EP 379. Argentina Duck-Dove-Pigeon-Dorado Combo Couples Trip

 

Duck Hunting Couples Trip in La Paz, Argentina

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to duck season. Somewhere where today I’m on the banks of the Parana river in Entre Rios. Long time hunt goes way back to the beginnings of getducks.com. Here at La Paz. Ducks, doves, pigeons, perdiz, periquito. But we did something different this time. We brought a bunch of couples. We’re doing a couple’s trip. We’ve had couples come here in the past, but we decided to host one and been a pretty fantastic week. Leading off the charge is Mr. Ray Hathaway. How the heck are you, Ray?

Ray Hathaway: I’m doing wonderful. How are you?

Ramsey Russell: Had a big day today, did we not?

Ray Hathaway: We had a huge day today. Started with horses, ended with waves of pestilent looking doves just flooding the skies and everything in between.

Ramsey Russell: We tried to film the doves, and it just doesn’t do it. Just the video and the camera. Doesn’t do it justice, does it?

Ray Hathaway: No, not at all.

Ramsey Russell: How would you describe that? I mean, just wave. It’s like the ground’s moving. Yeah.

Ray Hathaway: So you posted on social media today, kind of the drone work and the doves, but you literally look over and we were in rice fields, and it looks like that field has just come to life. Like the whole ground is moving and walking around. And Ricky and I decided to partner hunt this afternoon just to have some fun and burn the barrels down and the doves, it would look like 10,000 would jump up and fly over, and that wasn’t even a third of what was in that field. And it was unreal.

Ramsey Russell: What attracted you to this hunt? You’ve been to Mazatlán before.

Ray Hathaway: Yes, twice.

Ramsey Russell: But what attracted you to this trip and what attracted Claire to it?

Ray Hathaway: When you all reached out and said that you were getting couples together? I think that we were just like, hey, we had a great experience in Mazatlán. Some lifelong friends have kind of formed from that first hunt, which was 2020. So much so that I’ve gone on other hunts through yours with some of those guys alone. But then you said that a couple that we know, Ian and Giselle, were coming, and Anita was coming, and that was really all it took. Claire and I were like, yeah, we’re in. And just being able to hunt with a bunch of people that you like to be around, so we just assumed we’d like to be around. And assumptions were right.

Ramsey Russell: I tell everybody all the time. People ask me, what about solo hunters? And I’m like, you meet birds of a feather and you just named off about five others.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Ramsey Russell: You go to Mazatlán and you met Jay, you met others, and you come down here and you hunt with them independently and elsewhere. I mean, it’s a heck of a. You come to these hunts, you meet people like yourself that willing and able to come to these.

Ray Hathaway: You know, there’s a bunch of side text message threads going on, too with individual guys. Hey, what are you thinking, Las Flores, what are you thinking going back to Obregon. What are you thinking about, something over in the UK, and it’s just one of those? It’s kind of turning like a fraternity, like a brotherhood. All these guys that you get along with really well, you check on during the year. You’re always texting back and forth with the family and just getting away and going and doing what you love to do.

Ramsey Russell: We got straight up duck hunts down here, and we’ve got straight up dove hunt. But really and truly, La Paz, to me, represents the perfect sample for the guy that’s coming one time and one time only, or the guy that’s coming for the first time. Get your beak wet and try it all.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Would you say that? Now, talk about duck hunting. Tell me about your duck hunting experience here. It ain’t, like, high volume, like, into the world, and I think those days are over anyway. Anywhere you go. But, I mean, 25 duck limit is a hell of a limit compared to America. Yeah.

Ray Hathaway: So to start it off, I’ve never ridden a horse duck hunting.

Ramsey Russell: But how else would you get back to where you’ve been hunting?

Ray Hathaway: It would have taken a long time. If I was just walking, if I was just taking the shoe leather express, it would have probably taken me an hour and a half to get back there.

Ramsey Russell: I looked at Google Earth today, and from where we mount the horses to the Paranoia River is 3 miles of just foot deep marsh.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And I couldn’t walk it. There’s a short walk, like you did today, but you couldn’t get back there to the rest of them places.

Ray Hathaway: And there’s cows on the property, too, so you got to think they’re constantly creating divots and just massive craters in the ground. But, yeah, from the duck hunting, coming in on a horseback, and there were just a lot of first experiences for me, which, you know, is really why I sign up for all these things. I don’t care if I hit my limit every day. I don’t care if I shoot the most prized possession duck that there is to have. Like, I want to experience it. Being able to go out there in the pitch black and seeing new constellations that we never see is unreal because.

Ramsey Russell: There’s no city lights anywhere around.

Ray Hathaway: Oh, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: So every star in the sky is shining.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: And besides just the ducks, it’s all the bird life. We see the swans, we see the (jihais), which are southern screamers. We see Tato’s, we see just. God, it’s almost like going back to some dinosaur day with all this primitive bird life everywhere.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. And it’s really cool just to see the variety of what there is out know. Argentina what I’ve found just in the few short days I’ve been here is everything has its place in the pecking order. And these guys, every bird has its place, whether it’s table fair or whether it’s like, oh, that’s a really special bird to see out here, things like that. So it’s been pretty great.

Ramsey Russell: A lot of people ask what happens to all these ducks, all these doves, all these parakeets, all these pigeons that get shot in Argentina, what do you think happens? Having been here now for three days.

Ray Hathaway: I would say that the guys who are bird boys probably isn’t the best term. I would say your companions. Yeah. The staff and their families eat very well. Nothing goes to waste.

Ramsey Russell: They bring them into their communities. Yeah. They clean them all. They want them all. And I was shocked to learn years ago that even those parakeets they eat because they’re completely granivorous and I’ve had them and they taste a lot like dove. I would eat them, which I have eaten them, but I’d go out and shoot them to eat them.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, absolutely. And on the topic of parakeet, I was really excited to shoot a parakeet when I got here. I didn’t realize that I was going to completely ignore all the dove just to shoot these parakeets.

Ramsey Russell: Have you shot a few since you’ve been here?

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, we’ve shot quite a few and it’s just fun. They super vocal bird. They fly. I would say if you had decoys for them, they’d probably decoy well.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, they will decoy. If you put a lot of dead parakeets out there. They decoy. Yeah, absolutely.

Ray Hathaway: They, which we did that with the pigeon. And I’m just going to say you hyped up pigeon hunting. And I was like, okay, I’ve always wanted to do it, but it can’t be that big of a deal. Absolutely phenomenal hunt.

Ramsey Russell: It’s my favorite day of the entire week is the pigeon day because we drive out and we get to sleep in that morning. No, getting up early. We sleep in.

Ray Hathaway: Oh, yeah. We didn’t leave here until like 9:00. It was awesome.

The Adventures of Argentine Duck Hunting Lodge Dining

She goes, that’s horse. I completely thought she was kidding. Was not bad.

Ramsey Russell: And we get out, the decoys are waiting on us. The mojos, the blinds. We step in, we shoot till about lunch, we go back to the shade. There’s all these steaks and all this. Good. We have a hell of a picnic. Yeah. And I think the wives enjoyed it.

Ray Hathaway: They did. Yeah. I was thoroughly impressed with that. Walking up, seeing a full picnic spread set out and trying new foods, whether I knew it was going to be on the menu or not, that’s what this whole experience has been, is something new. Diving into the culture, what they eat traditionally, how they eat it. Right now, I forget what this thing’s called, but the way that they cook. Yeah,

Ramsey Russell: pariah.

Ray Hathaway: Is unreal. If I wasn’t afraid, I’d burn my house down just like you, I’d probably try and put in my house.

Ramsey Russell: If I ever build a house, I’m putting a pariah in my kitchen just like they do. Yeah, it’s like a big, long fireplace.

Ray Hathaway: Absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: Build a fire, scrape the coals up under the grate and then put this different meat. Talk about some of the different meats you’ve eaten because it’s all been an adventure.

Ray Hathaway: Oh, man.

