While we think our mixed bag hunting is the best in Uruguay, there is no question that the majority of our US clients are primarily interested in our legendary duck hunting. As such, we think it is important that our prospective clients are fully informed about the truth of the South American duck hunting industry, and how San Jose Lodge differs not only South American outfitters, but also our beloved US outfitters.
Let’s start by peeling back the curtain on South American outfitters, be they Argentinian or Uruguayan. It’s no mystery that they are in the business to make money. As a result, minimizing expenses is the name of the game. There is little to no expense in species such as dove, pigeon and perdiz, as they are naturally present and simply need to be hunted. However, ducks are where an outfitter spends a great deal of money.
Baiting is a common, legal practice in South America. Most outfitters need to scout and lease ponds near their lodges from other landowners, which cuts into their profit margins. Baiting is done with corn and rice, and must be conducted about a month prior to the season opener, and continued for the nearly five months of the season. Depending on the size of the outfitter, this can require a dedicated staff, trucks and fuel wherein staff spend the entire day, every day, baiting and scouting the full inventory of ponds.
While we have no way to know that all outfitters religiously conduct these best practices, we certainly do at San Jose Lodge, but we suspect that a lot of outfitters cut corners to save costs.
As ducks are the most expensive of the species to manage, most South American outfitters will enforce artificially low harvest limits that are often lower than the legal country limits. In doing so, they can reduce expenses by bating less ponds and taking their clients to the same old “gar hole”. When their clients are disappointed with their bag, many South American outfitters take a cue from their US counterparts – “Senor, you should have been here last week! They were everywhere!”
At San Jose Lodge, we practice sustainable hunting for all our species, but particularly our ducks. We maintain over 50 baited ponds and we rest them at least 10 days between clients. Doing so ensures that our clients have the absolute best opportunity and experience for a memorable duck hunt. Hands down, we are the absolute best South American outfitter as to duck shot opportunity.
As avid wingshooters, we know it is a cardinal sin to actually sit down and count the cost of an out of state or international wingshooting trip. We all know it would be a lot cheaper to get our fowl at the grocery store.
We tell ourselves that there are many “intrinsics” that are hard to put to a dollar value – catching up with an old buddy; the comradery of the long drive to “catch up” (which we all secretly hate); the beautiful scenery and sunrises and hearing the wonderful vocalizations of our quarry that we haven’t hear in a year.
