My shooting buddy, Jim Weber, and I traveled to the Rodeo de los Bueyes lodge in Tucuman, Argentina for high volume dove shooting with John. We booked with Southern Sporting Safaris based on the recommendation of a local acquaintance that hunted Tucuman the previous year. Both John and the trip exceeded our expectations from beginning to end. Two of us went this year and we have already booked five reservations for next year. Neither Jim nor I want our friends to miss this experience.

SSS mailed us a description of the trip, including the expected costs of shells and tips, and a packing list. I promptly mislaid the packing list, however, John followed up with e-mail reminders, and we talked on the phone often. Jim and I arrived in Tucuman completely prepared. We had appropriate guns, correct clothing and shooting gear, and all the detail items. We were in the enviable position empathizing with the other guests’ sore shoulders, lending them our spare gloves and shell bags, and binding their sore shooting hands with our medical tape and moleskin.

The trip began when Jim and I met John at the Miami airport. John escorted us to the Miami Customs Office to acquire our 4457 Forms, a customs form that is necessary to get your guns back into the United States. Our departing flight from Miami was delayed. As a result, we had a mere 30 minutes in Buenos Aires to clear immigration and customs, acquire Argentine gun permits, and make our connection to Tucuman. Silvana Cohen, SSS’s Buenos Aries contact, met us as we came out of immigration. She had our Argentine gun permits filled out and in hand. She took control -- expediting us through customs, hustling us to the police kiosk to get our gun permits stamped, rechecking our luggage, and rushing us to our departure gate. Thanks to her efforts, we avoided a 12-hour wait for the next flight and arrived at the lodge in time for our afternoon shoot.

Gustavo Olsen was waiting for us at the Tucuman Airport and within half-an-hour we were at the lodge eating lunch. We then unpacked and hunted a roost this first afternoon. Gustavo is the scion of an Argentine ranching family. He obtained exclusive hunting privileges for the State of Tucuman and designed and built the lodge for hunters in1999.

Gustavo is an immaculate host and an artful conversationalist making sitting down to meals a genuine pleasure. But beware. Coming in for lunch or dinner you are temped to spoil your appetite with the hors d’oeuvres including dove breast, assorted cheeses, and hot bread. Eat lightly because a three-course meal of fine Argentine cuisine is on the way. I won’t say the staff hovered, but when you lay your fork across your plate, there is someone at your elbow. Each guest shares the responsibility of keeping his and his neighbor’s wine glass full of excellent Argentine wine.

Argentine dove shooting is beyond description. One hunter killed 1,000 birds before lunch. And I found Argentine dove shooting a wonderfully way to hone my skills. I pick a shot, incomers for example, and work on it until I get it right, then I work on left to right crossers, and so on. You can fire 2,000 rounds a day if you wish.

Arranging a shooting trip to Argentina is a complicated endeavor with numerous gun permits, airline schedule changes, flight cancellations and plenty of opportunity for lost luggage. John and Silvana prevented the loss of luggage, anticipated schedule changes, and renegotiated cancelled flights with ease.

I have never had a trip go so smoothly. I cannot imagine better shooting. And I cannot recommend John and Southern Sporting Safaris highly enough.

- Robert P. Harrington