Dove Hunting Tips
Argentina, especially Cordoba, has become in the last twenty years the first and most important Argentina dove hunting destination in South America. When you decide on experiencing Argentina dove hunting, you’ll have the opportunity to shoot thousands of doves a day guaranteed. If this is your first time dove hunting in Argentina, my tips will be very useful for an even more successful hunt during your stay at La Camila Dove Hunting Lodge.
Following my family hunting tradition, having had the possibility of hunting in different parts of the world, and having hosted over 13,500 dove shooters for the last 20 years, I can conclude that Argentina dove hunting is something that must be experienced at least once in your lifetime. There’s no other way to explain what you feel when you see such a numberless concentration of doves during an Argentina dove hunting adventure — thousands and thousands of doves flying all over your head in a continuous fashion, where you can easily shoot a case of 500 shells in just an hour!
Practice
To increase your chances of success in your Argentina dove hunting adventure, it’s very important to practice some shooting before coming to Argentina for a dove hunt. Although at your place, you will never be able to find the incredible dove volume we’ve got in Argentina, doing some clay shooting with similar spots to the ones used for dove hunting in Argentina will be a very useful practice. You should shoot at plates coming from in front of you because this is the easiest shot to miss and the one that requires the most practice. For a good start, try first shooting plates coming from your sides, then right over your head, and once you’ve mastered this kind of shooting, you will be ready for your Argentina dove hunting trip. It’s great to shoot doves in front of us and see them falling down right at the blind!
As for shots on the right/left, those are much easier because if you just try to estimate the dove flight and its speed, you will easily adjust your shooting to the right distance a little bit ahead of the dove.
At La Camila Lodge, we’ve made over 200 blinds around the roosts, placed on a straight line running side by side with the roosts, offering perfect conditions for Argentina dove hunting. This dove shooting is very similar to the shooting in spots for sporting clays. That is, you’ll be shooting doves getting into the roost coming in front of you and from your sides. You’ll also have the chance to experience shooting doves that leave the roost flying all over you coming from behind, and by just aiming at the dove’s belly, it will automatically fall down.
Gun and Shells
I’ve personally tried all kinds of gauges for Argentina dove hunting. My advice is to shoot 20 gauge guns loaded with 7/8 oz. If you are an experienced dove hunter, a 28 gauge loaded with 3/4 oz. is a very good option. It’s very fast and, due to its high concentration, you’ll be able to hit and drop very high doves. The 410 gauge is very popular for dove hunting in Argentina, but we only have 410 shells of 2 inches loaded with 2/4 oz., which I consider a little weak.
Some first-time Argentina dove hunting visitors bring their 12 gauge guns but soon realize that dove hunting in Argentina involves so much action that shoulders cannot bear so much recoil per minute.
Bringing your own shotgun to Argentina is a very easy process. However, if you prefer not to carry your gun through airports, you can rent one of ours. In our gun room at La Camila Lodge, we have over 30 Benelli semi-automatic shotguns, 20 gauge, with different stock lengths. There are also over & under and side-by-side shotguns available, but I always recommend semi-autos because they offer less recoil and can hold up to four shells in the magazine. This is key for Argentina dove hunting, given the dynamic and erratic dove flight, which makes missing shots easier than you think (remember that in Argentina, there’s no limit on the number of shells in the gun magazine).
In Argentina, there are only two shell brands available: RD and Fiocchi. Both are of very good quality, and we normally use RD shells, 25 units per box. My suggestion is always RD shells, loaded with 7/8 oz., Nº 7 or 8 bb, and shoot doves flying at about 15 to 35 yards away for the best Argentina dove hunting experience.
Preparation for dove shooting in Argentina
When you go dove hunting near home, you usually need to do previous scouting and deal with many concerns. But when you come for Argentina dove hunting, we take care of every single detail so you can simply arrive and enjoy your dove shooting adventure at its best.
Being a hunter myself, and having hosted over 13,500 dove hunters from all over the world during the past 20 years, I’ve learned the importance of listening carefully to every guest’s needs. This constant feedback has allowed us to perfect every aspect of our service, making sure your Argentina dove hunting experience is not just great but truly unforgettable.
At JJ Caceria, we are proud to offer the most awesome Argentina dove hunting experience, where everything is designed for you to focus only on enjoying thousands of doves flying over your head — no worries, no stress, just pure hunting excitement!
Hunting Fields and Seasons
When you are in my fields, under thousands and thousands of doves, you’ll be ready to enjoy the most incredible Argentina dove hunting! Before starting my hunting company in Cordoba, I was shooting doves all over other provinces in Argentina, but Cordoba has an unmatchable area for dove shooting, since it combines prosperous agricultural activity with big patches of roosts, which originates an innumerable reproduction rate. Let’s imagine this figure: In one of our roosts, of about 1000 acres, there live approximately 25 million doves on a permanent basis. They have four or five hatches a year and, depending on the weather conditions, the baby doves that are born at the beginning of our spring, in September, are reproducing again by early December. This results in a huge dove population in the area, making it a paradise for Argentina dove hunting enthusiasts.
