What is a safari?  Webster’s defines it as “the caravan and equipment of a hunting expedition especially in eastern Africa” or  “such a hunting expedition.” The connotation that the word safari evokes for me is something different, i.e. an adventure in wild lands in search of multiple game species. By that definition, a trip to Argentina definitely qualifies as a safari.

The worst part of most hunting trips is going home emptyhanded. The second worst part of most hunting trips is being too lucky, harvesting too early, and having days with little else to pursue. I’ve had both happen. However, it seems that neither really occur on Argentina Safaris.  

 I just returned from the La Pampa region of Argentina with a group of Shoshone hunters. The trip exceeded my expectations and looked and felt very much like an African safari.  While the primary game we were after was Red Stag, there were numerous other trophies to pursue including black buck, mouflon, axis deer, feral goat, and boar.  Much like what happens when on safari in Africa, you may be in search of one species when the opportunity for another presents itself.  Also much like a safari, when you harvest your target species the hunt isn’t over as there are numerous other trophies to chase.  Where we were all of the aforementioned species were free range and the hunting was challenging. In particular, targeting Red Stag with a bow presented a great challenge and was really more akin to a mule deer hunt than the Stag’s relative the Elk.  Ultimately, while I got within 40and 60 yards of nice stags the first couple of days, the shot never presented itself and I switched to the rifle on day 4 to allow a day for chasing other game on day 5.  Ultimately, the Shoshone cameraman David and I harvested a great stag, water buffalo, 33 ¾ in axis (a giant for Argentina) and David jumped from behind the camera to harvest a beautiful curl black buck.

All told the hunters in camp were 100% on stag (10 stag harvested)ranging in size from 330-407. One of our hunters actually harvested 10 animals in 5 days (2 stag, 2 mouflon, axis, black buck, water buffalo, fox, four horn ram, and Texas Dall sheep). A pretty unbelievable week, right?  Nope, this happens every week down in La Pampa Argentina.  We were even a little early for the Roar.

The terrain was beautiful full of grasslands and thickets of Caldan trees with rolling hills. We walked 6-12 miles a day in excellent temperate weather (50’s-80’s).  The climate is dry and not humid, the guides are pros and work hard to see you succeed and the hospitality and accommodations were great.  How often do you get to have beef tenderloin for lunch? In Argentina, it happens with regularity.

So if you’re looking for a safari and want to do something other than Africa (an adventure in a wild land in search of multiple game species),give Argentina a try.  We know just the place!