Good morning, Outdoor Board. A customer invited me on four day Argentina Dove hunt in May. I've never been, so can you guys tell me what to expect.

I also have a few questions:

What size tip is expected? I want to make sure I exceed their expectation. Do you guys add it to the outfitter's invoice, or pay the guides, cooks, etc. separately?

Will I need Argentinian currency while I'm there? I think we'll be with the outfitter the whole time, and not planning on spending any time in town, other than the airports.

Electricity It looks like I may need a power adaptor for my laptop and other devices.

I plan on using the outfitter's shotguns, but will electronic earmuffs, shooting glasses, gloves, etc. cause an issue going through customs?

I'm sure there are plenty of other things I haven't thought of.

Here's the outfitter's website. https://pointerwingshooting.com/index.php

Thanks in advance!

OleRock02 said:

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Good morning, Outdoor Board. A customer invited me on four day Argentina Dove hunt in May. I've never been, so can you guys tell me what to expect.

I also have a few questions:

What size tip is expected? I want to make sure I exceed their expectation. Do you guys add it to the outfitter's invoice, or pay the guides, cooks, etc. separately?

Will I need Argentinian currency while I'm there? I think we'll be with the outfitter the whole time, and not planning on spending any time in town, other than the airports.

Electricity It looks like I may need a power adaptor for my laptop and other devices.

I plan on using the outfitter's shotguns, but will electronic earmuffs, shooting glasses, gloves, etc. cause an issue going through customs?

I'm sure there are plenty of other things I haven't thought of.

Here's the outfitter's website. https://pointerwingshooting.com/index.php

Thanks in advance!

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I've hunted with this group before and am going back with them again this summer for dove, duck, and Perdiz.

Tips, I plan $150-$200 per day for bird boys, field cook, cleaning staff and house cooks given to them directly.

I did not get any different currency. Dollars spend well.

I took an adaptor, but I don't remember if I needed. Certainly wouldn't hurt to have and they aren't very expensive.

I doubt any of those things would be an issue in checked luggage.

Pace yourself. They do in fact fly all day!!!

Need a bag boy.....

I brought one of these…

https://www.beartooth-products.com/collections/recoil-pad-kit

It has different thickness inserts. Even with 20 gauge semiauto after 40 boxes per day your shoulder will get a workout.

Gloves help too. Although most bird boys will load your gun faster than you can.

None of the stuff you listed will be a problem. I also take a shoulder pad. Even with shooting 20 gauge, your shoulder takes a pounding. We had hunts where we would shoot 20 boxes of shells in a day. Some guys would do that in an afternoon.

The volume of birds is insane and it was hard to pick a single bird out of groups of twenty at first but you will get used to it.

If they offer it, Perdiz are a lot of fun. Have a great trip. It's a blast.

Pointer does a great job. Tell Pablo hello. He's a good man and does a lot of charity work.

If you are going to try to get into the 1000 club get ready for an athletic event. You'll be shooting as fast as your boy can load. He'll load one while you shoot the other.

Which lodge?

If youve never been Argentina is a fascinating country. After our hunt we stayed a few extra days and went to Mendoza, their wine country. I can't recommend this enough. It was as much fun as the hunt.

Leaving tomorrow. Arrive in Santiago Saturday morning. Tour the city, eat at a nice restaurant.. Sunday morning hop over to Mendoza for a couple of days of wine tour. Then over to San Luis province for pigeon shooting for 5 days. Been many times. It is a lot of fun.

I've shot with Pablo a few times when he worked for David Denies. He's a blast and a bit of a wild man. Always was a full of energy and a lot of fun.

This is the way!

