They arrived at Santa Fe airport by 10:30 and I finally met them by 1pm at San Javier Lodge. 

Where we were waiting for them with a very delicious tender meat and fried potatoes for lunch. I was looking forward to see these guys since I had met Kenny and Robert back in Dallas for the Dallas Safari Club in January. After a big hug Kenny and Robert introduced me to their friends Craig and Travis. I told the guys by lunch, that the main idea was to go dove hunting in the first afternoon since this would allow them to do a lot of shooting so they can practice and get warm for duck hunting. Sometimes our guests find our shells a bit slower than the ones they use in USA, another reason we thought it was a good idea to begin the hunting trip with doves, where you can shoot more than 500 shells in one afternoon, while with ducks you will shoot 50-75 shells as much. They had a great afternoon, doves were flying maybe a little high but they were everywhere!!

They came back to the lodge by 19:30, where Karina and Tere were waiting them with some wet towels and a glass of beer each. We had some appetizers outside  next to the fire and after one of the guys took his massage, I think it was Robert, we all had dinner.   

On the following they we decided to do Perdiz in the morning since there was no reason to wake up very early as if they were going for duck hunting. They knew they wanted to do ducks and Perdiz that day, that’s why it was better not to do Ducks in the morning. When you go Duck hunting in the morning you have to wake up something like by 5am. So they can have a good breakfast at 5:30 and leave the lodge by 6 - 6:15am.

They had a great morning. they went out in two separate groups, each group with their respective guides and one Pointer dog. Robert and Kenny did their limit while Travis and Craig were only one or two birds above the limit. But as the way Robert and Kenny were joking them they were able to see a good number of perdices that morning.

Some days are better than others, we don’t always hit as many targets as we would like to. We had a great lunch. And for sure, lunch is better every day, just like you would like it to be. That day we had a delicious, creamy pumpkin soup with spices. Then, some tender piece of pork cooked in the oven with mashed potatoes. We were so full we could even breath, but you know, there's always room for dessert. We had a typical Argentine sweet treat: Flan con Dulce de leche, our version of a panacotta with our typical caramel sauce.  Craig and Travis took a small nap while Kenny Robert and I stayed at the table having a few conversations and catching up after quite a while not seeing each other, remember I had met this amazing friends back in Dallas a few months earlier.

I was working with my computer when a few messages from Federico started ringing in my phone. Federico was the Head Guide in this group. I picked up my phone and got this rush of adrenaline and excitement from scrolling the bunch of pictures Federico sent me from that hunting: everybody did they limit that afternoon. That night, the awesome cooking staff kept surprising us. They served a poached egg in a fancy cup with some great sauce. Then, homemade spagheti with a chicken sauce and for dessert chocolate cake! What a way to wrap such a great day! Once we finished we decided it was time to kill Johny and his twin brother. And what a better idea than killing two bottles of whisky while playing Poker. We stayed up until 3 am. It was a great night where some people lost much while others took it all, but nobody really lost that nigh. You allways win when you are with friends having a great time drinking whisky and listening to good music. Of course, it’s better if you can win a little money while doing that, though!

It was time to wake up, it might not have been easy since they were going duck hunting, I guess the guys might have slept maybe one or two hours. One of my friends was missing that morning. I want to say his name but he was not feeling good. Stomachache, he alledged. The other three guys did their ducks limit again. I didn’t go for lunch that day since I wanted to give the guys some space. A free time without seeing my ugly face. I remembered I wrote to Craig’s phone, LOL. That afternoon they went fishing. Kenny caught the biggest one while Robert was the piranha guy. He had not fished a dorado but he did fish a bunch of piranhas!! Travis said he got the biggest one, he couldnt get it out of the water but he knew it was bigger. What Travis? That’s bullsh@..$? I loved joking with Travis, he was always in such a good mood. Please don’t get me wrong, I had a blast with the four of them, but for Travis there was nevera time to sleep or not to be celebrating: “You sleep when you are dead”.

Ok, going back to the story. That night some of the guys had a massage while we stayed outside next to the fire with the rest of the group having some appetizers and wine. That was an easy night, after a really nice dinner we all went to bed by 22hs, 23hs.

At the following day they did ducks in the morning and doves in the afternoon. I joined the guys that afternoon. We saw lots of doves that afternoon. They were flying a little higher than a regular day, because of the wind. But this didn’t stop the guys from having a blast and shooting a bunch of shells and doves. Like in the first afternoon, Travis was going crazy. It doesn’t matter if he got them in the first shoot, he would shoot three four shells every for one single dove LOL. He shot  2 cases that afternoon. He thought he was the king of the trees. Not my shells not my problem!

I had dinner that night with them but I couldn’t stay long since the following day I should drive 5 hours to Cordoba and from there I will join Pablo, David and Blake for some fly fishing in Salta. A very far away province. The last one we have next to Jujuy province, at the very north. It tool us like 6 hours from Cordoba to Salta but this is a different story, you can check it in our fly fishing site if you like.

I said “bye" like 2 or 3 times to the guys that night. I really didn’t want to leave. They were one of the greatest group I ever had. They have to come back again to be number 1 group. So far they share trone with 2 or 3 other groups hehe.

I will definitely see these guys next January at the Dallas Safari Club, and why not a good night in some bar at Frisco!

5,4,3,6…counting the days!