Upon arrival, we were stunned at the well-groomed front yard. In fact, as far as one could see the grass was groomed and the trees were pruned to form a canopy-like setting surrounding Estancia Cortaderas.
The Parana River was the northwestern boundary of the Estancia and was larger than one would expect. It seemed even larger due to the well-kept grounds that guests viewed it from. The complete back of the lodge was giant glass doors that could be opened to let the outside in. It gave the whole hacienda an open effect, making it seem endless inside and have the depth of a great campfire on a cool night. The tiled floor throughout kept even the warmest of days cool to the touch of your feet.
Paul met us with the excited smile of a new friend and a twinkle in his eye that I have grown to know. It’s a smile that can’t be faked by even the best of hollow souls and made us feel welcome immediately. We just couldn’t get over the view, so we sent pictures to a host of friends, and even got responses!
We were the only ones in the lodge and were shown the spa area, complete with shower, wet and dry sauna, massage rooms, and hot tub room all on the second floor, looking out onto (you guessed it) the well-groomed yard under the canopy of all the well-trimmed trees, with the river just lazily just rolling on by.
First up on the hunting list were pigeons.
Tired from a day of travel, first to Buenos Aires, then change airports, then to Santa Fe and a ride with Omar for about an hour and a half to the lodge. We decided to not leave at 5:30 the next morning and instead retired early and slept until 5:30. We started the day off slowly with coffee in the room and after we finished breakfast, we departed the gun room with K-20s in hand and began the drive to the pigeon place. This put us a little late by most hunting standards, but the best shooting was going to be between 2:30 and 5 pm so Paul called it right. Our much-needed rest came. We were looking forward to the hunt.
The pigeon hunting was a blast. There were many lessons learned, especially by Gil.
These birds are very large compared to the doves we normally shoot down here. They are hunted much like ducks, but not over water – just a blind and decoys on the ground. No calling is necessary and remaining hidden is of greatest concern because they are wary birds. Their reaction to the decoys seems to divert to the decoys very well, with some changing course as much as 600 to 800 yards away!
One of the biggest takeaways for both of us was that they appear to be moving fast, but are actually moving very slow. For this reason, it is easy to shoot in front of the birds. Why in front? Well, it goes back to gun speed equaling bird speed, which is the basis for consistency in our system of shooting.
As we said, these are big birds and the head is easily seen and focused on. But there is an optical illusion that occurs on these birds that seems to make them appear to be moving faster. This creates too much gun speed, which in turn creates misses in front. Even though they are big birds, they can put a move on a hunter that comes up too suddenly or too early. But with their size comes a lot of momentum. It’s hard to turn that much weight on a dime.
We used our 20-gauge K-20s on this hunt and they performed flawlessly as usual. With those ISIS recoil systems, there was little or no felt recoil. That a good thing when you are shooting high volume like you do in Argentina.
Shot selection was made by Omar, our chief guide. I smiled when he informed me that we would be using #5 lead, which just happens to be my favorite shot size for large birds like the pigeon. With Modified over Modified chokes and those #5′s it was an unbeatable combination. There were clean kills even at 40 yards on the occasional wary bird that just barely commits and begins to ease away at the last minute.
It is amazing how consistent a shooter becomes when they can control their focus well enough to make their eyes focus down to the head as they mount just in front of the bird and take the shot. We had many headshots as well as the usual misses behind because the gun stopped when we checked the lead or we mounted too fast and the accelerating muzzle caught our eye. Yes, even though we are very experienced coaches and can shoot as well as almost anyone, we do make the same mistakes that all of you do – and get the same results, too!
The difference, we guess, is that when we do make mistakes, we can quickly recognize and correct them because of our experience. But then, that is why we all love shotgunning and what differentiates wingshooting from big game hunting. Not that one is better than the other; they are different and fulfill the passion of whoever wants to pursue them.
While at Estancia Cortaderas, we had an occasion to take the General Manager Paul James and Hunting Guide and gunsmith Omar Borghello out on a dove hunt with us one morning. Now, Paul is not a hunter. But he has shot rifles and done a little wingshooting but was closing an eye and trying to aim. At dinner one night, Paul asked about the most common mistake we see wingshooters make. Vicki informed him that “closing an eye and trying to aim” was at the top of the list.
You guessed it, we got that deer in the headlights look and we insisted we find time to get Paul and Omar out on a quick hunt in the morning to show them the difference in what they were doing and what was possible.