Tip - usually ~$100 a day for your guide (square up at the end)
Money Exchange - is a crab shoot, youve got street hustlers (Cambio) that try and trick you into exchanging for about half the rate. We found a western union that did the correct rate. They prefer the 100s, and may give you a worse rate for the lower denominations. Also if you use your credit card, most places use the half rate, so find a good exchange and use cash.
Shells - you can literally shoot as many shell as you want/can handle. It comes out to about 50 cents a shell
Charger - we just picked up an adapter at the airport, but our lodge had them as well.
Shooting - these birds are moving, not coming into water/decoys so you have to lead them a little more, it took awhile for me to get used to.

If you're looking for the best deal, exchange at Western Union. If you're looking to help the locals instead, give them USD. The Argentinian peso is suffering from massive inflation, 95%+ in the last year alone, and the govt puts limitations on the amount of ARS they can change into USD in a year.

Op congrats on the invite, heckuva hunting trip lined up!

Bring lots of US dollars. Exchange them far away from the airport and you will get the black market rate. You can get 2-3x the official rate.

Folks desperately want US dollars so you can get a lot for your money.

When we went I tipped them with US dollars and they were all fine with it. I do not see the need in exchanging currency if US dollars work.

they all want your dollars - no need to exchange money

Build It said:

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Pointer does a great job. Tell Pablo hello. He's a good man and does a lot of charity work.

If you are going to try to get into the 1000 club get ready for an athletic event. You'll be shooting as fast as your boy can load. He'll load one while you shoot the other.

Which lodge?

If youve never been Argentina is a fascinating country. After our hunt we stayed a few extra days and went to Mendoza, their wine country. I can't recommend this enough. It was as much fun as the hunt.

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which lodge did you stay at?

La Loma

We did the Duck, Dove and Perdiz hunt with Pointer last year. It was a blast! When you get back to the lodge after each hunt there is a wet towel, hours d'oeuvre and a drink waiting on you as soon as you step out of the truck. Food was excellent and so was the service. Guns were not in great shape but better than trying to take your own. The guides (which they call bird boys) don't speak a lot of English but they are excellent. Each hunter will have their own birdboy. As for the Dove, you could shoot until you couldn't shoot anymore. If a gun was out of shells or jammed they handed you another. You don't need Argentina money unless you are tacking days on in the city before or after you hunting trip. We spent a week in Buenos Aires and loved it. Pablo puts on a great experience. If you want, I've got a box of MOJO ducks that belong to Pointer and they will pay you back for checking it. I agree with $200-500 in tips per person.

My advice for the dove hunting is to try and pair up with a buddy for every hunt. It's a lot more fun shooting the **** with a friend, than just standing there shooting till your arm falls off. We always did that and would shoot for a while. Then give the guns to the bird boys to shoot while we drank a beer and smoked a cigar.

Then we would do a team competition - you and your bird boy against your buddy and his. 10 shells each man. Winning team with the most birds for $40 per team. The bird boys love it and they will almost assuredly give half the winnings to their buddy when the hunt is over.

We just got back on Sunday. It was an incredible trip and you will have a great time. Just a heads up, there are multiple exchange rates. The official exchange rate right now is 1 USD to about 222 Argentine Pesos but there is a 'black market' exchange rate there where they will all give you about 450 pesos per dollar. The inflation is so bad there that they all want the USD so they pay a premium for it. I would recommend bringing only USD with you and they seeing if your bank here will let you convert the pesos you bring back for you. This will allow you to double your money and pay for your whole trip. See below link from CNBC link explaining this.

I doubled my money in Argentina

Make sure you do a post hunt update for us !

What time of year is the best to go here?

The seasons are basically swapped. If you are going for just dove, I think almost anytime will work but ducks are more in the colder weather of May-July.

They fly year round. We went early summer - their late fall. I remember Pablo telling me that in the spring they hunt the hills where the dove are flying up hill at you. That sounds like fun to me.

it is, you will actually have downhill shots at them. It also snowed hard one day while we were in the hills. The dove could not see us - it was like shotting fish in a barrel.

How was the trip and which lodge do you stay at OleRock? Planning stages of a trip now.