despite its stately 19th century facade, Pica Zuro is a modern launch pad for dove hunters. It’s grand, it’s comfortable, and it’s close to the doves. The lodge is positioned to reach hundreds of private-access hunting locations within minutes. 

Each day, hunters leave the pastoral setting on the lodge and move to the hills and fields, where doves fly in spectacular numbers.

Upon returning to the lodge,  a skilled chef assures a five star meal. 

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Located midway between Santiago, Chile, and Buenos Aires, La Dormida Lodge can be reached from either west or east. You will be dove hunting at midday on the day of your arrival. Hunters can fly into Buenos Aires (Ezeiza International Airport), transfer to the domestic airport, and take a 1-hr flight to Córdoba. There are  direct flights from many U.S. cities to Santiago, with connecting flights to Córdoba City. 

La Dormida Lodge offers the best dove hunting in the world coupled with the finest accommodations. Ideal for private parties looking for a top-shelf shooting holiday.

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Built on the tradition of over 32 years of dove hunting experience from David Denies, Córdoba Lodge is the newest addition to our portfolio of bird hunting lodges.

Córdoba Lodge was created exclusively for private groups of up to 10 hunters— groups looking for the ultimate dove hunting adventure in a relaxed atmosphere that also offers an unbeatable value for the whole lodge.

Ideal for groups of friends, corporate trips, hunting school practices or family, Córdoba Lodge features comforable shared rooms, fine service and short drives to waves of doves and a wide variety of hunting scenarios.

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Montaraz Lodge is the most exclusive pigeon hunting lodge in Córdoba. This historical setting is an architectural treasure characterized by an exquisite colonial style. Built in the second half of the 17th century and completely renovated in 2007, Montaraz lodge provides style and comfort from which to enjoy the best pigeon shunting experience ever.

At Montaraz, pigeon hunting takes place the way it’s supposed to, with blinds and decoys and skilled scouting endeavors to ensure success. This is hot-barrel pigeon shooting—and you’d better be ready for it. The world’s most experienced guns rank wild pigeons among bird hunting’s greatest challenges. These pigeons are sly, strong, and fast. And when you’ve shot them well over decoys, you’ve done everything right.

Back at the lodge, the chef creates an array of delicious traditional specialties and international dishes. The wine is produced with carefully selected grapes from our own vineyards.

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Jacana is located in Lincoln, in the province of Buenos Aires, 300 Kilometers (185 miles) northwest from Buenos Aires City. We chose Lincoln as a destination because it has loads of ducks. More than you’ll find at any one lodge in North America. Populations are so prolific due to several factors, including proximity to migratory routes, expectational habitat, and limited pressure on the resource.Within the Lincoln area increased rainfall over the past fifteen years along with an extensive grain production have created ideal waterfowl conditions by providing vast amounts of marshes, ponds, lakes and potholes allowing superior feeding and roosting nearby.

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Located in the Province of Buenos Aires, just 2 hours from Buenos Aires, Los Crestones Lodge offers epic duck hunting plus perdiz and doves.

Los Crestones was recently relocated to a sophisticated and luxurious compound situated on 60 hectares of preserved natural woodlands along the Salado River.

The grand estancia features wine galleries with superlative views, a gourmet restaurant, spa and pool facilities. There are 10 elegantly appointed bedrooms—each with private bath, which accommodate a maximum of 10 hunters and 3 non-hunters.

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Estancia San Juan is perched majestically atop a knoll, with striking views of the Uruguayan countryside. Whether by design or chance, San Juan is the epicenter of a hunting resource desired by almost every sportsman that has cradled a shotgun—a perfect mixed-bag location, where duck marshes and dove fields are linked to smart accommodations by short drives on good roads. Teeming with perdiz, ducks, and doves, the region offers the ultimate Uruguayan mixed-bag, where you’ll perfect the art of hunting several species throughout the day. Add to this variety genteel country living, warm personalized service, and delightful daily menus, and you can appreciate the joy of San Juan. 