Ramsey Russell: You haven’t had a filet or a ribeye since you’ve been here?

Ray Hathaway: I have not. If you think traditional cuts of steak, that’s not what you’re going to get here. But I will say that this country is so focused on the meat and the protein side of life, it’s unreal. So on the ride here from Buenos Aires, we stopped about halfway and we had lunch. And this massive pariah, uh, you knew you were in the right spot because everyone in town was there. And there were cuts of beef. There was pork belly, just thinly sliced, not like bacon, but like

Ramsey Russell: Matambre, they call.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, matambre. And then that was the first time I tried a new delicacy called blood sausage. May not be for me from a texture standpoint, flavor wasn’t awful, but it.

Ramsey Russell: Took me ten years to acquire the taste. But I do like it.

Ray Hathaway: Well, so what you’re telling is I got to come back nine times. But then, yeah, we’ve tried other new things. The way that they cooked, like the pizza and everything, or-

Ramsey Russell: Talk about pizza night.

Ray Hathaway: Pizza night was phenomenal I think.

Ramsey Russell: We ain’t talking pizza pizza, are we? No.

Ray Hathaway: Gosh, no.

Ramsey Russell: Completely from scratch.

Ray Hathaway: Somehow he got the crust perfect mix between crispy and a little soft without any black char marks on the bottom. And I think you and I were fighting over the last pieces of the onion pizza for sure.

Ramsey Russell: But he brought out five courses. Sometimes he bring maybe six courses.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, I think there were six.

Ramsey Russell: One was cheese and onions. Cheese and grilled onions. Everybody loved it. The next one, what I’d call meatloaf.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, it was like a lasagna pizza.

Ramsey Russell: Kind of like a lasagna. Yeah. Third one was a ham, tomatoes, and roasted peppers.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. And that was super good, too.

Ramsey Russell: He brought out his anchovy one. I’m anchovy fan.

Ray Hathaway: I passed on that.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, some people did.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. I’m not an anchovy.

Ramsey Russell: You know, the way you’re supposed to do it.

Ray Hathaway: Oh, yeah. And then one with boiled eggs on it.

Ramsey Russell: Boiled eggs.

Ray Hathaway: And it was great.

Ramsey Russell: Unbelievable.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, it was unreal.

Ramsey Russell: Number one most requested meal of returning client to La Paz is pizza night. Because it’s familiar, but it’s different. It’s completely from scratch, and they just got different flavor combinations.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. I just want to take a second back. You asked me something else I had tried, and the picnic brought out this massive charcuterie board. And Martha says, Ray, you got to try this. And I’m like, you know, I’m kind of a texture person. I don’t even eat bologna, but what is this? She’s like, no, you got to try it. And then I’ll tell you what it is. And I’m like, okay, whatever. I’ll take a bite of it. I took the first bite. I didn’t even start chewing. She goes, that’s horse. I completely thought she was kidding. Was not bad.

Ramsey Russell: Like a horse bologna.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. It was literally like a roll of boloney that you would buy at the supermarket. And, I mean, everyone else that tried it liked it. And again, I’m a texture person. It was not bad. It was surprising. So another new first for me in the land of Argentina.

Ramsey Russell: Are you getting enough to eat here?

Ray Hathaway: All the weight I’ve taken off, I’m putting back on pretty quick.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, three courses every meal.

Ray Hathaway: Oh, and dessert with lunch and dinner. Yeah, you can’t pass up those desserts, though. They’re phenomenal.

Ramsey Russell: Wine, every meal. How does your wife seem to be enjoying it?

Ray Hathaway: She loves it.

Ramsey Russell: because the ladies are having their own set of good time today.

Ray Hathaway: Today they’re having a good enough time for all of us. They’re on their way back. But, yeah, she’s enjoyed it again. It goes back to the why we decided to come. Why we said yes. Just being around. I think Gina and Pam and Giselle and Anita sick right now, but just being around kind of like minded people that if we go hunt, they can complain about us, but they’re all agreeing. They’re all on the same page. They’re all having just an absolute blast and getting along. They’ve had a great time.

Ramsey Russell: A lot of us came in early. Everybody else came in early. And we did a night on Buenos Aires or two. And you all are staying late. What do you all have planned?

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, so we’re leaving a little bit early. So we’re going to leave tomorrow, go back to Buenos Aires, do a tango. That’s what you got to do when you go to Buenos Aires. That’s what everyone said. So I’m actually kind of an old soul. I’m only 33, but I like to be in bed by like 09:00. And apparently the tango doesn’t start till 8:30. And the average dinner time in Buenos Aires is like 8:00 or 08:30.

Ramsey Russell: You better drink your red bull for the day. You’re not going to be in bed that night.

Ray Hathaway: I’m there. The Red Bull will have a mixer in it for sure. But I’m so excited.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Ray Hathaway: And then we’re going to tour around the city. We got to see a little bit outside of the cemetery and just some of the iconic stuff, so we’re really excited to do it. I’ve never been to Argentina, and I’m really excited to kind of sightsee. That’s right up my alley.

Ramsey Russell: Are you all going by the Recoleta Cemetery?

Ray Hathaway: Yes, right there by where you guys were?

Ramsey Russell: That’s right, yeah.

Ray Hathaway: By you all’s hotel. Closest I’ve been to is a McDonald’s across the street.

Ramsey Russell: It’s an immersive la Paz because you stop in Buenos Aires or start in Buenos Aires, and you come up here, and we stop for lunch along the way. And we’re out in the country, and we’re shooting ducks out in the marsh and doves out in the fields and pigeons coming in, decoying. There’s also fishing. I think Sam wants to try Friday.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, I wish that we could have figured it out to do that, because the pictures of these golden Dorado look phenomenal.

Ramsey Russell: Amazing. It’s a very immersive experience. Is it something you’d come back for?

Ray Hathaway: Oh, absolutely, yeah. And it’s funny. You know Ricky and I on the truck back from the death hunt today, he was, when are you going back to Mexico and Mazatlán? And he’s know, I think my son would like to come. And then we started talking about Europe, he’s like, well, I’ve always want to do that. So you and I could hit up Europe, but then we should come back and do Las Flores, bring the wives, do Las Flores, and then come back over here. He’s like, man, we’ll just hit them all up. And I’m like, dude, you’re talking, like, a 6 year strategy, and I’m trying to figure out what know doing next weekend after I get home.

Ramsey Russell: So I appreciate Ray and George in camp with you again.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, always.

Post Hunt Musings 

Ramsey Russell: Claire Hathaway. Tell me about La Paz, Argentina. Tell me about this trip you all had.

Claire Hathaway: Well, it has been.

Ramsey Russell: Let me adjust your mic. You need a glass of wine?

Claire Hathaway: No, I could. It has been better than I was expecting.

Ramsey Russell: What were you expecting?

Claire Hathaway: Well, I don’t really know. I didn’t know what to expect. Ray did not tell me much about the trip. Every time I looked it up, I couldn’t find enough information about the place we were staying that I could read in English, and it has far exceeded my expectations.

Ramsey Russell: Good. You all stepped off a plane. You met us at the hotel. You got a cup of coffee. We drove 6 hours to get here. Then what?

Claire Hathaway: We’ve had delicious food and drinks.

Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite food. The next meal?

Claire Hathaway: Oh, that’s right. The fish with the cream sauce and capers was the best.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. You’re a southern girl like me, and I’ve always said my favorite fried fish. I hate to say this as Mississippi boy. The best fried catfish I’ve ever had was right here at La Paz. It was really a cream sauce and capers, and it’s just amazing.

Claire Hathaway: Yeah, it’s really good. It’s like good food that you would go to, like, a fancy restaurant and get. But you get it every meal.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Every meal.

Claire Hathaway: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: We’ve been out hunting, and you all get up and do a different program than we do. What do the wives do? Like, what time do you all get up? We’re in here at 4:30 or 05:00 eating breakfast. You all are not. When do you all come in and eat dinner and what do you all eat and then what do you do?

