APPROACHING QUICKLY, the low-flying flock
of doves stood out in silhouette against the sky. "Pick
one target, pick one target, "I mumbled to myself, hoping
that mantra-like repetition of wingshooting's cardinal rule
would help me focus.
The shotgun made it up half way before dozens
of flitting, darting birds scattered my concentration with
rapidly beating wings. During the first 10 minutes of my Argentina
dove hunt, I must have begun to raise my gun six times without
ever actually shouldering it. Each passing flock overwhelmed
me to the point of just watching them fly overhead while 1
laughed at my own helplessness.
Soon, however, I became accustomed to the
sheer numbers of birds and settled into a comfortable routine
of selecting individual targets, swinging the 20 gauge autoloader
and squeezing the trigger. Pepe, a local youngster of about
15, helped mark downed doves and kept refilling the deep pockets
of my shooting vest with shells. By 11 a.m., I'd burned nine
boxes (225 shells total) and only dropped 18 doves. A rather
dismal success ratio on the feathered rockets, I admit, but
improving my wingshooting ranked as a personal goal on this
trip. The first morning's events made it obvious that I'd
get plenty of practice.
My hunt took place in the outlying areas
of Cordoba, 690 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires, which
is Argentina's second largest city with just over one million
inhabitants. Although Cordoba offers dove hunting only, other
hunting options abound in Argentina. Taking advantage of these
requires additional travel within Argentina. From June through
August in Santa Fe and Corrientes provinces, for instance,
hunters can pursue ducks and spotted tinamou (Nothura maculosa),
called perdiz in Spanish and resembling a partridge. As well,
big game species, such as Russian boar, blackbuck antelope,
axis deer, red stag, and puma can be hunted in the Pampas
region.
But it is the Cordoba region's flat, fertile
ground that serves as the country's breadbasket, where sprawling
farms produce wheat, soybeans, and corn. And the plentiful
year round supply of grains combines with a rather mild climate
to produce another huge cash crop: the eared dove (Zenaida
auriculata).
Eared doves range widely throughout South
America. The species is found from (central Argentina and
Chile to as far north as Venezuela and beyond. Favorable conditions
fuel a tremendous avian population boom in Cordoba, with an
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