John--I was at Mombacho Lodge in December with a group of friends that included Chris--who commented above! It's a very nice, close trip with a reasonable price. It's not Argentina/Uruguay style dove shooting. I've been to South America a dozen times and speak from experience. The doves fly for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon. It's like somebody threw a switch. You can figure about 8-10 boxes of shells per hunt and to shoot that many you have to shoot at the high flyers. It's amazing how far away you can kill a dove. I opted for a 12ga. Beretta Outlander with a modified choke and was good to go at any distance! The lodge is very nice and just a few years old. Bruno is a gracious host. The food was well done and the rooms were excellent. You were back in the lodge by 11am or so and did not hit the fields again until 230-3pm. You had time to relax, float in the pool, swing in a hammock or hang out at the very nice outdoor bar facilities. We opted for the Sunday-Thursday trip. Sunday night we stayed at the Hotel Colonial in Granada and wandered about the town Sunday evening. Dinner in town was excellent. They picked us up early Monday morning and we went straight to the dove fields. Our luggage was transported directly to the lodge. You get 6 hunts--Monday-Wednesday and we flew home on Thursday. I recommend the Sun-Thurs option if you like exploring some local culture. Getting in and out of the Managua airport was easy. The lodge is about an hours ride from the airport--as is Granada. The only thing that might be an issue is that wherever we shot, local people showed up in quantity. They were not a problem but at times I had 30-40 people sitting quietly behind me. As the days went by, I got used to it and interaction with them proved very nice! Understand that Nicaragua is a VERY poor country and these folks are living in very difficult conditions. They wanted the birds and we divided them up at the end of each hunt, keeping just a few for us to sample at the lodge. If I go again, I'll take some bags of small wrapped candies for the children and, perhaps, some rolls of quarters! I can tell you this--no matter how high and thick the sorghum was--NO bird went unrecovered. So--to sum up--Its a trip I would recommend and TREK does a great job of coordinating everything. I hope that helps you decide. My group is going to Uruguay in June for pigeons, perdiz and Doves. We have a couple openings if you care to join us. It's a first class trip.
Last edited by Bill Davis; 02/19/18 05:31 PM.