Claire Hathaway: Well, the ladies I’ve been with on this trip, they don’t get up till probably 10:00.

Ramsey Russell: Really? My aunt.

Claire Hathaway: Your aunt, Ms. Jan comes in at 9:30, not 10:00. 9:30.

Ramsey Russell: Okay. Do you all eat breakfast or just drink coffee?

Claire Hathaway: A little bit of both. No, we haven’t done that yet. Maybe tomorrow. But we have coffee and we have whatever we want for breakfast.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. So yesterday, Martha said, okay, you all gonna go out to the field and have a picnic with us. What were you expecting and what was it?

Claire Hathaway: I kind of did a little eye roll about the picnic in the field. But it was really nice.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Claire Hathaway: I mean, the presentation was mean. The food was of the wine. It was a lot of fun.

Ramsey Russell: And then Martha came up with this idea about a vineyard nearby. So what was your day like today?

Claire Hathaway: Well, today was the best day because.

Jan: We spent the day at the vineyard.

Claire Hathaway: We drove about 2 hours to the vineyard, and it was beautiful. And we had so much fun. The food there was great. We tried all the wines.

Ramsey Russell: How many wines did they have?

Claire Hathaway: There were a lot. Six, I believe.

Jan: Okay.

Claire Hathaway: But we didn’t want the fun to end, so we got a bottle to bring back in the van. So we had a lot of fun.

Ramsey Russell: Good. And tomorrow you’re heading back to town.

Claire Hathaway: Headed back to town. I’m sad to leave the girls.

Ramsey Russell: But Ray said you all are spending a couple of nights. What do you all got planned?

Claire Hathaway: We are. I’ve done my pinterest research on Buenos Aires, and we are doing all the touristy things.

Ramsey Russell: Like what?

Claire Hathaway: We’re going to go to the cemetery. I’ve got some restaurants we’re going to.

Ramsey Russell: But isn’t it kind of weird that a cemetery is a big touristry thing?

Claire Hathaway: It is kind of weird, but it looks awesome.

Ramsey Russell: It is. Yeah.

Claire Hathaway: So we’re doing that a tango show.

Ramsey Russell: Or Ray tango or just you?

Claire Hathaway: Well, we’re just. Oh, I don’t know if we have enough Argentina wine. Ray might tango.

Ray Hathaway: I’ll shake it.

Claire Hathaway: Okay.

Ramsey Russell: Here’s the big deal. I want to ask. You’ve been to Mazatlán and you met a lot of people. Ray was talking about that earlier. What was it like coming to this camp? You didn’t know any of these ladies, did you.

Claire Hathaway: I didn’t. I had met Giselle and Anita.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right. What was it like falling in with a group of ladies that were here in Argentina for the first time? All of you?

Claire Hathaway: I love that experience. That’s probably my favorite part, which was probably my favorite part in Mazatlán too. It’s so much fun, the connection that you make with the hunter’s wives, because you’ve all got that in common, that your husband’s like, to Duck hunt.

Ramsey Russell: You’re kind of like a duck season widow.

Claire Hathaway: Yes, for sure. And seeing these ladies, especially for me, that were. They’re a season or two ahead of me in life, and they made it through. They have told me stories when their kids were little-

Ramsey Russell: And was that why they introduced you to so much wine? Was that kind of like a-

Claire Hathaway: Maybe that’s what it was. Maybe that’s what it was. But it really has been sweet, and I have really enjoyed my time with them.

Ramsey Russell: Is it a vacation? You would come back? This is the first time we’ve been at La Paz for 15 years. We’ve had couples come. We’ve had families come. It’s number one families destination here. But we’ve never personally done, like, hosted a couple trip. But is it a couple trip? You would say. Yeah, I’d come back to that.

Claire Hathaway: I probably would come back, yeah. Especially with the same group.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. There you go.

Claire Hathaway: Guarantee me the same group, I’ll be back.

Ramsey Russell: Well, here at dinner time, you all were the same group. We’re planning all kinds of trips.

Claire Hathaway: Oh, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: So we can travel together. Thank you, Claire. I enjoyed it.

Claire Hathaway: You’re welcome.

Ramsey Russell: It was awesome. Tastes simple.

Claire Hathaway: Yeah. Everybody was watching me.

Hunting Experiences in La Paz

Tell me about the duck hunting here, because that habitat you and I agree we’d love to have in our own backyard.

Ramsey Russell: That’s a pretty tactful way of saying you all are old. My buddy Ian Munn, overlooking the Parana River at sunset at La Paz. Man, you’ve been a lot of place women now, you’ve been a lot of places here in Argentina. You’ve been to Ria salado, you’ve been to Las Flores. What convinced you to come up here to La  Paz with your understanding wife, Giselle?

Ian Munn: We’ve just started to make it a point. She wants to come on these trips. And so this was a couple’s friendly trip, and we knew you and Anita were going to be down here this time, so we asked to come along, and it worked out great.

Ramsey Russell: Did Mazatlán kind of kick off that couple’s trip?

Ian Munn: Oh Yeah. Yeah. On the hunting side. Giselle’s been talking about doing a lot of traveling together as we’re approaching retirement, but I don’t think hunting trips were on her radar screen, and now they are.

Ramsey Russell: I’ve known her almost as long as I’ve known you, Ian, and she seemed to have a really good time down here.

Ian Munn: Oh, they did. Every day we’d go out and do whatever we were doing. Dove, duck, whatever, come back in. We had a great time, and we’d get in, and it would pale in comparison to the fun the girls had. It did. I mean, they’d be laughing, still thinking about things that happened 2 hours ago.

Ramsey Russell: The funnest night at the dinner table was hearing them talking about going to see the vineyard. Yeah, I don’t think they saw the vineyard. I think they stopped at the winery. Yeah, but tell me about La Paz, because I got to hunt with you down first. I’m going to start with Las Flores, because I saw you shoot the best you’ve ever shot in your life that I’ve ever hunted with you. Yeah, that was a pretty epic morning. It was.

Ian Munn: It was a great. I had. I had some bad mornings there, but I had two or three really good mornings, and they were great. And you know what? It was just something simple. Diego said, well, you just need to put it right on their beak and pull the trigger because they were close. Yeah, they were that close.

Ramsey Russell: Now, let’s talk about La Paz ducks. Tell me about the duck hunting here, because that habitat you and I agree we’d love to have in our own backyard.

Ian Munn: Yeah. You’d set up in a blind and it would be easily 1000 acres, would you say, of the same emergent vegetation sticking up about quarter inch out of the water. And the ducks seem to love it. They’d set up a blind, no open water, and I’d say, what on God’s green earth is going to bring the ducks to this spot? But they came this morning. It was fun to watch. We’re riding in a horseback, which is an experience unto itself.

Ramsey Russell: That’s an adventure, isn’t it?

Ian Munn: Yeah, it’s an adventure for somebody like me who’s old and stiff. They had to boost me up in the saddle. And it was a hilarious trip every morning. But we get out there and my guy gets on his horse and just starts wandering off. And I’m there in the blind all by myself, and I know he’s not leaving because he left some other stuff right behind. And he starts getting up front and he’s like he’s lost. He’s doing these circles in front of the blind. I what in the world is going on? And then when I got light, I realized what he was doing with his horses. He was opening up a hole in that vegetation for the birds to land in. And that’s all it took. I mean, it couldn’t have been more than ten yards wide by five yards deep, but through the decoys in there. And what birds decoyed came right into them.

Ramsey Russell: I don’t know how big that property is, but I know that from where we saddle up on horses, they say it’s almost 3 miles to the Parana river. And it’s just like all. They use it as grazing land, but it is flooded delta. And with my headlight on from horsetop, it all looks the same. When you turn your light off, then you start seeing that water shine.

Ian Munn: Yeah, you can see the water, patches of water showing through and areas where it’s not. Yeah, absolutely fantastic.

