September 2009 Newsletter

Number 8

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Word from the Owner David Perez

Raising the stakes! That will be our company motto for the next 12 months. As many of you know, Cordoba is considered the best dove shooting place on the planet. Part of the reason is the quantity and quality of birds. Other reasons include the weather and the multiple flights to Cordoba from Santiago and Buenos Aires. Probably the least talked about reason is the quality of the competition. I always say Cordoba is the “NFL” or “Premiership” of hunting. There is no place in the world that has such quality competition. Almost everybody who goes to one of the reputable lodges in Cordoba has an excellent time (note: this does not include the lodges that offer free shells!). .

Due to the slowdown in the global economy, all the lodges have received substantially less clients. Our lodge was also affected, but considerably less than the competition. So now is the perfect time to raise the stakes! While others cut back, it is time to take it to the next level. We will try to make your stay even more enjoyable and differentiate ourselves even more from the competition. We will always have the 5-minute drives that nobody else in Cordoba can match. But new changes are on the way for the next 12 months that will keep us #1 in Cordoba!

aerial lodge

Shooting Update from Alex Mitri

Rain, rain, rain! Everybody pray for rain in Cordoba! Argentina is going through the worst drought in 50 years. Estimates vary, but grain production is down at least 25%. So far we have not seen a decrease in birds, but it will be important to have nice rains in the next 3 months. This will also reduce the fire risk, which is considerable in Cordoba.

We recently rented a new field called Lascano Colodrero. This new field is a gem. It has not been hunted before as the owners are wealthy landowners from Cordoba. It was never necessary to make extra income from a dove lease. But due to the recent poor financial results at the farm every extra cent helps. So we rented this field and will begin developing it over the next year. The field is located about 10 minutes from the lodge and is strategic in the flyways that go to and from our roost.

birds flying

FEATURED EMPLOYEE – Tango

Tango is our friendly Great Dane that really does nothing around the house except try to eat the appetizers that are served during cocktail hour. Clients love Tango because he is a gentle giant. He weighs around 140 pounds, but wants to sit on your lap.

Tango was born at the same time we started our lease at Los Chanares – 4 years ago. We bought him a girlfriend 2 years later – Umma. They both had a litter of 7 puppies that are now scattered around the local village. The bird boys, handyman, silversmith and local artist all took puppies. We stayed with 1 puppy “Hercules” who will surely be the man around the house one day. For now Tango is still king of Los Chanares!.

puppies

The Latest and Greatest Improvement

The biggest improvements at Los Chanares over the last 3 months happened in cyber space. We decided to make a big push on the Internet to keep in touch with our clients and also to make the whole experience more rich. We created the following pages:

Facebook

Youtube (Main Video)

Online schedule

We are creating an e-commerce store soon that will hopefully allow clients to pay the trip fee with credit cards. This should be ready in the next 3-6 months. We hope to use the Internet to streamline the booking process and make things easier for you.

Frequently Asked Question

What is the best way to fly to Cordoba? As opposed to other provinces in Argentina, there are multiple flights into and out of Cordoba. The 3 direct flights into Cordoba are Santiago, Buenos Aires and now Lima.

About half our clients stay in Buenos Aires one night before and fly on either LAN or Aerolineas to Cordoba. There are 12 daily flights between Buenos Aires and Cordoba. International flights into Buenos Aires include Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, London (via Sao Paolo), Miami, New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Madrid.

The other half of our clients fly straight through Santiago to Cordoba. This is excellent if you only want to hunt since you don’t have to switch between local and international airport like in BA. There is a morning and afternoon flight with great times between Santiago and Cordoba. International flights into Santiago include Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, New York and Madrid.

The newest option is Lima with daily flights with decent flight times between Lima and Cordoba. This is great for me as my girlfriend is from Lima. But Santiago is still a better option due to flight times. The advantage of Lima is various international flights from Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta and Madrid.

Sunflower Season

Our busiest time of year is clearly January to March. All the records for most doves shot have occurred in the month of January. Plus, clients love to come down in February and March after the US and UK shooting season. Since the days are long and the sunflower is plentiful, many clients think these months are the best month to come down. Right now we have 2-3 dates open in February and March, but multiple open dates in January. Please contact us if you want to book a sunflower hunt.

I certainly hope you have enjoyed our newsletter updating you on Los Chanares experience.

sunflower

David Perez

Owner