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Uruguay lodge is one of the most beautiful estancias in all of Uruguay– recognized as such by several different publications that feature its outstanding beauty and tradition. Uruguay Lodge is a mansion that used to be the main house of a ranch from the end of the 19th century, built by a man that would later become the president of Uruguay. Since then it has had several different owners, including an Italian Count, made famous for his eccentricities. But when the mansion turned 100 years old at the end of the 20th century, the large dimensions of the house and the cost of maintaining its condition, made it is so that the owners stopped using it, leading to the beginning of its self-deterioration and ultimate abandonment. Until David Denies acquired it. We took care of the meticulous restoration of the entire property and brought it to the same level of splendor as in the time before, one hundred years ago, but with the comforts of the 21st century.

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WHERE TO HUNT - BIG GAME

The hunting lodge is located within a 100,000-acre family owned estancia in the high desert foothills of the Andes. Situated in the province of Neuquen, approximately 40 miles southeast of San Martin de los Andes, the ranch is a 2hr drive from Bariloche and San Martin airports.

The surrounding landscape includes lush green valleys irrigated by small creeks, set against a backdrop of high peaks. It is these rich pastures that concentrate the game, in particular the red stag that come here to feed. Aside from the red stag, the area is inhabited by a wide variety of animals such as Guanacos (a type of Llama), Choique (ostrich), Wild Boar, Pumas, Foxes and much more.

The Red Stag hunting season occurs during the rut—known in Argentina as the brama. The vast estancia is entirely un-fenced and hunters typically encounter several herds of deer throughout the day. Pairs of hunters are accompanied by field guides, with an intimate knowledge of the terrain. Guests will move to the chosen hunting grounds by a combination of trucks and horses and then progress on foot for the hunt.

Hunters will stay in a newly refurbished house, close to the main estancia. With wood stoves and a cozy living room. This simple but comfortable lodge is the perfect place to unwind after a day’s hunting.

Chilean programs offer a truly unique opportunity to hunt for the enormous Red Stag that roams this part of the Central Valley of Chile. The area combines abundant food, great cover and more than 80 years of selective herd management, producing some of the biggest wild stags in the world. The Stags are completely wild and all hunts are fair chase on an unfenced ranch. No more than 6 mature stags are harvested each year, so availability for these hunts is extremely limited.

Experienced guides accompany each hunter. Hunts consist of stalking and glassing the valleys. The terrain includes soft, rolling hills and wheat fields interspersed with thick stands of dark timber. Open fields and meadows make it easy to move around. There is nothing more exciting than hearing these huge bulls roaring at close range through the early morning mist.

The base is a beautifully located family estancia, where the owners themselves will attend to small groups of guests. The lodge, built from local stone and wood, overlooks adjacent mountains and the main hunting grounds. In the evenings guests will enjoy traditional asados (bbq) and delicious home cooked meals, complimented by the finest Chilean wines.

Owned by one of the oldest families in Mendoza, the hosts have been breeding and managing red stag herds for the last 20 years. By inter breeding local stock with some of the very best bloodlines from Europe and New Zealand, they have today some of the biggest and healthiest herds in the country.

A beautiful old country house, located right in the heart of the preserve, has been rebuilt. Many hunting grounds are walking distance from the lodge and the farther afield areas are easily reached on horseback, ATVs or by 4×4.

This exclusive preserve spans 10,000 acres and sits on the upper levels of a huge estate. On the lower-elevation grounds, the family operates a productive vineyard. The property is set against a backdrop of some of the highest peaks in the Andes. Mount Tupungato, visible from every corner of the ranch, is one of the highest volcanoes in the world.

The fertile valleys of the Mendoza Andean foothills provide perfect habitat for deer and they have developed impressive racks, with some specimens naturally reaching the 450 SCI + class. Elsewhere, deer of this size are only found in breeding ranches in New Zealand and Europe.

Located in the Province of Buenos Aires, just 85 minutes from the Ezeiza International airport, Los Crestones Lodge was named for the Rosy Billed Pochard—Argentina’s most distinctive and sought‐after duck. Set in a mature parkland and surrounded by fertile countryside, Los Crestones will offer discerning guests a combination of the best bird hunting with the best Wild Black Buck and Axis Deer Hunting in South America.

