doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com If money were no object, where would you hunt?

Shooting clays with the Colorado Vintagers yesterday was fun but very hot (too damn hot actually). I'm hiding inside today to recover a bit. Hand watering dying grass and looking at all the smoke makes me want to change a few things (Colorado really sucks from my perspective anymore, too crowded, hot, smokey and the stupid politics have about done me in here).

On the way home from church today my bride and I discussed some planned future activities since we're now fully-free of parental obligations (our son is out of college and working his 1st real job back east). She wants the usual retirement travel stuff (of course!) which I can oblige to a point but...I'd really rather go hunting and/or fishing somewhere, truth be told, while I can still enjoy it.

I'm thinking Iceland for salmon and trout to start. Are there any bird hunting destinations that I should also consider (even outside of this country)?

I only speak my native tongue and I'm not into discomfort much anymore, are there suitable destinations for someone such as myself that I need to consider? I'm looking more for practical than "posh" but I can probably tolerate a little of the posh as well.

I suspect that this window of opportunity won't stay open forever so I'd like to plan accordingly.

What says the cognoscenti here?

Expanding one’s horizons is a great idea. But, you are blessed with your home away from home, Lloyd. Walleyes, grouse, if you wanted for more and different birds, some exploration in North Dakota would likely put you onto pheasants and sharptails. Perhaps, you could hit James up for a little Canadian waterfowl hunting across the border?

Since you guys like to travel, how ‘bout Ireland for woodcock, or, a driven shoot in Scotland? The farmers in Argentina could always use some help with the dove infestation they suffer, Stan had a great time. You might want to bring a gas autoloader, from what I’ve heard.

Good luck.

Best,
Ted

I agree, driven grouse in Scotland would be my dream trip. Second would be Argentina

Well, that’s sort of a personal question. It could use a little refinement.

When people ask me, I always say imagine yourself in a picture that you like to look at.

And then go there.

There are very few people that have shot as many different species as I have and in as many different places.

Each place brings its own beauty and each bird brings its own challenges.
If I really like a place, for whatever reason, I try to plan a return trip.

I like Finland, and the hazel grouse that I shot right by the Russian border was a poor specimen. So, another trip over there is high on the list.

Black cock in Kazakhstan is another possibility.

I’m probably all done with the high altitude birds. But, you never know. if you’re up there, you might as well look for the Ptarmigan.

Edited to add:
Because of where birds live, perhaps you can narrow down your choices by terrain, and then maybe we can lead you to the best place for the most enjoyment.

I’ve been double gunning red grouse for a long time, and I would agree that as a total experience, it’s tough to beat.
But it depends on what you are in to, really.

Waterfowling on the high plains during the grand passage has its own magnificence.

Shooting eiders next to ice bergs is pretty cool.
Puffins, not so much.

Driven Snipe? Barbary partridges?

Doves in Argentina is nearly indescribable. I've been twice. Would love to go again but, it used to be easy to take your own guns. Not anymore. It can be done, but it's tough.

I didn't follow conventional wisdom about using gas guns, preferring to take my own Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon II Sporting, in 20 ga. No regrets in that department. If you use an autoloader there you will have to tape up your "loading thumb", or your thumbnail will come off, and cause you much discomfort.

I really enjoy doves here in GA, and ducks here and Arkansas. But, my dream hunt (shotgunning) is driven redleg partridge, in Spain.

I wish you much success in pursuing yours.

I'm impressed Stanton, thank you for that.

I would like to take a camper to Alaska, start with some fishing, then start when grouse opens, then Duck, then move south into Canada and follow the Grouse Openings as they occur, working through Pheasant in N. D., S.D., NE, ending up back in Kansas on Pheasants.

I would like to go to Maine for Grouse & Woodcock, to Georgia for a wagon quail Plantation Hunt.

Overseas, rough shooting grouse in Scotland, Partridge in Hungary, and maybe duck and dove in South America

I have been really lucky and will share a couple options, although on the first one, it was so long ago I can't recall the outfitter. In SE ND we were able to hunt sharptails, pheasants and lay out for geese. We stayed in some small town and didn't have to travel far to the fields. It isn't hunting but shooting but my 2 trips to Scotland are a highlight. Tremendous birds, accommodations, food, comradery, scenery, shooting like you can't believe until you see it. 5 trips to S Ga for quail is something you can save until you are old like me and enjoy the leisurely walk behind pointers.

