We're here at Rincon de Luna in the southwest corner of córdoba province
here in Argentina and we're hunting giant red stags.
So, the morning starts like every morning to us here at Rincon de Luna early.
It's winter here in Argentina and it's very, very cold. Our plan was to head out on horseback get up
right to the high ground and then spend the day glassing and looking for the animal.
Now, here at Rincon de Luna there are many, many animals the environment is
absolutely perfect for sustaining healthy populations of wild game.
So, it's about 9:15 a.m, we've been out for about an hour from
this morning as you see the Sun is bright in the sky. We started off by
getting up to this high ground on the horses to see if we could spot any herds.
Now, there's some pretty tall elevation points around here and we spotted a herd
of buffalo and herd of red stags and they're about 1,800 yards off so that's
the great thing about hunting on horses you get to gain that elevation and then
you can hunt from reasonably good plateaus it gives you a really good
field of view. So, now we've seen them Santiago has an idea for how we're
gonna get to them it's know what we need to do is find a place where you can get
off a little bit closer maneuver around and find a great vantage point from
which to shoot but so far breathtaking.
As the day progressed we saw red hinds, red stags there's no shortage of
game here but it's not for the faint-hearted if you want to earn a
trophy here you've got to put the work in and that means many long hours in the
saddle or many long hours on your feet.
The terrain here is challenging and breathtaking both physically and visually.
So, we just spooked reasonably big stags, one of them is pretty magnificent 15 points he was with a
pretty good eight or nine year old it was quite tall and it's gonna be big
he's not one that needed taking. They both stood for a little bit but just
couldn't get the shot in time just needed him to turn. But, unfortunately he
didn't give me the shot we tried to make our way around the ridge he disappeared
down and then came around but unfortunately by time we got here he
cleared out. I even dropped my pack half way back and I'd have to go find that in
a minute just give me a little bit more maneuverability and make me more light
on my feet. So, it was an early start to the day been pretty tough we've now got
the last rays of Sun in the sky and that means that for today we're all done
it's gonna be another couple of hours to get back to the Estancia and this isn't
the place I want to get stranded at night but we've seen a lot of animals we
put a lot of work in and we know they're out here somewhere it's just putting the
effort in putting the time in on the mountain and then seeing what it
delivers to us but it's been an epic day fabulous country breathtaking scenery
magnificent animals what more could you want than this I'll tell you what I want
another day at it tomorrow time we should get back.
The conditions on day 2 were very different to the first. In fact, so
different we had to take a completely approach to our hunt. The wind was
howling gale force winds blowing through the valleys and through the mountains
and horses really don't like those sorts of conditions in fact it could be pretty
dangerous particularly up there on the side of the mountain that meant that all
of our hunting had to be on foot even the hard miles even the tough climbing.
We start on the very high ground moving away around the estate looking for
sheltered spots in the grass where the animals could lie and wait out the wind.
Well the animals like to do in conditions such as those is rest up and
wait out the storm they're pretty used to it up here the
pretty hardy animals, but for us we had to have our faces in that wind all of
the time and it was tough, tough going.
But, as afternoon progressed and the wind died down everything changed. The hills
were alive with movement as the animals that had been cowering from the store
decided to come out and feed and that gave us our opportunity.
We'd spotted a couple of red stags from about seven hundred yards away that was sat in an
open area in the grass nicely sheltered but enjoying the Sun that broken through
the cloud. Now, the only problem for us is there was some distance off across the
other side of a ravine. We had some work to do to cut around out of sight and get
down within a shooting position but that's the great thing about hunting
with Santiago he knows these mountains he knows every gully every nook every
cranny and every approach point to get the perfect shot.
So although it took a lot of walking at about an hour and a half's worth of trekking we finally
managed to get about 300 yards from the stags and then work out how to make our final approach.
So, we slowly crept up behind a rock got ourselves into
position and then waited for the perfect opportunity.
A mature male with really thick horns was feeding in towards a rock.
I had to just wait from two standstill for a brief second before I took the shot.
One of the great things about hunting here there are lots of shooting points
every rock is a very stable base from which to shoot. The only trouble is
whether or not you get the angle when the animal turns.
My lord,
what an incredible animal.
We saw red hinds, we saw groups of stags and we
saw this one with a friend who are grazing down here at the bottom near the
river here and we just hopes that they wait and give us enough time to get
around and onto them and boy when we got here we'll be glad.Then as we
approached the far side of the ravine he stood up and started grazing that gave
us enough time to get into position on the rock because he kept putting his
nose into the grass and the rocks here to feed that gave me chance to move into
position without being seen and he stood perfectly broadside for me gave me the perfect shoot at 200 yards.
He's counted 18 17 or 18 points and already although
we've got a jury's out on that final one on the other side. This is the most
difficult the most challenging stag hunt I've ever undertaken in the most
breathtaking and challenging scenery imaginable.
The guys here at Recon De Luna know exactly how to hunt red stags they know
exactly how to handle this terrain although it is tough they make it as
easy as they possibly can for you and they just know how to get into these
animals and this is a result a magnificent mature old stag probably the
pick of the bunch that we've seen a huge mass fabulous coat and a hunt of a lifetime.
So, if you want to come and experience this talk to the guys at
Frontiers Travel or Ian Cody Sporting and they'll deliver to you what they've
delivered to me but I can't guarantee who kept one like this you'll have to put
the work in yourself and on that though we've still got a lot of work to do to
get this fella off the mountain I don't think we could land it any further away from the lodge.
Okay, Santiago let's go.