JINKLE
AH member
Bolivia Aug 8-12, 2024
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Benelli 20 Gauges
50-65 degrees, 5-20 mph wind
I never got around to posting this but I guess it is better late than never. This trip came with short notice as I was picking up a cancellation spot on a group heading down to Bolivia for a dove and pigeon shoot. The group consisted of my boss from work and his buddies. With about 4 weeks to plan, I got to work making sure all of my paperwork and visa information would get me through customs. At the time, Bolivia has a socialist governing party that confiscated most of the citizens' weapons. I was told that there are only 2 outfitters in all of Bolivia that are licensed to hunt and own firearms.
The flights consisted of a 7 am flight leaving Austin to Miami with a 12 hour layover and an overnight flight from Miami to Santa Cruz. Once we landed and dealt with customs, we were escorted from security to a charter bus where they had cold beer waiting. We took the bus 2 hours west of the city until we reached the lodge at Bolivian Adventures. The first day we were there, a cold front hit bringing 26 cm of rain so we did not hunt the first afternoon or the next morning due to the clay roads not being able to be driven upon. That day consisted of drinking and dominoes in the lodge by a hot tub and spa girls. The next day, we were able to get out to the fields that afternoon where we got to see the dove flying by the millions and were introduced to our bird boys for the trip. This was truly a sight to see and happy that we were able to hunt on the day of my 25th birthday. That night, the house girls made a birthday cake for me that came out after dinner. The next two days were fairly similar to each other. We would leave the lodge at 7 am and be out in the field shooting by 8:30, regroup for a field lunch and hunt the afternoon until 6 pm. This was a way we for sure knew we would pile up birds with all day shootings.
On the last evening hunt, we were brought out to a field with water tanks spaced throughout the field with Cayman Alligators swimming in each of them. As the birds would fall in the water, the gators would race to see who would be getting firsts for dinner. By the end of that hunt, I personally dropped 30 birds in the tank and the alligators were swimming slow towards the end of the hunt. In the evenings, we would regroup after showers and dinner to a night of drinking, dominoes, shooting pool, this toad game called Sapo, and a hot tub in the center of our lodge. On our last day, we were sent out to the fields for one more hour of shooting to see if we could get any more boxes added to our bills. After our final hunt, we were given our receipts which included final figures. They had me down for shooting 87 boxes of shells over the week and my bird boy picked up ~975 of my birds. After the bus ride back into the city, we were taken to a fancy dinner with a chef’s tasting menu before being sent back on our overnight flight to Miami. Overall, Bolivian Adventures is a great outfitter with amazing hospitality and great bird shooting that I hope to return to one day.
I will leave you with this recipe, the margaritas of the trip, and I can say, even being from Texas, they were damn good.
Bolivian Adventures’ Margarita:
4 Shots Fresh Lime Juice
4 Shots Tres Plumas Curaçao’s Triple Sec
5 Shots Jose Cuervo Reposado Azul
1/2 Coffee Cup of Sugar
Add all to Blender
Blend, Add Ice, Blend
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Benelli 20 Gauges
50-65 degrees, 5-20 mph wind
I never got around to posting this but I guess it is better late than never. This trip came with short notice as I was picking up a cancellation spot on a group heading down to Bolivia for a dove and pigeon shoot. The group consisted of my boss from work and his buddies. With about 4 weeks to plan, I got to work making sure all of my paperwork and visa information would get me through customs. At the time, Bolivia has a socialist governing party that confiscated most of the citizens' weapons. I was told that there are only 2 outfitters in all of Bolivia that are licensed to hunt and own firearms.
The flights consisted of a 7 am flight leaving Austin to Miami with a 12 hour layover and an overnight flight from Miami to Santa Cruz. Once we landed and dealt with customs, we were escorted from security to a charter bus where they had cold beer waiting. We took the bus 2 hours west of the city until we reached the lodge at Bolivian Adventures. The first day we were there, a cold front hit bringing 26 cm of rain so we did not hunt the first afternoon or the next morning due to the clay roads not being able to be driven upon. That day consisted of drinking and dominoes in the lodge by a hot tub and spa girls. The next day, we were able to get out to the fields that afternoon where we got to see the dove flying by the millions and were introduced to our bird boys for the trip. This was truly a sight to see and happy that we were able to hunt on the day of my 25th birthday. That night, the house girls made a birthday cake for me that came out after dinner. The next two days were fairly similar to each other. We would leave the lodge at 7 am and be out in the field shooting by 8:30, regroup for a field lunch and hunt the afternoon until 6 pm. This was a way we for sure knew we would pile up birds with all day shootings.
On the last evening hunt, we were brought out to a field with water tanks spaced throughout the field with Cayman Alligators swimming in each of them. As the birds would fall in the water, the gators would race to see who would be getting firsts for dinner. By the end of that hunt, I personally dropped 30 birds in the tank and the alligators were swimming slow towards the end of the hunt. In the evenings, we would regroup after showers and dinner to a night of drinking, dominoes, shooting pool, this toad game called Sapo, and a hot tub in the center of our lodge. On our last day, we were sent out to the fields for one more hour of shooting to see if we could get any more boxes added to our bills. After our final hunt, we were given our receipts which included final figures. They had me down for shooting 87 boxes of shells over the week and my bird boy picked up ~975 of my birds. After the bus ride back into the city, we were taken to a fancy dinner with a chef’s tasting menu before being sent back on our overnight flight to Miami. Overall, Bolivian Adventures is a great outfitter with amazing hospitality and great bird shooting that I hope to return to one day.
I will leave you with this recipe, the margaritas of the trip, and I can say, even being from Texas, they were damn good.
Bolivian Adventures’ Margarita:
4 Shots Fresh Lime Juice
4 Shots Tres Plumas Curaçao’s Triple Sec
5 Shots Jose Cuervo Reposado Azul
1/2 Coffee Cup of Sugar
Add all to Blender
Blend, Add Ice, Blend