I think a few months in Argentina, for doves, ducks , perdiz and trout would be interesting.

BUT, ducks in the PNW, pheasant, sharptails and huns along the Highline and grouse and woodcock in WI and MN would be a great way to spend a fall and winter. Spend the summer chasing big northern pike from MT to WI, ND is a real sleeper for big northerns. A young man bought a rod and reel from me and I took him to Spiritwood lake in ND and we caught three that totalled 50# after work.

The wing shooting world is a wonderful place.
And it costs nothing in terms of cash, physical movement, and time, to imagine what extended trips are like, and what the actual toll is.

There is a reason almost every destination wing shooting trip is 3 days or less.

If I were in my late 60’s and was embarking on my first destination wing shooting adventure, I’d call a few sporting agents and see what kinds of openings they had for 2026.

Summer counts are just coming in, and cost/brace is in the eye watering zone for this season.

Like you we have shot Doves in SA. Started in Cali, Columbia in the late 70's then added Agentina for all sorts of flying critters. Our last year in Coumbia was 93 and Argentina 95. I would really like to do Spain for Red Leg Partridge and I'm try to figure that one out. Though I hate to use the phrase; but on my " bucket list" is driven grouse in the UK.

If I were to ever go back to Cordoba for doves, and take my own guns, I will take my FAIR Verona LX 692 Gold Combo with 30" barrels. I will only take the .410 set and use it for one full day's shooting. I probably couldn't afford .410 shells there for more than a day . Last time I was there, 13 years ago, 20 ga. loads were $12/bx. No telling what .410s are there today. Sure would be fun to see what I could do with it for a day, though.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...-sxs-410-28ga-combo.cfm?gun_id=103624123

In the 70's in Columbia the shells, 20 and 12 were extremely dirty. Those with break open guns found themselves cleaning the gunk from behind the ejectors just to keep shooting. I took a pair of Winchester model 59's one year; as they are recoil operated there was no problem and the fiber wrapped barrels did just fine.

The shells in Argentina were of fine quality. I went through 5250 rounds in 2013 without one misfire. They were Argentinian brands, all of them.

They burned clean and I had zero issues with gunk. My only issue with my 687 SP II Sporting was when I'd go through several hundred in a short time I would have to scrub plastic buildup out of the chambers, but a few strokes with a stainless tornado brush took care of that and restored perfect ejection in a minute or so. This was simply caused by shooting so fast that the barrels/breeches heated to the point that the plastic buildup occurred much quicker than normal.

Lloyd, can you describe what you imagine a perfect away from home bird hunting trip to be?

It may be a surprise, but not everyone likes super high levels of service. For instance, some lodges expect you to only use their flies and leader setups.
Some rods expect the guide to tie on all their flies, and net every fish for them.

Or, perhaps the expectation is that the guide clean everything, package it, and freeze it for taking with you. Some people don’t care.

Midday meals? Some places it’s a sack lunch with an herb cheese sandwich, some places you return to a bothy for a 3 course midday meal.

Do you want your guns cleaned or boots washed and dried?
Need an airport porter? Driver? Attendant? Valet? Niece?
Do you want to party well into the night? Drink? Don’t drink?
Gamble? Sunbath? Sauna? Nudity?
Massage? Grooming? Shopping? Sight seeing?
You can literally delineate every move from the moment your flight lands, until landing back at home.

A couple weeks back I was in Estonia, and I never would’ve expected it to be so much fun singing karaoke with a bunch of Russians while crossing the Baltic.

Great adventures can pop up where you least expect them.

And at some point, a person has to manage their expectations. The birds might not cooperate, or the fish won’t bite. Maybe you see no game and eat the tag. That’s a possibility with wild things.
Some people get pretty wound up when it’s just not happening.
That’s when you gotta look inside yourself and remind yourself why you’re there and look to find the joy.

FYI-- I wasn't able to make the trip this year due to some personal matters, but my friends that did shoot doves in Argentina this past April ended up paying $26.50 a box for 12 & 20-gauge ammo. The last time I went in '23 the same ammo was 12 to 15 a box & there were 2000 rounds included in the package price, this year's outing was void of any inclusive ammo. On a high-volume shoot like doves in Argentina a buck per pull of the trigger adds up really fast.