The area of Cordoba, where I develop my whole Argentina dove hunting operation, is very flat and agriculture is its main industry. Doves do a lot of damage to the crops and they actually eat over 30% of the annual grain production. They have been declared a plague for over the last 25 years and there’s no limit as to hunting seasons or number of doves for shooting. Dove hunting then has become a necessity, and that’s why the dove shooting season is open all year round without any bag limits of any kind.
Doves stay all year long in our big roost in the east of Cordoba province, the heart of Argentina’s agriculture. They are non-migratory birds in the eastern areas and the main reason why they don’t migrate is simply because this is an agricultural area where they can find all the grain they need to feed themselves. But, in the roosts in the mountains in the north of the province, where there are no crops nearby, doves migrate in the winter months (May to August) to flatter areas in search for food, forming temporary roosts. In the north, all this makes the hunting operation more difficult due to long transfers from the lodge to the dove shooting areas and back.
This is the main reason why my company, JJ Caceria, operates in the east of Cordoba, with a number of factors such as excellent agriculture to provide grain for dove feeding, good rainfall for the doves to have enough water to drink, and weather conditions that favor dove reproduction. All factors combine in this area in order to have this top-notch Argentina dove hunting operation of the same high quality and close to the shooting fields all year long.
As for decoys, we don’t need to use them for Argentina dove hunting. They are only used for pigeon shooting.
Shooting Tips for Argentina Dove Hunting
Argentina dove hunting offers the possibility to shoot standing up or sitting. Although many hunters prefer to shoot doves sitting on a stool, I believe that our shooting will be more effective while standing up since we can swing our bodies better and more smoothly. However, I’ve seen 60% or 70% effectiveness in hunters who shoot from stools.
When choosing which dove to shoot when hunting, if this is your very first dove hunting in Argentina, it will be of very much use to follow these tips. When the flock is getting closer, lift your shotgun, choose the first dove ahead in the group or one that separates itself from the flock. This way, it’s easier to aim at the dove and not lose sight of it in the group. Once you chose your dove, lift your shotgun, rest it on your shoulder and keep the swing at the same speed as the dove flight, and without stopping the swing, pull the trigger softly. If the dove doesn’t change its direction, it’s very likely that your shot was a little bit behind the bird. No worries, your next shot then will have to be a little bit ahead, but if the dove makes a slight movement up or down or simply stops its flight for a second, that’s because your shot was too much in front of the dove flight.
Two very important items are not to pull the trigger hard and to watch carefully the dove flight movement at your shot, so as to correct the next shot. This is also the birdboy’s job when assisting you, guiding you in your shooting if you need, since you’ll probably not take into account all these important details considering your overwhelming emotion with the first shots and the massive amount of doves all around you. The swing movement is of prime importance in dove shooting in Argentina. Never stop it before pulling the trigger. This happens very often in novice shooters and you need to be especially careful when the shooting is counterswing. Another important tip when pulling the trigger is to have the barrel always ahead of the dove, and this will depend on how fast the dove is flying.
Remember, pull the trigger softly if you don’t want to miss and shoot under the bird.
Birdboy
For Argentina dove hunting, it’s essential to have a birdboy by your side all the time. He’ll be assisting you at all times, bringing you drinks and shells to your blind, counting hit doves, and of course, picking them up in the evening for the great dove pile picture. He plays an important role during the dove hunt, especially because he can advise you as to what dove to shoot, how to follow all safety measures, and in case you miss, he can also give you some tips. Birdboys are all extremely nice, and you’ll probably have a new hunting friend in Argentina at the end of the day. He can also load the gun for you if you want. Just think that loading your gun over 1000 times every day may be quite painful for your thumb!
Many shooters leave Argentina as proud new members of the 1000 Dove Hunting Club. These are the ones who hit over 1000 doves in a day. It depends pretty much on their shooting ability, but those who normally shoot about 1300 to 1500 shells a day go for their so-wanted trophy.
Clothing for Argentina Dove Hunting
For Argentina dove hunting, you should wear comfortable tanned or dark green clothes. Don’t forget your ear plugs, shooting glasses, shoulder pad, gloves, cap, shell bag, repellent, and sunblock during spring and summer, since most of the time while hunting you’ll be outside facing upwards.
Barbecue in the field
Lunch time with beef barbecue in the field, our favorite meal for Argentineans! This is a very important event for dove hunting in Argentina especially after a non-stop action morning. A couple of hours, some nice chat and a great meal with fine Malbec wine will be enough to gather more energy to get ready for continuous shooting in the afternoon and evening. Our expert barbecue cook will give you a taste of all the most traditional beef cuts, flank, brisket, ribs, t-bone, rose meat, rib eye, steak, dove shish kebab and sausage. All this accompanied with assorted salads and our typical and most appreciated Argentine Malbec red wine.
Through the years, I’ve been with lots of Argentina dove hunting fellow friends, we’ve shared barbecue lunch in the field, all kind of hunting stories and as a hunter myself and outfitter, those are the moments I cherish the most when I see people having a great time and enjoying the outdoors and the hunting as much as I do.
Hunting Friends
You should treat yourselves to the most awesome Argentina dove hunting! As I always say, this is an experience hard to explain with words, you’ve got to try it yourself at least once in your lifetime! Come and join us for the most incredible dove hunting trip and start planning your next shooting adventure that will last in your memory for ever!
Argentina isÂyour next dove shooting experience, give it a try! JJ.