La Dormida

Located in the province of Cordoba, in Central Argentina, 80 miles (130 km) North of the Cordoba City International Airpor, with a driving time of 1hr and 35 minutes, La Dormida Lodge will accommodate 10 dove shooters, or depending on the configuration of the group, 12 total people. There are 4 single rooms, each with a large (queen) bed and 3 double rooms with two beds in each. All rooms have private ensuite bathrooms. In addition, La Dormida offers a large dining room with a spectacular dining table, a sitting room and bar, and a large, comfortable courtyards with a fire pit and a plunge pool.

They also have many of the important necessities and some extras that you may or not expect to find in a shooting lodge, including; a recreation room, gun cleaning table and facilities, telephone, Internet access (WIFI), maid and laundry service, masseuse; our gift shop offers local artwork and crafts, logo wear and accessories. They can easily arrange historic tours, shopping trips and horseback riding for non-shooters.

Purpose built, La Dormida has evolved with two clear goals – world-class dove shooting coupled with a facility built solely with the complete comfort of the guest in mind.

The typical shooting day in Córdoba begins with breakfast at 8:00am, followed by a short drive to the pre-scouted areas. On your first day of arrival, you will be introduced to your field assistant and he will have prepared your first stand. It will be kitted out with good cover, a seat, plenty of cartridges, lots of cold drinks and any other detail you require. Then non-stop shooting until lunch. If you do not like or get bored of where you are shooting or how the birds are flying, just tell your field assistant or the guide and they will move you to somewhere more suitable. It is possible to move whenever you like or go and join freinds. Shooting in Cordoba is a very relaxed affair. Córdoba is fantastic for all skill levels — set your sights on the more challenging high flying or even 'grouse-like' birds or go for sheer numbers and shoot at the waves and waves of doves just above the tree line. At times you’ll notice pigeons too, they are fair game as well.

Lunch is yet another reason why our clients love David Denies and Pica Zuro Lodge — weather permitting, you will enjoy a wonderful meal in the field. The traditional asado-style lunch features an open-air barbecue of famous Argentine beef, dove, pork and sausages, complete with fantastic wines and fresh crisp salads. If you would like, enjoy a relaxing siesta on a mattress or in a hammock before returning to the fast and challenging shooting. The afternoon session will last until approximately 6:00pm when you will return to La Dormida to relax by the pool with a cocktail, or take a massage or a nap before savoring a delicious dinner. Dinner is by menu choice again between a classic meat option and something a little more healthy. The meat options are difficult to refuse! Breakfast is everything from eggs cooked to order to great fresh fruit, yoghurts, cereal, croissants etc.

The estimated population of Eared doves (there are Inca doves as well which are smaller still) in the region is about 40 million but nobody really knows. The population fluctuates with the amount of food available, which in turn impacts the number of times the doves breed. What they do know is that generally they breed five times a year and have two eggs each time with an 80% success rate of seeing their young through to adulthood. They feed on three main crops, maize or corn, sorghum and winter wheat when the moisture of the soil allows this crop to be produced. If there is no winter wheat they will go on the shoots of the soybean plants when just planted and coming through. This is the worst damage for farmers because it damages a whole new plant not just a few grains taken.

As a guide, the doves are shot in the hill ground or what is known as ‘roosts’ or ‘temporary roosts’ between late June and late February but at some point in the second half of February and mid-March (depending on weather and crop conditions) they start to leave the roosts and head for the fields in earnest where they remain until late June. This is when the harvesting has been done and there is a lot of food available which often tempts the birds to breed again. We shoot them travelling from temporary roosts to feeding areas or water, sometimes in the temporary roost, sometimes just leaving and other times closer to the fields to which they are travelling. It is rare to shoot them actually arriving/landing in the fields to which they are coming to feed because close to the feeding area the birds fly lower and slower. This is more common for pigeon shooting in other areas of Argentina, which is similar to how we often shoot our pigeons.

Before the shooting of doves began in the 1970s, the farmers set poison, which was effective but indiscriminate, killing all types of other birds and mammals. Nowadays, farmers/landowners gain income from the shooting rights for people to shoot on their land and there is decent protection for their crops though neither shooting nor poisoning fully stops crop damage with the population as it is.  We cannot tell you that every last dove shot is picked because that is not true: the terrain is often difficult and the brush can be very thick with thorny bushes, and this is why dogs are not used but the field assistants (FAs) do collect what they can find by sight and the doves are donated to local causes. In the case of David Denies, all the birds are cleaned and taken to the Sister Theresa Foundation where over 500 hundred children are fed once a day at 6pm in five different dining rooms. We enjoyed dove breasts rolled in bacon at lunch and ‘dove burgers’ were on the menu card at dinner as well. They are very good if cooked right, crispy on the outside and still pink and tender on the inside.

