Late-afternoon Salta feeding flight.

Only a few hours by car from the majestic Andes and southern Bolivia and framed by the picturesque, tree-covered Centinela Mountains, Salta’s 620,000–acre Anta valley produces bountiful yields of soybeans, corn, peanuts and wheat. Due to its northerly location (closer to the equator) the region enjoys a delightful climate that changes little throughout the year. Progressive farming techniques, including active crop rotation and no-till planting, ensure that tons of waste beans and corn remain available to hungry hordes of doves and pigeons. This grain production is surrounded and interspersed with the forest of the Gran Chaco, which covers northern Argentina, southern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay, providing an environment in which the populations of spot-winged and picazuro pigeons and eared doves flourish to incredible numbers. The millions of voracious doves actually prevent the farmers from producing sunflowers and milo!

Argentina pigeon hunters admiring the morning harvest.

“Nothing I have seen in more than 40 years of hunting all over the world prepared me for the sight of that many birds in one place. Needless to say, the shooting was spectacular.” Hank Stringer, Austin, TX

Shooting takes place in a variety of settings—one day hunters may be positioned in the midst of a huge roost, the next around the perimeter of a harvested grain field, the next down in the river bottom or over a waterhole and the next (and perhaps the most unusual) around the edge of a huge local feed lot. Depending on the conditions, guests have the option of pigeon hunting — pass shooting or using decoys – which in volume rivals Paraguay or anywhere else in the world.

Salta doves feeding on leftover grain.
(click to enlarge)

Quoting from a recent issue of Dove Hunter Magazine: “To many who follow wingshooting trends, predictions are that Salta Province will soon overtake Cordoba Province as the dove shooting capital of the world. With only one outfitter holding the permit for the entire state, and with three times as many birds as Cordoba, Salta is the true pinnacle of dove shooting. Did I mention that there are estimated to be 100 million doves in the province?”

“Three hours later, over 1000 birds down and 60 boxes of shells later, I was exhausted.”

“The numbers of doves in the Salta area greatly exceed anything I have ever witnessed elsewhere. The numbers defy any attempt to describe them. Rising like smoke and flying in virtual unbroken clouds to and from feeding areas, the scene can only be described as a plague of Biblical proportions.”