I haven't looked into it, but I think there are outfitters still charging more reasonable rates for ammo, but you might have to search them out, plus you need to make sure they have a good dove population. The drought in the Cordoba region over the past few years has affected the population in some areas & you need to do your homework before picking an outfitter.

Ouch!

Red grouse are around 300bps/ brace. So, $210+ costs each, 100 brace day would run you $4200.00 + fees.and 20% VAT
You might shoot 12 brace as an individual within the line. So, 24 birds on a day. Perhaps less.
4200= about $175.00/bird. + fees.
But you don’t buy the bird, you buy the day.
They may fly your way, or may not.
It’s above $30,000.00 per day now.

I would say,(excluding bag size) those two wing shooting excursions (SA doves or driven Red grouse) represent the extremes within traveling wing shooting.
Either cartridges fired, or cost per unit killed.

I guess if you were duck hunting in Nicaragua or Mexico, you could get kidnapped and the cost/bird would go way up, but within reason, I think those two represent the most extreme ends of the spectrum

$30k per day....gulp.

Entry-level.

Could easily be three times that much. That’s why you make your deal before you go. And if the line decides to keep going, you politely let the keeper know you are bowing out.

Some of the videos peoples see on YouTube are $50,000 plus days. Divided by, eight or nine. +20% VAT, and tip gratuity fees, and non-toxic cartridges.

Shooting with Russian’s that ride around in SUV’s with a trunk full of cash (in stacks) is …interesting.

I’m thinking one of the Orvis lodges in Idaho or Itah might be right up your alley.
A couple days floating, a couple/three days on some wild birds. Manageable ground efforts. Great scenery.

The title of this Thread clearly asks us where we would hunt "if money was no object". But virtually all of the responses have been relatively mundane hunting or fishing trips that would be affordable to most any middle class hunter who didn't live paycheck to paycheck.

If money truly was no object, I'd be thinking big...
something lavish and special like some of the months long expeditions into darkest Africa done by the famous ivory hunters like Karamojo Bell or Sir Samuel Baker. Teddy Roosevelt's long African hunt also comes to mind.

I think some of the better ones I read of were in the book, "Thirty-seven Years of Big Game Shooting in the Cooch Behar, the Duars, and Assam" by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar.

This guy was obviously passionate about hunting, and spared no expense. Many of his hunts were several months in duration. He would plan and organize and they would pack-up the elephants and howdah's, trackers, porters, servants, cooks, tents, fine China, linen tablecloths, silverware, fine wines, and every conceivable amenity. They were often accompanied by their women who remained in large encampments while the Maharaja and company went into the jungle after Bengal tigers, buffalo, bears, rhinos, etc. with very expensive British double rifles and shotguns. One hunting tactic I found particularly amusing was the way they would drive game out of the underbrush and jungle by simply starting wildfires to large tracts of land.

Talk about a hunt with a large carbon footprint. You just can't do stuff like that anymore. Well, most of us anyway. Perhaps Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, or ClapperZapper could still do it.

Ever look at Himilayian Snow Cock in Northern Nevada? Beautiful bird with a powerful call. They were certainly something to have seen. Not a typical double gun adventure for sure.

I’ve read about the snow cock hunt.
From what I read it’s done above timberline, often well above. It seems to be more of a “trophy hunt” than a wing shooting adventure.

Difficult terrain and weather, no dogs, low success rate etc. Not too appealing to me at this point in my life. I spent months of my life under miserable conditions sheep hunting, no need for more.
Probably would have loved it 30 years ago.

One has to ask themself “Why do I want to do this?”

That’s why I offer/use the picture question.
I’ve never seen a photo essay, write-up, or magazine article that met my “Why?” hurdle for Snowcock.

It starts to look like the “trout-bro” videos on YouTube for Bull trout. With a side order of 870 ground swatting.

CZ: Those Orvis Lodges in Idaho and Utah sound fairly practical, can you shoot me the contacts?

I don’t disagree on thinking big.
But you would need a Time Machine.
That world has been gone for half a century.

I have some lamp shades that have the teeth and claws of some Bengal tigers shot during WWll in my parlor.

An acquaintance that shoots regularly in Africa says he has never seen a 100lb tusker in the wild.

Lloyd, I’ll call my agent at Frontier’s in the AM.

From this side of the pond, I would recommend you head for the small town of Helmsley in northern Yorkshire. It is surrounded by grouse moors and decent pheasant shoots.