Ramsey Russell: What do you think about the wild aspect of just hunting wild ducks, taking what the wind and the guides and the shoot and everything kind of gives you? I find it extremely rewarding.

Ian Munn: Yes, rewarding is a great way to explain it. Describe it. It was just fantastic to see the ducks working and the bird boys, how they got them to come in and the mouth calls and the whistle calls and all the stuff they did to get the birds to just right in at you. And some days were better than others. Some days, the way they had it set up, I mean, the ducks decoyed, they came right in. But even on the worst day, and they would swing by and take you a look and give you good passing shots.

Ramsey Russell: We got our limit, by the way, how do you think about a 25 duck limit? Is it plenty?

Ian Munn: It’s plenty.

Ramsey Russell: Okay.

Ian Munn: Absolutely.

Hunting Ducks on Steroids

 Man, did you put a beat down hammering on those green parakeets?

Ramsey Russell: And then what got me is like, okay, they’re here. I can see you’re blind over there a quarter mile, maybe further, and you’re shooting ducks. And then there’s birds just hitting down all around. They find these little patches, they find these little things they just want to sit in. And then there goes one of the guys on a horse, or maybe a gaucho riding through the patcher. And here they come again. Yeah, I just find it a huge adventure. Somebody from Wyoming told me, oh, man, come up here and I’ll fix you up with a horse. I go, it ain’t the same as riding off into a wild marsh on horses.

Ian Munn: Yeah, the horses were. I guess you’d say, I’m not a horse person, but knee deep in the mud and mud and water sometimes, and every now and then they’d step in a hole and you better be holding on because you were going over the horse’s head if you weren’t.

Ramsey Russell: Day two, we go off to do a bonafide pigeon hunt. I know you’ve shot pigeons before because I’ve hunted with you, but I don’t recall us ever hunting decoy pigeons together.

Ian Munn: No. That was a first for me.

Ramsey Russell: Is it a fair assessment to say that’s like hunting ducks on steroids with hiking boots?

Ian Munn: Yeah. They’d come right in and I was laughing because some of the easiest shots in the world, I was finding ways to miss. But when the day was done, I shot a high percentage and got my limited number of pigeons.

Ramsey Russell: We go out and shoot in the morning. And I like that morning because we are getting up fairly early. Breakfast at 4:30. And now all of a sudden we get to breakfast at 7:30 or 8:00 o’clock.

Ian Munn: Oh, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Pigeons don’t wake up till late. We get there, the blinds are set, there’s cut corn for days. And you know what I found out is actually that corn that could have the drought, it didn’t make enough yield for them to harvest, so they went in and bailed it for cattle and just left gazillions of partial cobs everywhere. More corn than I could ever-

Ian Munn: Yeah. Looking across the field, you just say, wow, how could they waste all that corn? But that was the explanation.

Ramsey Russell: The midday lunch. I’ll say, for the record, that day is my favorite day at La Paz because it’s a full day out in the field and I think they do lunch right. And was us all having our wives here. I loved that. Here comes the car and they all get out and share a big asado picnic with us.

Ian Munn: And they had a blast. We had a blast just getting in together and just some of the stories that were being told and what not. I think we’ll always think of the parts of this trip as the ladies got pretty complicated.

Ramsey Russell: There’s a translation for that. Now, one of the first getducks hunts that you and I ever did together many years ago was Cordoba, Argentina. Day three, we go out to a rice field and they farm different. It’s bone dry. And we shoot doves. Tell me how you would describe that afternoon dove hunt. The afternoon we went out with the. Tell me how you would describe all those doves out there in that afternoon.

Ian Munn: Are you talking about our first trip or this trip?

Ramsey Russell: This trip.

Ian Munn: This trip. Oh, it was as good as anything we did in Cordoba.

Ramsey Russell: I agree.

Ian Munn: It was ducks. Doves. Constantly. Constantly. And my poor bird boy was getting so shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. And I’m going, I got to take a breath. I have got plenty of time. I know in five minutes the same shot is going to present itself. I’m going to sit down and have a drink of water and then go again. It was fun.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what you got to do. Because when you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re not, you’re not. And, buddy, when I’m not, I’m not pointing case. This afternoon I wasn’t. I was shooting miserable shot. Two boxes said, no. Ian sounds like he’s having fun over there. I went, sat in the shade, let Char Dawg fetch him. Man, did you put a beat down hammering on those green parakeets? Did they hurt your mama? I never seen your fangs come out like that.

Ian Munn: But had they, I couldn’t have done any more to them than I did. But it was fun to shoot because you’d get some great shots and then you’d have these easy shots and you go, how on God’s green earth did I miss? Pulled it to the plug and missed every. Yeah, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: What about the food, Ian? Tell me about the La Paz food experience. How would you describe that to somebody back home?

Ian Munn: We’ve all commented on the fact that. Who eats beef steaks twice a day?

Ramsey Russell: they do here,

Ian Munn: They do here. And most days we did. And each beef was a little bit different, so it wasn’t the same thing. Same old,. Beef ribs, beef tenderloin, beef steaks.

Ramsey Russell: Matambre.

Ian Munn: Yeah, matambre. That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: How many times do you eat a filet mignon for lunch back home?

Ian Munn: Never.

Ramsey Russell: How many times do you eat? I don’t know, a pound and a half ribeye for lunch like we did today?

Ian Munn: Oh, my God. The day we had the two tenderloins. Giselle goes, they’re giving us two. Why are they giving us two? One would have been.

Ramsey Russell: I ate both of one. One thing I was going to say is, we get up in the morning, it’s full breakfast, and come back for lunch and come back for dinner. When I come here, I have to remind myself after a day, it’s just like, look, I’m not used to eating this much back home. And so I just throttle back and say, I’m going to eat two meals, and I stick to two meals that I can’t possibly eat three. I can’t eat this much food.

Ian Munn: I’ve been giving it a pretty good shot.

Ramsey Russell: Would you say now Mazatlán being totally different because we stay in a resort and you’ve got all that resort stuff, swimming pool and the beach and all that good stuff. But how would you stack this as a couple’s trip? Because we’ve had couples do it. But I said, man, I just think this will make a great couples trip. And people like Giselle and my uncle, everybody’s asked for more couples trips than mom. I said, well, I think I got one. I got one down in Argentina, and I think this is it. How would you stack it with everything?

Mazatlán Hunting Memories

 think you shot your highest percentages, your most ducks, your most doves, certainly your most parakeets. You may live 100 years and never shoot more.

Ian Munn: To me, they were very different. Mazatlán, we’d go out, hunt in the mornings, we’d come back in, the girls would be at the cabana sipping their drinks of one sort or another, and then we’d have lunch, and then we’d go out and see the town or whatever as a group, as couples. But here it’s different. While we hunt morning and afternoon, and the girls go out and get complicated every day doing this, that, and the other shopping went to the winery, and it’s clear that they are having a blast as a group of women.

Ramsey Russell: And wasn’t it fun? Because we were down south of Buenos Aires hunting. The women flew in. Martha toured them around a little bit. We joined them. We went out and had a big steak dinner. I thought the next day was pretty dang fun. Before, we went to a tango show, and we went to a tango show, and I’m not that kind of guy, but I got to admit, I’ve enjoyed both times I went because my wife’s happy.

Ian Munn: Yeah, I was amazed at what those dancers could do. How have they been that way, how have they not kicked each other and.

Ramsey Russell: Not breathe hard and pant and sweat?

Ian Munn: Not a drop of sweat, not a heavy breath in the whole thing. But they were moving fast and furious, doing some of those tank over teens. It was amazing.

Ramsey Russell: Had you seen that much Buenos Aires in times past?

Ian Munn: No.

Ramsey Russell: Recoletta cemetery. Who would have thought the cemetery was a major tourist destination? But I think we spent an hour and a half or two hours. Yeah, Wayne, we got more adventures ahead. I’ve enjoyed it. I appreciate you sharing experience, man. I’m going to tell you what, you shot lights out on this trip. I think you shot your highest percentages, your most ducks, your most doves, certainly your most parakeets. You may live 100 years and never shoot more.