Both Paul and Omar were a little nervous but were both good sports. So, the next morning we all went to a field near the lodge, began to shoot, and they watched. It wasn’t long until they both remarked in amazement that we were moving so slowly and so very little. The other amazing thing to them was how consistent we were about where we were killing our birds. Rather than waiting until the birds were almost on us to begin the mount and take the shot, we were taking our shots while the birds were out in front and presented themselves as incoming, rather than crossing birds. When we pulled the trigger and the bird folded, they landed at our feet or just in front or just behind us.
Then came their turn. Paul was first and was nervous but willing while all in the group watched. Vicki put two shotgun shell boxes on the ground and showed Paul what he was supposed to see when shooting with two eyes and how it was different from shooting with only one eye.
When he understood the difference, she had him move on a few birds with an empty gun and then he loaded one shell. He missed behind on the next bird that passed, but he knew WHY! He immediately said he had looked down the gun while looking at the bird, which made the gun come up on the bird and made the gun stop as he pulled the trigger.
It was almost magical what happened on the next shot. It was as if he were in slow motion and you could tell he was going to hit the bird. As the trigger broke, the bird folded and hit the ground dead. Everyone in the group cheered and you could see the tension leave the group and as Paul shot his first box of shells with two eyes for the first time. He killed 11 out of 25, and on every shot he missed, he called the error correctly and corrected the miss.
He commented that everything was moving in slow motion and he knew even before he pulled the trigger when he was going to hit the bird and not. “In the beginning, I was afraid of not being able to keep both eyes open,” Paul said. “I got this habit from rifle shooting! I got over it easily as I was told not to look at the barrel but concentrate on the target and fine-tune on the head! I was surprised when I did this that I was able to keep both eyes open. When mounting the gun, use short and gentle movements and you become very accurate!”
Will Paul be a great shot with two eyes from now on? Maybe, maybe not. But that will depend on how much he practices, not on how much he understands the procedure.
Omar was fascinated with our guns and wanted to shoot them to see what the recoil was like with the ISIS recoil system. To his amazement, after the first shot, he said, “It’s like shooting a 410!” Well, we couldn’t agree more. The combination of the K-20 with 32″ barrels and the ISIS recoil system is amazing because the felt recoil is reduced dramatically, but because of the material it is made of, there is no change in the balance of the gun. In a hunting gun, balance and handling are everything. And when you combine target gun handling with reduced recoil, you have just about the perfect high-volume gun.
If we were going to set the record for most doves shot in a day, then we would go to 20-gauge gas guns and take the plug out and have three or four guns with two loaders so the guns could cool down a little in their rotation. But then, we are not there to set records. We are there to take quality shots and help our students and friends become better wingshooters.
We must have made an impression on Omar and Paul because they both arranged to shoot with us in the afternoon and practice looking at the head of the bird as they took the shot. We worked on this with both of them in the morning and they could not believe how their consistency improved. Runs of six to eight dead birds in a row were not uncommon. They were broken up by one or two shots looking at the gun or looking at the whole bird.
On the afternoon hunt, Gil decided to shoot long, high, incoming shots so he put in two full chokes and went to work minimizing his move and shooting birds further and further out in front with Omar and Paul looking over his shoulder.
One of the birds Gil shot spilled some grain as he fell and hit the ground. Paul went out to pick it up to show Gil why these birds are seen as a pest in Argentina. As he picked the bird up, there were germinated soybeans falling from the crop. On closer inspection, we found several with the new root still intact.
These birds have learned where in the field the seeds are planted and they scratch the ground with their feet until they expose the seed and eat it. Estimates of as much as 30 percent of the crop can be lost to the doves between planting and germination. In fact, as the seeds germinate the farmer will go out and check the field for the seedlings. If in a given number of meters, he has less than a certain amount (and he has time) he will sometimes replant.
Hard to believe that this little bird could be this destructive, but when you add to the equation that there are as many as five hatches each year, you can begin to see why the dove is seen as a pest and the hunter is welcome! Capitalism, baby. You gotta love it!
Each time we leave Argentina we have a new appreciation of nature, its beauty, its endurance, and its struggle to adapt to an ever-changing world, leading us to appreciate it for what it is: survival of the fittest! And nature is anything but kind and nice. In fact, she is very cruel, to say the least. It is that cruelty that ensures her survival, and we as hunters must never forget this side of our battle for it. It ensures we will continue to enjoy our traditions of hunting and fishing in the outdoors.
We are looking forward to coming back to Estancia Cortaderas later this year to shoot a mixed bag of ducks, perdiz, pigeons, and doves… and maybe even try some fishing!