The lodge is a classic Argentinean estancia, recently refurbished and possessing all the comfort and style you would expect of a Red Stag property. Guests will sleep in one of 8 single bedrooms, each with a private bathroom. In the evening, exquisite meals and fine Argentine wines will be enjoyed in the dining room.

Only 30 min from the lodge is an area that holds the biggest herds of wild Blackbuck Antelope in the world, a bit farther away from the lodge you’ll find some of the best wild Axis deer hunting in the country. Full-day or half-day hunts are an easy addition to your wing shooting adventure.

SPECIES

The dove we pursue in Argentina is the eared dove, a fast flying cousin of North America’s Mourning dove—the bird that made “dove hunting” popular in the first place. In addition to great dove hunting, we also have great terrain for dove hunting. Our rolling hills, dry creek beds and narrow valleys make any type of hunting scenario possible. If you want to hit a lot of doves, we will put you in productive spots. If you prefer a few hours of the most challenging hunting you can imagine, we have spots for that too! We have millions and millions of doves, because we have fantastic habitat. A stable farming base in our area of operation near Córdoba ensures that we’ll have millions for a long time to come.

We have two kinds of wild pigeons in Argentina and Uruguay, the pica zuro–which is a big, blue-gray wild pigeon about the same size as those that sit on statues in the town square. They are fast, hard to hunt, and many experienced hunters consider the Pica Zuro to be a sporting bird on par with pheasants or mallard ducks. The other type of pigeon we target is the spot-winged, which is a bird that is a good deal bigger than a dove, but not quite as big as the Pica Zuro. It’s also a sporting target that decoys well and can be found in great numbers near orchards and groves as well as in traditional agricultural settings. If you have not shot pigeons, you’re in for a great challenge.

Argentina and Uruguay offer a buffet of duck species and some of the most beautiful ducks in all the world. There are several types of teal, including a slightly larger version of the cinnamon teal. Also, two types of pintails: the white-cheeked or Bahama pintail that many find to be the most attractive of all the ducks, and the yellow-billed pintail. In addition, you’ll find wigeon, whistling ducks, shovelers, and the rosy-billed pochard—a big, dark duck that flies like a mallard and decoys like a canvasback. Typical duck hunting trips include as few as five or as many as thirteen duck species. 

The word “perdiz” is the Spanish slang for the red-legged partridge. You will not shoot a “real” perdiz in Argentina or Uruguay. You’ll be shooting the most common specie of tinamou. However, you’ll call our tinamou “ perdiz”—everyone does and it’s a sporty name for a sporty bird that holds well for dogs, flies fast, and thrives in our acres and acres of light cover terrain. The other great thing about the tinamou is they turn into succulent white meat at the table. The common tinamou is about the size of a Hungarian partridge.

The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is one of the most relevant and popular big-game species in Argentina and Chile. While it is a non-native animal that was introduced in the late 1800s, the Red Deer or Red Stag spread rapidly after introduction and today Argentina and Chile boast the biggest herds in the world!

Red Stags thrive in two main habitats: the brush country of south-central Argentina (primarily in La Pampa and San Luis provinces) and the beautiful Andes region of northern Patagonia.

Hunting in northern Patagonia is very similar to elk hunting in the Rockies, where hiking and horse backing is the norm. The best time of the year to chase big bulls is during the peak of the rut, which is usually between mid-March and mid-April.

Northern Patagonia offers the possibility of combining red deer hunting with great trout fishing. There are also plenty of huge wild boars in the area.

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ARGENTINE FIREARMS POLICY

Bringing personal firearms into Argentina requires taking detailed steps prior to your trip, and you may also be subject to considerable expenses. Please carefully read the information below prior to making a decision to travel with your guns, or consider renting those available at the lodges.

The Argentine government places visitors into two categories when it comes to gun importation:

1) Those who have NEVER visited Argentina in the past (with or without firearms).

2) Those that have VISITED ARGENTINA BEFORE.

Depending on which one of these classifications you fall under, the rules and procedures are different.  We have separated the procedures below based upon which category you fall into.

FIREARM DOCUMENTATION