Top Waterfowl Outfitters Argentina

Martha, Martha. She gets the job done.

Ian Munn: I can’t imagine it.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I’ve enjoyed. Thank you.

Ian Munn: Thank you. It was a great trip. Thanks for putting it together.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Sam Lauderdale from Hernando, Mississippi, down here in Argentina. Finally, tell me about your week at La Paz.

Sam Lauderdale: Okay, a couple of things. Finally. You said, finally. How long have we been talking about this?

Ramsey Russell: A while.

Sam Lauderdale: 20 years

Ramsey Russell: At least.

Sam Lauderdale: So we finally made it. And I listened to your podcast religiously. And I have really met some famous people down here since then.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Sam Lauderdale: Yeah, I met Mr. Ian. World famous. And probably the most famous person in Argentina is Martha Martha.

Ramsey Russell: Martha, Martha. She gets the job done.

Sam Lauderdale: Jan and I really feel like she may be one of the greatest guides that we’ve ever had.

Ramsey Russell: She’s a selling point to me on a package because she’s so well organized. She keeps everything going. She don’t let you get lost. She’s a god sent down here.

Sam Lauderdale: And she finds a fan. When my wife’s fan burns up and-

Ramsey Russell: That’s right. Yep. She’s got to have that fan, doesn’t she?

Sam Lauderdale: Yeah, she’s got to have that fan.

Ramsey Russell: How did you talk Jan into coming to Argentina?

Sam Lauderdale: I didn’t talk her into it.

Ramsey Russell: You didn’t?

Sam Lauderdale: Anita talked her into.

Ramsey Russell: Anita did. Well, we’re glad she came. We’re glad you came. Sam, you told me before you got down here, you said, man, I just don’t know if I can hunt five days, twice a day. I might have to take a break. When did you decide you might need to take a break somewhere along the way?

Sam Lauderdale: I needed to take a break. I hunted two days and then I said, I’ve got to take a break the next day. Now, I told you I’d hunt two, take a break one day and hunt two more. But then we sat down at dinner that night and says, we’re duck hunting in the morning with horses. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to come to Argentina, is duck hunt with the horses. So I said, well, I’ll get up and do that. And then took a rest that afternoon.

Ramsey Russell: And you like that event, didn’t you?

Sam Lauderdale: Oh, I love it.

Ramsey Russell: Describe pulling up your headlights. Hit those horses with all the wool saddles on them. Yeah.

Sam Lauderdale: See, I grew up on a farm with horses, and I love horses. Don’t have any now. And so I was looking forward to riding them and then riding in Argentina in an area that I had never been. So it was fabulous. It was not hard. The horses were good, and our guy bird boys were fabulous. They worked hard. They worked really hard.

Ramsey Russell: They do. What do you think about the pigeon hunt?

Sam Lauderdale: The pigeon hunt was fabulous, except I’m not a very good shot.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I gave you four shooting lessons.

Sam Lauderdale: I also learned the Munn factor down here. And so that was part of the Munn factor. If anything go wrong, it went wrong.

Ramsey Russell: The Munn factor is real, isn’t it?

Sam Lauderdale: Munn factor is real. Well, first time I saw it was when we were in Buenos Aries, but I missed a lot. But I enjoyed. I shot all I wanted to shoot.

Ramsey Russell: I forgot to ask Ian about the Munn factory in Buenos Aires, but the hotel calls us all cabs. He jumps in first, he’s gone. We get there, three cabs. Second and third cab get there and know Mr. Ian. We’re trying to call him. Finally he answers and the guy gave him the scenic tour around town. He was about twice the cab fare we all were until Martha Martha got on that cab driver’s behind. And got him down. He backed down quick then so anyway-

Sam Lauderdale: Buenos Aries. Yeah, it is fabulous. I mean, it’s a lot better than I thought it was going to be.

Ramsey Russell: What were you expecting and what was it like?

Sam Lauderdale: I really don’t know. It’s first time in South America and I really didn’t expect a city. Well, the city is old, first of. Oh, yeah, very, very old. And so we were able to tour some of the. You know, you have brought up a lot of time on your podcast. We do hunting, but we have experiences. And I’ve added the word adventure, and that was really an adventure. Is enjoying Buenos Aries and going around eating dinner and eating lunch.

Ramsey Russell: Even the tango show was kind of fun.

Sam Lauderdale: I love tango show. That was some things that we wanted to see in Buenos Aries is the tango show.

Ramsey Russell: And then we went to the big steakhouse and then we walked around the cemetery. We spent two nights in Buenos Aires. Really got to see that city, didn’t we? Yeah.

Sam Lauderdale: Saw the markets and the old churches. And Buenos Aires has a lot of history. Argentina has a lot of history. I enjoy history. And Martha was our guide, and she was able to guide us. And when we asked questions about history, she knew the history. And that was a great part of our trip here.

Ramsey Russell: You and some of your buddies went to Obergan, Mexico, this year. Shot down there at the Sonora Lodge. Ducks in the morning, doves in the evening. How did that experience compare to this?

Sam Lauderdale: It’s more here. At the time we were there, the doves were different.  They were bigger.

Ramsey Russell: White wings there, white wings here, here doves there. But a lot more doves.

Sam Lauderdale: A lot more doves. It’s a lot more ducks. We really enjoyed that. The accommodations there was unbelievable.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah.

Sam Lauderdale: And we enjoyed. This is just a step above it.

Ramsey Russell: What about the food, the wine, the hospitality with the lodge and all that’s going on here? The organization?

Sam Lauderdale: Very good.

Ramsey Russell: Did you get enough meat?

Sam Lauderdale: We got plenty of meat. Matter of fact, Jan said at lunch today we may be eating vegetables for the next week because we’ve eaten so much meat. And I grew up eating a lot of meat. So, you know, I appreciate good meat.

Ramsey Russell: I eat a lot of meat at home. But I read just somewhere on the Internet a couple of days ago, the Argentine diet is twice the red meat consumption of the United States. And I see why now.

Sam Lauderdale: Well, two days in a row at lunch, we had filet and rib eye and you know, their cuts are a little different than we are used. Uh, but that was at lunch, not dinner. At lunch.

Ramsey Russell: At lunch out in the field, they had all kinds of meat, but they brought out pork ribs. And I really cannot remember ever having eaten pork ribs in Argentina, not here. But that was pretty good, wasn’t it?

Ray Hathaway: Yeah.

Sam Lauderdale: We were sitting next to each other, and I was talking about how good the ribs were. The pork ribs, they were very good. Nothing wrong with the beef. I’m just saying the pork ribs were. And the lunch in the grove with the ladies was something special. Something special with a big parakeet, a nest above us, which you don’t find in the States.

What Was Your Most Memorable Hunting Day?

And I didn’t get my limit today, and that’s because of my lack of shooting. It’s not because we didn’t have enough ducks.

Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite day at La Paz? What were you hunting? What were you doing? Most memorable day?

Sam Lauderdale: Every day.

Ramsey Russell: Every day.

Sam Lauderdale: The duck hunting. There’s lots of ducks. And I didn’t get my limit today, and that’s because of my lack of shooting. It’s not because we didn’t have enough ducks.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Ian didn’t rub off on you. Did he?

Sam Lauderdale: Well, he did, and he’s riding me. He said, I’m glad you’re here. Now they can ride you instead of me.

Ramsey Russell: Well, you know, you asked Martha to ask the guide what he thought about your shooting the other day at lunch. What did he say?

Sam Lauderdale: I shoot one direction and the bird goes the different direction.

Ramsey Russell: He pointed one direction, said, the bird’s over there, but your gun’s way over here.

Sam Lauderdale: He didn’t want to tell Martha that. I said, that’s not going to bother his tip. Just tell us what he thinks.

