Ramsey had explained us that Russia capercaillie hunting combo, about 600 miles north of St. Petersburg, near the White Sea; is located in the northern Republic of Karelia, on the southernmost edge of the arctic circle.  While cappercaillie and grouse are the primary purpose of this trip, this trip presents an opportunity for Eurasian waterfowl species uncommon to North America. The greatest densities of Western Capercaillie and Black Grouse in the world are believed to inhabit this region\\\\\\\'s boreal forests of Russia. So, now it is in my bucket list.

When we have talked about Argentina, we agreed that the big volume of birds makes Argentina amazing, but like Tyler said, it is also about the different species that every avid hunter can get in Argentina, and specially at our lodge, that is based close to road number 1 at Santa Fe province, a couple of miles further away from San Javier city, and just in front of the river and amazing delta. 

Our location and the 12,000 acres of private islands make our hunting lodge a unique option for duck and snipe hunting. In 20-30 minutes from the lodge, by boat, we can be in a dream area for all waterfowl hunters. And that is not all, with Fabian we run a hunting program where baiting is very important (it is allowed in Argentina) and we also work with lagoons at 20 to 30 minutes from the lodge, rice fields, and other areas that we reach on our  4 wheels pickup trucks. So location is very important.

But, let’s be fair and also be sure that we all realize that we are hunting, and that means that our game is with wildlife birds, that sometimes are unpredictable, right. Like after a storm at night when suddenly weather changes and we have 50 mm of rain. And some roads can get muddy and some areas become inaccessible, and everything looks more complicated. So, sometimes hunting can be though, but thanks to weather and a great team work this was not the occasion and we were able to get 60 birds per blind for 4 sessions in a row with Tyler and Ramsey. We have some Brazilian teal, silver teals, white cheeked pintail, rosybill poachard, white faced whistling ducks and others.

This July we have had a second flooded river, in the last two years, something that is not normal, and had affected our regular hunting program. Most of the islands had been cover by tons of water, and the delta looks more like an ocean, so in the last weeks we were not able to hunt in the islands. And even though the water is going down, we will probably have to wait for 2 more weeks to be able to get some low water in the delta. The rice fields have been working great, and some of our lagoons, like the ones close by to Cacique area, have been very helpful. 

Temperature has been amazingly crazy this 2014. First, the frost arrived very late and we had some not really cold days in June and July that made us feel in autumn again. That made birds more unpredictable but we have been able to have good hunts anyway. AccuWeather says in 48hours we will have cold weather again, so we hope some of you are still ready to catch a plane, and just make a call so we can pick you up at the airport.

Enjoy a fantastic Argentina Estancia, some of the greatest duck hunt with a unique and personalize service. There are still some hunting days in this season and you could be the next one. Enjoy our pictures below and check which ducks are still in your bucket list from the duck list on our website. We hope to see you all soon.

Best,

Pablo Aguilo

Pointer Wingshooting