Another option is to head for Dartmoor on the Devon/ Somerset border. Several good pheasant shoots there.

Try the Roxtons agency for finding the right place.

HB

Helmsley is great.
It ticks a lot of boxes.
Hit the pub right up to headache level with the lads from Rievaulx.
We shot Snilesworth and Bransdale moors, stayed in a great old shoot hotel,
Dinner at the Black Swan, definitely a top 5 week for me.

Helmsley is like “wing shooting central” for North Yorkshire.
Edited to add video clip

If money were no object, I'd hunt wherever my private jet would fly me, and there was game to take and a season on it open, and if that wasn't available, I'd look at fishing. For me, however, money is an issue, and the jet's tires are bald.

This thread is probably poorly titled as money will always be an object for me (frugal by nature I'm afraid, you can take the boy out of the country...).

The difference for me now is that I can travel (to even far-flung destinations) to pursue my passions if I so chose. Hotels and plane fares are no-longer entirely prohibitive (I still need reasonable!) and even trespass fees wouldn't stop me now. No more shoe-string vacations for me (no more car camping, tenting, crappy food and dumpy motels {unless there are no other reasonable options}).

While I can, I'd like to try a few things on for size. I'm so used to doing it all for myself and pinching pennies that it will take some adjustment but...I'm ready to live a little (at least in this sense).

Bill Gates told a story about Warren Buffet where he asked him out for breakfast. He took him to McDonald’s. Used a coupon.


____________________________
Old habits are hard to break.

I was on a trip along the Kansas/ Oklahoma border chasing chickens and quail.
Stayed in a converted bank that had horse stalls for rooms, with an open shared bathroom at the rear of the bank lobby.
All rooms open to the ceiling above the stall panels.
Protection Kansas as I recall.
12$/night
Those were the days.
The oil and gas boom (to include fracking) comes along, and I doubt you can find a room within 300 miles of there in any direction for less than 125 bucks a night now.

We find if hunting the golden triangle near Mitchell, South Dakota, you just can’t beat the deal that the big chains offer around there for rooms. Breakfast included as well.
I use a Choice loyalty card, and about every 6 nights I get a free one.

If you choose to go to Argentina for doves, I can highly recommend Miles & Miles Argentina. I am 84 and while I haven't been for 12+ years, I have gone with them 5 or 6 times.

I can also recommend driven grouse shooting in Scotland, peacock bass in Brazil, trout fishing in Patagonia, a combo trip of rainbow trout, salmon fishing and Ptarmigan in Alaska, and mixed bird shooting in S. Africa.

Those are in addition to the wonderful things you can do in this country.

There was a previous thread that had something to do with moving to greener pastures. If that's still in the cards, I'd put the trips on hold for a few years, and spend that time setting up a man cave, establishing longer term healthcare provider(s), and easing into local hunting and fishing contacts. There are places in the country that have world class fishing and hunting, close to 'home'. Then, hit the trips and hotels, heck, maybe even pull a hunting motel for off the beaten path, while you still can, lol.

In retrospect I traveled to Argentina during the golden era, for me at least. Four days of high volume doves, great meals and accommodations, air fare, tips and shells for just over $5K.

It costs that much to plant a 25 acre sunflower field here, and you might get a couple good shoots on it, if you're lucky.

I haven't checked, but I'll bet you can't do that trip now, and shoot 5250 rounds, for twice that amount.

I had a thought early this morning that stopped me cold, I might be wrong but I'd have to guess that the best hunting and fishing options are still right here (in the good ole' USofA), and for the most part (still) the best gun laws remain here as well.

I'll happily go on some adventures but it's sure nice to know that it all still exists here for me to return to.

I shot in Argentina a few times in the late 80’s.

It was simply unbelievable. I was “limited” to 250 ducks per day.
5-700 pigeons per day was the norm. I will not even comment on dove numbers but kept two Perazzi’s warm day after day. The trips were inexpensive and shells 8.00 per box. My shell bill was staggering even at those prices.

I had one boy to carry ammo, water etc, one to drop shells into gun and change out guns when they started getting hot, and one to count birds as they fell.

I don’t think that could happen today.

Imagine shooting driven Emperor penguins down in AntArctica.
They could be driven with snowmobiles, and you could mow them down with a fifty like a video game until you either froze, or ran out of ammo.

Kind of like the long range baboon shooters, only colder.