Because Córdoba, Argentina offers a true year-round dove hunting season, a two- or three-day extension can be easily added to other shooting in Bolivia, Paraguay or Uruguay and with dorado fishing at Pira Lodge in the Ibera marsh, or even with trout fishing in Patagonia and Chile’s lake region.

La Dormida

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La Dormida

La Dormida

Basic Rack Rate:
$830 per person per night when shooting.
$350 for first non-shooting night.

Please note that we can do group deals and discounts and are working with group leaders and other agents on a regular basis so please, if in doubt, ask us about better rates.

There are often substantial off-peak reductions of 20% or more as well.

Species
Doves, occasional pigeon

Bedrooms
Nine

Single Supplement
$80/night

Swimming pool
Yes in the summer months

Massage
Yes

Inclusions
•    Full board accommodation
•    Services of a professional hunter-guide
•    All meals at the estancia and shooting area with wines, beer and open bar
•    Daily boot and gun cleaning
•    All ground transfers between the Córdoba airport/La Dormida Lodge and the dove shooting areas as required by the itinerary
•    Bird pick-up boys as required
•    All payments to land owners for shooting rights
•    Meeting and customs assistance in Córdoba
•    Taxes and service charges.

Exclusions
•    International and internal air travel
•    Cartridges – $13.25 per box of 25
•    Gun hire - $65/gun/day
•    Argentina gun import permit if necessary
•    Córdoba hunting license- $70/day
•    Tips; telephone calls and faxes
•    Room service or items of a personal nature
•    Laundry service
•    Baggage overweight charges or insurance
•    $150 surcharge (one way) for single passengers requiring Córdoba airport/shooting area transfers
•    Cost of itinerary modification requested by the passenger

La Dormida

Time difference
GMT -3 hrs

Flight Time from the UK

British Airways now offers a direct, daily flight from Heathrow, and this is the preferred route for the majority of our passengers.Several flight options exist from the UK, many of which utilise major European cities such as Paris, Madrid, Barcelona and Frankfurt as a hub with carriers such as Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa all providing connecting flights to Buenos Aires from the UK. For those not wanting to visit Buenos Aires, Iberia offers a direct flight from Madrid to Cordoba, and there is now a flight from the Buenos Aires international airport to Cordoba which works with the British Airways flights. For detailed information and to discuss suitable options for your trip please contact us and we will happily pass on recommendations and suitable schedules for your trip.
 
As a guideline, the following is based on the British Airways flight from London:

London - Buenos Aires: 13 hrs 40 mins


Travel Documents/Requirements
Passport with 6 months to run beyond the end of your trip.                                                                                                                                          
No visa requirements for UK citizens.
UK residents need to apply for a temporary export permit to take guns to Argentina. Please call for application details.

Shooting Area
Cordoba Province

Season to Travel/quarry
Year round/Doves

Climate
Year round climate variations. Opposite seasons to UK. Winters are dry but cold nights. Summers hot with increased (if low) chance of rain.

Clothing
Lightweight, neutral coloured clothes recommended. Warmer clothes needed for winter mornings, sturdy shoes or lightweight walking shoes. Lightweight waterproof jacket. Shooting glasses/eye protection, ear protection, sun protection (hat and sunscreen), shoulder protection. Recommended footwear is outdoor shoes/boots, we recommend a good strong sole as many of the bushes and undergrowth are quite prickly and can pierce the sole of a soft-bottomed shoe. A small bag of some sort is useful to carry all the gear in, pleae ask for a Frontiers’ Field bag, which are excellent for this type of use. Laundry services are available at the lodge so pack light.

Tips
Remember to pack a recoil pad, finger plasters, sun cream, sunglasses and lightweight gloves along with good quality hearing protection. Taking guns to Argentina is becoming increasingly hindered with red tape. A selection of guns are available to hire at the lodges, so why not use them affording peace of mind during other legs of your trip. Try a combination trip. December to March is the best time for fishing, or combine duck and dove shooting in April to July.

La Dormida