Several Bird Hunting Report subscribers have described George Criddle of Los Gauchos Outfitters as a straight shooter who delivers what he promises. And if he can’t, as was the case last year when drought and other weather conditions put the goose migration off in 2005, Criddle will go out of his way to make up for it. Here’s what he has to say about his outfitting services.
Criddle came to the business in a backwards sort of way. He was a client whose outfitter left him stranded at the airport on his very first trip to Argentina. During his flight, though, he had met an Argentine who lived in the U.S. and whose family owned a lot of land in Argentina. The two not only became friends but they also eventually created Los Gauchos Outfitters, in the city of Colonel Pringles, Province Buenos Aires.
For two years, they ran hunts out of backcountry estancias, little farmhouses that Criddle describes as old, “clapped out” facilities with thin mattresses, a trickle of a shower and only fireplaces and blankets for heat. The upside was the flights of ducks and geese they were able to produce for their clients. Before long, the two built a brand new facility with all the comforts and amenities of a modern lodge.
What sets Los Gauchos apart from every other such operation is location, location, location. It sits just off a paved roadway only two minutes from the intersection of three major wintering area for Ashy-headed and Magellan geese as well as thousands ducks.
From that vantage, the Los Gauchos clients gain easy access to hunting areas. Guests at other estancias, located as many as 15 miles from major roadways, are often required to take a hour’s drive to get to the good roads-double that if the back roads are mucked up by rain. Furthermore, Estancia Los Gaucho’s location makes it the only lodge in the region that can offer goose, duck, dove, Perdiz and pigeon hunting all within an hour’s drive.
He describes the goose hunting as high-volume shooting for Ashy-heads and Magellan that can be good to spectacular, depending on the conditions. In fields of cut wheat and sunflowers, hunters sit in chairs camouflaged with ghillie blankets and shoot over decoys. Duck hunting is from dry blinds, or natural cover among the reeds on the edge of water or from ground blinds in cut cornfields. Species that hunters can collect include rosy-billed pochards, yellow-billed pintail, cinnamon teal, silver teal, speckled teal, chiloe widgeon, red shovelers and possibly white-faced tree ducks, white cheek pintails, and black-headed ducks. Los Gauchos provides decoys and Labrador retrievers.
English setters and English Pointers produce “above average” Perdiz hunting in pastures and the foothills of the Sierra de la Ventanas mountain range. There are also some low volume shoots for pigeons and doves (2 to 8 boxes), mostly near roosts. In total, Los Gauchos has access to well over 70,000 acres of varied terrain for all their shoots.
Criddle says he spends up to $10,000 a season on supplemental baiting, which is legal in Argentina. He also prides himself on running the business with the efficiency expected of any American-owned and operated facility in South America.
Estancia Los Gauchos is an hour and fifteen minutes from the airport in Bahia Blanca. It features four double-occupancy bedrooms with private baths. A fifth room is for couples. Groups are limited to six shooters, individual hunters are welcome, and exclusive use of the lodge can be arranged as well. Amenities included a private business center with phone, fax, and high-speed internet service. A live-in chef prepares meals. Hunt packages are 4 to 4.5 days, with clients arriving on Sunday evening in time for dinner. The season for ducks and geese runs from April 15-Aug. 15.
The cost is $850 per day, per hunter; non-shooters sharing a room with a hunter, $425. That includes all meals and beverages (including premium brand liquor), use of 12 gauge Benelli shotguns, 24-hour business center with internet access, all hunting licenses and all gratuities for both the house and field staffs. Los Gauchos also offers full-service travel planning and can arrange international and domestic airfare, assistance with clearing customs and hotel stays in Buenos Aires.
Another chance meeting led Criddle to establish another lodge in Rocha, Uruguay, about a 3.5 hour drive from Montevideo near the Brazilian border. Here he offers what he calls “old fashioned duck hunting” on a rice plantation. The fields attract eight species of migrating ducks. While he cannot guarantee 100 ducks a day, Criddle says that shooting is consistently good. He has access to over 25,000 acres of fields and pastures. Depending on the period hunted, clients can take rosy-bills, pintails, widgeons, sliver teal, specked teal, yellow-billed teal, red shovelers, white-faced tree ducks and Brazilian ducks. Hunts take place no further than 30 minutes from the lodge. Hunters wade about 15 yards along the rice roads to platforms blinds for morning hunts. Afternoon duck hunts are on potholes, or clients may opt for an afternoon Perdiz hunt in pastures over Brittany spaniels. Criddle says the walking is very easy and there are no thorns or cockleburs to deal with. There’s also the possibility to shoot some Picazuro pigeons, but Criddle says this species should be considered a bonus contingent upon the birds showing up.
Criddle utilizes a recently refurbished 7,000 square foot estancia. It has six single-occupancy bedrooms and one double, each with a private bath. The great room has a fireplace and a bar stocked with premium liquor, imported German beer and wines from Argentina and Chile. A chef serves gourmet meals in the formal dining room. The maximum is six hungers per week. The cost is $899 per day for shooters and $425 for non shooters. Packages are 4.5 days with all clients arriving on Sunday night for dinner. The cost includes VIP service at the Montevideo airport with clients relaxing in the airport lounge while Los Gauchos representatives retrieve their luggage and handle gun permits and hunting licenses.
In addition to having his own waterfowl hunting operations in Argentina and Uruguay, Criddle is also a Managing Partner for Estancia Los Chanares in Cordoba where he offers high-volume dove shoots. Los Gauchos Outfitters, 972-207-2475, LGOutfitters@yahoo.com, http://www.LosGauchos.com
|