Ramsey Russell: And we did not get to go Perdiz hunting. I know from growing up around you, you like to upland bird hunt. The trout kind of got those birds in a tailspin, so they’re leaving them alone. But you did go fishing. How did that work out?

Sam Lauderdale: Went today.

Ramsey Russell: I was worried kind of at lunch that it might be too windy. No.

Sam Lauderdale: We went back into a river, a tributary to the river. A tributary to the river. And it was not windy at all in there. And we stopped the first time in the river, didn’t get a bite. Second time we went to where one stream came into another and the water was moving. And we started catching goldens there and caught two piranhas there. And it was a funny thing, nobody was there until we started catching fish. Typical fish and about three or four boats showed up.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, sure. You all were catching them.

Sam Lauderdale: We were catching them.

Ramsey Russell: How were you fishing? Were you drifting? Were you anchored? What were you throwing? How was the technique?

Sam Lauderdale: We were anchored and we were bottom fishing. I am not familiar with the fish. He was putting on that down here. Like, we saw a crocodile thing, like-

Ramsey Russell: That’s called a snake fish.

Sam Lauderdale: You know like we saw, I call it a crocodile, today. And they call it something different-

Ramsey Russell: Cayman.

Sam Lauderdale: It’s similar to it. So we saw that. Saw a lot of ducks on the river. The river was really fascinating. It’s wider and bigger than the Mississippi, but not as swift..

Ramsey Russell: But it’s wilder. It hadn’t been channeled, it hadn’t been dredged. It’s just a wild river. I call it like a Mark Twain version of Mississippi river.

Sam Lauderdale: We saw one small grain elevator on it, one small one that obviously the barges used. But we didn’t go way up the river. But we didn’t see a whole lot. And you would expect to see a lot of big ones if you were in Mississippi River with this much grain around it. No, it’s very wild.

Ramsey Russell: There were 5 couples, me and Anita and four couples. How many of those couples? Did you all know before you got here, we all showed up in Buenos Aries. Had you all met any of them?

Sam Lauderdale: No, we had met one couple that we had been in Mazatlán with. I had hunted with Ricky, and we had been out to eat and knew we got along real well. And then we had two other couples with us this time and with you and Anita, and that was a very important part of the trip. This is a hunting, but it is being around a lot of people. And the ladies got along very well together, and they just said, the heck we all. We’re going shopping.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Sam Lauderdale: So we offered them to go hunting with us, but they forgot to bring the camouflage with them, so we didn’t get to go hunting with the ladies.

Ramsey Russell: This is the first time that Anita and I have organized a hosted couples trip, and frankly, I think La Paz is the only place we’ve got that would do this. But I think it does it really well, because you got the spa, you’re in this little town. They spend all day today just shopping. You got all kinds of know. I know Mazatlán’s got the resort and all, but how would you rate this as a couple’s trip?

Sam Lauderdale: I think it’s very good. There’s not a lot of activity like it is in Mazatlán, but it’s really laid back. Where Jan would say at 04:00 in the morning, see you, honey. Going back to sleep.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Sam Lauderdale: And then they would go do their things, either. La Paz is an extremely old city, 1830s. So there’s a lot of history in La Paz. And then we’re outside a big city. And when you go in the US and go outside the big city, it’s a lot different. So we were able to absorb that experience outside of big city, which is great.

Ramsey Russell: The first time I came here, because of the river, because of the agriculture around it, because all going on. It kind of reminds me of a Latin American Greenville, Mississippi. It really does kind of remind me. Just a little sleepy river town, you know, the fishing is good because everybody’s talking about it. Everybody’s out there fishing and living on the river. But anyway, well, I’m glad you all had a good time.

Sam Lauderdale: Accommodations were great. Our food was great.

Ramsey Russell: You like the little private cottages?

Sam Lauderdale: Like private cottages, they’re very nice. And where we eat, of course, we’re sitting in the room where we eat for dinner, but we have a couch, and we can socialize a little bit before we have a dinner. And it’s just a fabulous trip.

Ramsey Russell: It’s important, isn’t it?

Sam Lauderdale: It’s good. Hopefully you’ll do some more hosted hunts and we can be a part of it.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I think a night or two ago at dinner, you all about hatched a plan for one or two more couples trips.

Sam Lauderdale: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Anyway, Sam, I enjoy-

Sam Lauderdale: Got a lot of pressure on you for those to get them organized-

Ramsey Russell: But I enjoyed spending a week with you all. And I’m glad you got to spend a week with me.

Sam Lauderdale: I know it was great.

One Crazy, Remote Hunt

Here at La Paz, you got this little town right here. You got a spa. You got all this stuff. 

Ramsey Russell: Burning up my aunt Jan in Argentina. Finally. How you doing?

Jan: I’m doing good.

Ramsey Russell: Had a good time.

Jan: Had a wonderful time.

Ramsey Russell: What did you expect coming to now you’ve been to Mazatlán. Had a good time. But what did you expect coming to Argentina with Sam on this crazy remote hunt versus what was it?

Jan: I really had no earthly idea what to expect. I’ve never been to Argentina and I haven’t been on any big hunts with him, so I didn’t know it was going to be fun for me. As much fun for me as it was for him.

Ramsey Russell: How much fun was it for you?

Jan: Lots of fun. I was real lazy and I shopped a lot and I ate a lot. And it was just wonderful.

Ramsey Russell: I’ve been talking to the hunters about what their experience was, but walk me through what your experience was. We get off the plane, we go to Buenos Aires, now what?

Jan: We went to a cemetery and it was absolutely beautiful. An old cemetery and beautiful monuments. And we went to a flea market. And that was fun with all the people there. And what all did we do there? I can’t remember.

Ramsey Russell: Tango show.

Jan: The tango show was grand. It was a dinner and a real good tango show. Lots of dancers. And I kept thinking some of us were going to get up with them, but we never did.

Ramsey Russell: I was full for three days. After we left Buenos Aires, we ate Italian for lunch. Somewhere along the way. We ate that big Italian lunch we did, and we ate somewhere else one time.

Jan: What was that called? That we ate that started with an M. Milani’s?

Ramsey Russell: Melanessa.

Jan: Melanessa. But it was chicken. I think it was, like, chicken fried steak, real thin. And it’s bigger than a platter. About the size of a platter. One of them had, like, four eggs on it and guacamole.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah.

Jan: And then one of them had. I can’t remember what all. But, like, all kinds of different toppings, and they were delicious.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. And we had pizza night. What do you think about pizza night here?

Jan: One of my favorites. Very favorites. They had anchovies.

Ramsey Russell: For me, number one most requested dinner by repeat guest is pizza night at La Paz.

Jan: I bet it is.

Ramsey Russell: All those different courses. Everything made from scratch.

Jan: Yes. We’re getting real spoiled here now, you all, because we start with an appetizer, and then we go to a salad, and then we have an entree and dessert and wines pouring the whole time.

Ramsey Russell: Well, you’re going to probably go home and cook dinner like this for Sam every day. What about lunch?

Jan: Probably. No, can’t do lunch. He needs to do his own lunch. He’s a big boy.

Ramsey Russell: No fillet mignon.

Jan: No fillets at lunch like here, like we had today and ribeyes. I mean, goodness gracious, the huge meals a day.

Ramsey Russell: One big advantage of being here at La Paz versus some of the other places we go that are very remote. Sticking out on a ranch somewhere. You’re mile from there. Here at La Paz, you got this little town right here. You got a spa. You got all this stuff. Talk about what happened once you got to La Paz. What all did you all get into over here?

Jan: Well, we didn’t have as much time in La Paz as I would like to have had, but we made good of our time. I mean, we ended up getting a whole lot, everything is so much less here. We went to a leather shop, and I got a beautiful, I don’t know what it was. What do you call the square piece I got that holds two bottles of wine and two glasses or either four bottles of wine? It’s beautiful. It’d be fun to take somewhere. And then a lot of people got purses and cowboy hats. And then it was really just an optical place where maybe glasses were fitted. But they had sunglasses, real nice sunglasses that were about. I got some sunglasses that were $80. That would cost $400 in New York, really? So I got two.

