Anyone here done this kind of hunt down there? I am going in March and trying to figure out what to expect.

Went last year. What would you like to know

What outfit are you hunting with?

im curious as well. i had planned on new zealand next year, but id love to go back to Argentina.Especially to hun red stag

What would you like to know? Just a general overview?

The hunting in Argentina can be really great if you are on a well managed ranch. Where I hunted (free range), I was able to look over a lot of stags before I found the one I wanted. Also shot some wild boar and saw quite a few foxes, rheas, and viscatcha. Definitely an interesting place to hunt. There were some near by ranches that had black buck and fallow deer if a person wanted an add on.

Overall it was a good hunt with good food and really nice people. That said, I did get a very negative surprise when I received the bill for shipping my stag home. The cost for one cape and one split rack was almost double the cost of a crate of 24 animals from Africa the year before. I honestly thought it was a typo when I got the bill. After clarifying that that was indeed the cost I told them to just go ahead and keep it. In the end they reduced the price by a few hundred bucks and I paid them but still felt roughed up.

So I'll give a general overview of Argentina Stag for those interested. I booked after some pretty substantial research, here is what I found:


Argentina is a big and very diverse country regarding landscape, much like the United States, they have areas of flat open prairies, farm land, rolling hills and Mountains. The red stag were brought in during the early 1900's as a game animal after the native deer were more or less wiped out. Argentina was a very popular destination for Germans fleeing either the Third Reich or fleeing persecution for their involvement in it, and many German aristocrats bought property and imported superior genetics into their estancias (ranches). To start, the genetics were of the eastern European bloodlines (Hungary and Austria) and not of the smaller stags of the UK. So, with that said, here is the condensed version of the different regions where the stag reside:

La Pampa- This is the area where the red deer were first introduced in the early 1900's. This area is about 9 hours west (by vehicle) of Buenos Aires. This region is much like South Texas; flat to rolling hills interspersed by Caulden' Mottes and various brush species. The animals do very well here and it's probably the most popular region for Stag hunting. Most estancias are on the large side and a large number of them have a high fenced pasture of several thousand acres inside the estancia for those wanting the largest stags, but the free range hunting here is excellent and still the most common type of hunting for stag and other game. As a side note, this area is also the most well known for other species like Water Buffalo, Axis Deer, Fallow and Blackbuck, along with Wild Boar and Puma (mountain lion)

Cordoba/San Juan- Cordoba is famous for its dove and waterfowl, there is also some good stag hunting to be found. More rugged and rocky than La Pampa, this is more foothill type country like parts of Idaho, Wyoming and the Dakotas. They do get snow as well! Most of the hunts are done by horseback here than in La Pampa, which, being like south texas, is typically done in a vehicle then by foot. Stag quality is good here and there are several high fenced estates that have great quality animals

Nuequin/Andes Mountains - This is getting close to the border with Chile. Terrain ranges from foothills to bonafide mountain/alpine terrain. This area is probably the most scenic of all of Argentina. The climate is colder, the terrain more severe. I had a buddy who hunted here the same time I hunted in La Pampa, they had a true horseback hunt similar to what you would get in the Rocky Mountains, with not a lot of animals being seen. Trophy quality on free ranging stag was mediocre. This area does have some fine estates but you will pay for a big stag here. Several outfits are set up much like European Hunting Lodges.

Patagonia- What is called "High Desert" this area is devoid of much vegetation. I originally selected this area as where to go but after my research, found out its remote, sparsely vegetated and although stag populations are good, they are pretty small in terms of headgear compared to other areas. This and the Andes region, you are hunting as much for the adventure and atmosphere as you are for the animal.


Cost can be relatively inexpensive, lots of areas offer stag hunts in the $5500-$6500 range for a 5 or 6 day hunt for a Free Range stag of any size. Prices can go up to the mid $15,000's+ for a estate hunt at a premier estancia.

I chose La Pampa because it was the best area I found for hunting a free range stag where the size was there. It was also conducive terrain for bowhunting which the other areas were not so much, and bringing a rifle can be a headache. Most outfits have good rifles for rent though.

Any other questions let me know, from getting there, to getting your animals home.

The cost to get the stuff home was real high

for a stag skull, cape and water buffalo skull it was just over $4000.

Wow! Thats way expensive. Thanks for sharing all of the details. This hunt is on my list.

JMO but if they were imported to Argentina and NOT native I'll just stay in Texas and shoot one on a 5000 acre game ranch where they have been imported as well!

Argentina was on my bucket list, never got to go, when I finally had the means, my back was in the dump.

Not exactly apples to apples. They have been there longer than they have been here, and majority of them are free range hunts on large estancias