You were there in the days of Austral currency. Inflation was hyper in Argentina much of the time; the dollar was King. We were there a few times in those years, would spend a few days in Buenos Aires also. Had a heck of a reasonably priced good time.

If money was not an object, or" physics". I would without hesitation, go back to my old grouse coverts in 1985. I would also love to take my old friends and old dogs.

Would go back to the family farm in Va via time machine to the 1970s. We had 5 covies on the farm. Difference would be I would be carrying a nice side x side and have my now 12 year old Llew when she was younger and fantastic as well as my current 3 year old Red Setter. My dad would be with me and my grandmother would prepare the Quail for dinner in a cast iron skillet in the farm house. I would do it and a second. Times were good and simple and there were Quail.

I really don't think that's likely to occur with doves, or ducks, in Argentina. At least, not with Luis Sier.

I remember quite well when we had several coveys on my farm I grew up on in Southeastern North Carolina back in the 60s. Land that once had an abundance of quail has now been cleared and made into crop land. It is very sad to see it when I return to my place every year or so. But, I at least have the memories.

There is HUNTING, and there’s shooting.
I know the difference.
If I wanted to shoot ducks over baited ponds, I would have done it decades ago.

Lloyd is green. I’m sure he’s looking into a decent list of outdoor oppprtunities he might like.

But just as everyone else has to do sooner or later, he’ll have to roll the dice and pony up for whatever excursion he might enjoy.

Years back people used to coordinate destination hunting trips on these sites.
Haven’t seen that in 20 years.

I brought a now deceased handicapped forum member out to my place in South Dakota several times. Marc had done some really interesting international hunting trips before he became ill, Moose in Scandinavia, Sheep in Asia, he was a really good guy and it delighted me to not only get him into the field again but to see his determination in the face of real adversity. Not only was he struggling with advanced MS, but he managed to fall down the stairs the evening before this hunt cutting his head and hitting his leg which was swollen with a blood clot. Marc made a beautiful 200 yard off hand shot and after this picture was taken drove immediately to urgent care, he hunted all day in that condition and refused to seek help before he filled his tag. Marc Stokeld with a very hard earned 160 class South Dakota buck.




Another forum member joined me last year for both birds and deer, I think most of these things are set up through PM's instead of on the main board.

Fantastic Steve!

Thank you for all your hard work.

I know how hard it is playing guide for people, truthfully it’s harder on you than it is on them! Everyone who tries to play outfitter tries to go to the mat helping their guest achieve their goal.

Congratulations on helping Mark achieve his.

I think I'd be perfectly happy hunting somewhere fairly blue-collar, like Saskatchewan, ID or SD.

Of course, I'd be driving there in a Lamborghini LM 002.

If I won the lottery I would buy a Cessna Caravan, load up my gear, a couple of Fox 16s, my five bird dogs and my shooting student Joe Wood and I would fly the whole mess to Patagonia, Argentina and go quail hunting. Then in September I’d fly to Saskatchewan with the same conglomeration and hunt partridge and grouse. I’d folllow the cooler weather south … Montana, then South Dakota, then Nebraska, Kansas and back in Amarillo for the opening day of Bobwhite season, November first.

I’d hunt in Amarillo till the end of bob season, February 28. Then I’d start all over again in Patagonia in May.

I heard from your shooting student that you have have moved on from Brits to Setters, I adopted my first Setter last year. Hit me up before you head through South Dakota, I have a place West River and would love to get together for a day of chasing prairie birds. We found a fair number of chickens last year.

Nice to see you posting Mike!

Or is it Brad?

Steve

Good to see you're still kicking Mike!

I recall my 5th grade elementary school teacher telling us that Patagonia meant "land of people with big feet".

I don't know if that is true, but it stuck with me for some reason.

The last two days, a DC-6, sans any markings, has flown out of Jane’s Field in Anoka County, I was surprised as hell they could get that bird off the runway there. But, if you were going hunting/fishing, you could probably get a 23’ Sportcraft, a truck to move it, and a couple of guns and fishing poles in it.




Serious Wherewithal.



Best,
Ted

____________________________________________________________________
I’m a man of means by no means.

In which category would you place driven grouse and pheasant, CZ? I ask because I have never done either.

It’s shooting Stan.
Not hunting. The game is driven to you.
Your job is to shoot.

That's what I thought, from videos I've watched.