Ramsey Russell: You all really went shopping here?

Jan: We did some shopping, and then I texted my girls and said, would anybody else like some Tiffany sunglasses? And they wrote me back immediately. Said, I want some. I want some. So we went back today and got some more.

Ramsey Russell: Wow.

Jan: I know. It was great.

Ramsey Russell: Did you all go to the spa?

Jan: We did. And it was wonderful. We also had a facial there while I was there. And then we went out into the pools and they had a hot tub with jets and a big pool. And then they had a warm one, then they had a cool one. So you could just kind of go from one to the other after 15 minutes. And it was really nice.

Ramsey Russell: Did you get a massage, too?

Jan: I did not. I had them come here and they gave me a massage in my little house. They brought their table and they fixed it all up there. And I had a private one and then Sam had one. So that was really nice.

Ramsey Russell: We were getting up to go duck hunting at like 4:30 in the morning. What time were the ladies getting up and what was your morning program like?

Jan: I told Sam when he left to set the clock for 8:30, and I got up then and came down here for breakfast. It was just real slow and easy going, depending on what we were going to do that day.

Ramsey Russell: And just order what you want and make you what you want like that.

Jan: It was wonderful. Every morning.

Ramsey Russell: Let’s talk about Wednesday, because Wednesday you all went to go see a winery. You all went somewhere. Tell me, what the heck was that about?

Jan: It was a pretty long way away. I thought it was long way, but several hours. But it was so nice. There was a huge bus full of, they called them their elderly ladies group, like 70 and 80s, which is right where I fit in, but that’s okay. And so they were leaving as we got there. And then they treated us like we were royalty and like we were a big multitude of people instead of just four. They brought their beautiful table around, redwood table outside to the right in the vineyards area. And they served us out there, served us a chardonnay. And then they served us five reds. And he talked about each one of them.

Ramsey Russell: You mean like a glass or a bottle?

Jan: A glass. I mean, it was just a glass. They just poured somewhat in a glass. But they said, tell us your favorite wine at the end of it, we’ll pour you up whatever you want. So we all had plenty of wine before we went home. In fact, the driver told Martha that some of us were complicated.

Ramsey Russell: Complicated.

Jan: And that meant a little tipsy turvy.

Ramsey Russell: Tipsy. Well, I know Wednesday night at dinner was highly entertaining.

Jan: I bet it was.

Ramsey Russell: I’ve known you my whole life. I remember when you moved into Ole Miss and you had a navy blue Mustang. Sure did, my fun aunt. And Wednesday night, I’m like, I really don’t know this lady.

Do Duck Hunting Trips for Couples Work Out?

But, yeah, we want to book with the same group that we’ve got this time. We just had a wonderful camaraderie and it’s just been lots of fun making new friends.

Jan: Shut up. That is not true. You might have said that at the winery because we did kind of let it flow at the winery, every one of us. But it was fun.

Ramsey Russell: Would you admit that a duck hunting trip for couples can work out pretty good? It was really something for the non hunters as well as the hunters.

Jan: It couldn’t be any better. We got to rest and relax. I felt like I had more sleep on this vacation than I’ve ever, ever had on a vacation anytime. And I’m already working on you to get us a trip to the Netherlands. Isn’t that right? Is that the next trip for us? And I wouldn’t mind going to Canada, too.

Ramsey Russell: Canada.

Jan: But, yeah, we want to book with the same group that we’ve got this time. We just had a wonderful camaraderie and it’s just been lots of fun making new friends.

Ramsey Russell: You all knew Ricky and Gina because you all hunted together. Line, you all didn’t know Mr. Ian and Mrs. Ian, but, I mean, it all kind of clicked, didn’t it? It’s like birds of a feather flock together.

Jan: Does that happen every time or is that, are we just so special? Does it?

Ramsey Russell: I think when you fall into these hunts, everybody just got so much in common.

Jan: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Because the hunters got something in common because they’re willing and able and they selected this hunting experience. And the wives of those husbands have got something in common because they got husbands like us. I think it’s all kind of clicks together.

Jan: That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: What were some of the favorite meals you had here at La Paz? How would you describe the meals in hospitality? I know we covered that, but I’m going to cover it again because I know he’s cooking duck poppers because you requested.

Jan: So excited. Ya’ll shot some duck today. And I said, oh, I want some so bad. So he’s got them over there on skewers for us to have for appetizers, I guess. But every single meal that we’ve had, I know my husband is in hog heaven because we’ve had some kind of grand steak every night and that’s what he likes. And we did have pizza, and I love that. And the spaghetti. Was that lunch or dinner? That was dinner time.

Ramsey Russell: Last night’s supper.

Jan: Okay.

Ramsey Russell: Homemade pasta.

Jan: Oh, that was so good. See, I can’t believe it’s homemade pasta. I mean, I can. It was delicious, but I just didn’t see her making it. Everything here is-

Ramsey Russell: What about the desserts?

Jan: Oh, that’s too much. They’re just too much. The desserts are grand.

Ramsey Russell: Should you pass on them?

Jan: No, not like you. You pass on them. The rest of us says, yes, I want mine. Do you want to finish yours? The person next to you. It’s so good. They’re wonderful. I can’t believe she can do that, cooking like that.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I’m glad I finally got to share a hunting camp, a real hunting camp, with you. I’m looking forward to future trips.

Jan: Me, too. You got to plan it. We’ll come.

Ramsey Russell: Thank you.

Jan: Thank you.

Hunting Ducks, Doves, Parakeets, and Pigeons

Pigeon hunt was about as close as you can get to a duck hunt without ducks.

Ramsey Russell: My buddy Ricky Anderson at La Paz. Man, we’ve been to Mexico a couple of times. A lot of times. We started off down in Las Flores, which is where I initially tried to get you. I remember years ago, you called and wanted to go to Argentina, and I said, Las Flores.

Ricky Anderson: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: We ended up going to Rio Salado. You had a great time.

Ricky Anderson: Absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: And this year, we talked about doing a couple’s trip here at La Paz. You and Miss Gina came. How did La Paz compare. Tell me where it ranks in your scale. Tell me how you did. Tell me about La Paz.

Ricky Anderson: La Paz is just a big adventure. I mean, we went out, shot ducks three mornings. Had great hunts, shot every shell they gave me every time I went to shoot pigeons, parakeets-

Ramsey Russell: Ducks, Doves and Pigeons.

Ricky Anderson: Ducks, doves and pigeons. It was a fishing trip this afternoon. It was great. Three of us caught 16 fish this afternoon. A couple of pretty good ones.

Ramsey Russell: In terms of straight up duck hunting. Was I right? And steering you towards Las Flores. That’s a great straight up duck hunt.

Ricky Anderson: Right.

Ramsey Russell: But I’ve learned something about you, Ricky. You like to pull the trigger.

Ricky Anderson: Absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: You do like to pull the trigger. And never more was it more obvious than here at La Paz. Tell me about the pigeon hunting experience for you. What was that pigeon hunt like?

Ricky Anderson: Pigeon hunt was about as close as you can get to a duck hunt without ducks.

Ramsey Russell: Were you surprised to how big they were?

Ricky Anderson: Yes. And how well they decoyed, how they came into the decoys and just kind of fluttered over the decoys like ducks do. Just give you a great shot. It was fantastic. I really enjoyed it.

Ramsey Russell: You got your limit like an old pro by lunch. So you went back out that afternoon, and they said, well, you can’t shoot more pigeons, but you can shoot something else. What did you do in the afternoon?

Ricky Anderson: Went out and shot parakeets.

Ramsey Russell: How many did you shoot?

Ricky Anderson: I shot 230 parakeets.

Ramsey Russell: 230 little parakeets, right? I’ve had people, we’ve posted it up in social media, people are aware of it. I’ve had people say, like, why in the world would you shoot that little thing. Because it looked like it belonged in a birdcage. In America, they sell them some kind of parakeet. They are in bird cages and some got out. And can you believe that? I have seen monk parakeet bounties in the state of New Jersey and Florida because they become feral and they do what they do down here. They build them great big old nest. Have you seen some of those big nest.

Ricky Anderson: Have totally take over windmills and build power lines.

Ramsey Russell: And Diego, one of the outfitters here, was telling me that right here in Entres Rio, crop depredation to this day is immense because of little parakeets. So they’re glad we go out there and shoot them.

Ricky Anderson: Oh, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And they’re a lot of fun.

Ricky Anderson: They are a lot of fun.

Ramsey Russell: What about the doves? Have you ever seen so many doves in your entire life? It’s that one afternoon or the next day.

Ricky Anderson: Never have I seen.

Ramsey Russell: How would you describe that? How can you describe that?

Ricky Anderson: It’s just wave after wave of doves. The last dove hunt that I went on, I decided that I would just put one shell in my gun at the time because it was going to get over really quick. So I just started shooting one to see how many I could get in a case of shells.

Ramsey Russell: 250 shots.

Ricky Anderson: 250 shots. Killed 206 doves.

Ramsey Russell: That’s pretty darn good. That’s a really good shooting average, Ricky. Yeah, that’s pretty good. Did Mr. Ian share the blind with you? Did he give you any pointers?

Ricky Anderson: Oh, yeah, Mr. Ian, he’s got me straight down in Las Flores.

Ramsey Russell: One thing I noticed on this trip is at dinner, you and Sam and Ian would pull your shirts back every day and show us your shoulders. How’s your shoulder holding up?

Ricky Anderson: My shoulder’s holding up okay, but I got a big old bruise. I got a big old sore shoulder and a big old smile on my face.

Ramsey Russell: How many rounds would you guess you shot? How many times did you pull the trigger down here this trip? In five days?

Ricky Anderson: Golly, Pete, when we shot doves in the morning and afternoon, I shot a case in the morning, case in the afternoon. It’d be crazy. Probably-

Ramsey Russell: Pigeons you shot at least a case?

Ricky Anderson: Yeah. Seven or eight cases-

Ramsey Russell: Wow. Seven or eight cases in five days.

Ricky Anderson: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: When you got the opportunity to jump into a boat this afternoon, it kind of sounded like a good idea, didn’t it?

Ricky Anderson: Yeah, I kind of wanted to rest that shoulder a little bit. And it was a great trip. We made a good choice doing it.

Ramsey Russell: Your wife came in at lunch today and they’d been shopping, man. Jan talked all about them going shopping. I mean, really shopping. And you came in a pretty cool, pretty cool gaucho hat.

Ricky Anderson: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: You wear that on river today? I did.

Ricky Anderson: As my lucky fishing hat.

Ramsey Russell: That’s your lucky fishing hat. Now talk about those fish, because you did catch the big one. How big was he? As long as your arm?

Ricky Anderson: Yeah, I’m guessing he was ten plus pounds. I don’t know.

Ramsey Russell: Those river fish fight good.

Ricky Anderson: Our guide kept telling me to bring him around the boat, bring him around the boat. And I was doing everything I could to bring that fish around the boat, but I had to go around the boat and get on the other side. I just couldn’t do anything with it. I tightened my drag. He’s still taking drag. It was about as strong a fish as I’ve ever caught.

Ramsey Russell: That’s a great thing about this place. Ducks, Doves, Pigeons, Perdiz, and optional Golden Dorado. And I tell people, kind of, unless you’re a hardcore fisherman, you ain’t got to commit and lock into fishing. You can kind of make up your mind when you’re down there and, you know, towards the end of the week, you may be tired of pulling the trigger. A day or half a day off may hit you just right. Was that a good ending for your trip?

Ricky Anderson: It was this morning. We went out and had a really good duck hunt and came in, had a nice lunch. Every meal has been off the chart good.

Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite meal? Golly, the next one.

Ricky Anderson: Yeah, my plate was clean. After every meal, everything was so good. Pizza night was really good.

Ramsey Russell: That was fun.

Ricky Anderson: Steak for lunch is

Ramsey Russell: hard to beat.

Ricky Anderson: Hard to beat.

Ramsey Russell: A big glass of wine or two or a big beer or two. And a big old ribeye or a couple of filet mignons. That’s some pretty good nap fodder.

Ricky Anderson: Yes, sir, it absolutely is.

Ramsey Russell: How did your wife seem to enjoy this trip?

Ricky Anderson: She had a really good time. She got to get out and shop. They got to go visit the winery.

Ramsey Russell: Did you ever think you’d see us find yourself in a tango show?

Ricky Anderson: I probably had never envisioned that, but it was a really good experience.

Ramsey Russell: We had a good time, wasn’t it? 

Ricky Anderson: Yeah. And it was amazing.

Ramsey Russell: The couples get up there and they dance and that’s pretty dang impressive. I mean, it’s just the athleticism, really. And how they kick them legs around without kicking somebody into cajones is beyond me, but they do, I guess, a lot of practice. What do you think when that one gaucho got up there and started swinging them bondoleros? Did it dawn on you? Man, if he slips.

Ricky Anderson: I was hoping he didn’t slip and it didn’t come my way.

Ramsey Russell: That’ll get your attention to wake you up real quick, just seeing all that stuff going on.

Ricky Anderson: That’s right. Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite day, favorite memory here at La Paz. What would that be?

Ricky Anderson: Let’s see. Well, I mean, there’s so much. I mean, the horse rides out in the mean. I was a little apprehensive about that. Have been on a horse since I was a kid. Probably as far as in terms of just trigger pulls. Will be the day that we shot doves morning and afternoon. Yeah. Because I went out that morning and thought I shot pretty good that morning. Shot 190 out of 250 shells. And then I went out that afternoon to see if I could do better. Because I thought I could get 200. And I did. So I’d have to say it was my favorite day.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I can see that. Everybody needs to do that at least once.

Ricky Anderson: Right? But a case –

Ramsey Russell: And some people don’t shoot that much. The great thing about a hunt like this is you can shoot your heart’s content.

Ricky Anderson: Right.

Ramsey Russell: I go out and try to shoot four boxes, maybe five. And then I just call calf rope. That’s enough for me. But there’s some guys, believe it or not, they get to, shoot a lot more shells than you shoot if they want to.

Ricky Anderson: Oh, I know. But that was enough. When I shot ten boxes of shells, that was enough for me.

Ramsey Russell: How would you rank La Paz as a couple’s destination? Like what we did?

Ricky Anderson: Oh, it’s great. I mean, there’s just so much to do. There’s so much for the guys to do. So many different things. So many different kind of hunts. And there’s so many things for the ladies to do. It’s just a great trip.

Ramsey Russell: You’d come back?

Ricky Anderson: I would. Yes. Absolutely would.

Ramsey Russell: Probably will.

Ricky Anderson: Probably will. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: But I listened to you all the other night at dinner. You all have laid out a the next two or three years worth of couples trips around the world. We got a lot of world yet to see, don’t we? Really?

Ricky Anderson: Yes, sir. Do we go world out there.

Ramsey Russell: Enjoyed hunting with you. I’m glad you made it. As usual, I thought this was just an amazing week. Great for great couples, great company. Having the ladies here really added a lot to me to the dinner conversations.

Ricky Anderson: Oh, yeah. And we just had such a good time, had so many laughs this week.

Ramsey Russell: What did you say about laughing?

Ricky Anderson: It’s like the more you laugh, the longer you live. And I think we’re going to live forever. We added years of our life this week.

Ramsey Russell: I added five years of my life the night they got back from the winery. I guarantee you, if that’s the truth, I added five years of my life, just that one night. But anyway, thank you very much, Ricky. And folks, thank you all for listening this episode of Duck Season Somewhere from La Paz, Argentina, see you next time.