Mucho Paloma

Not only has the dove population become out of control but also now the parakeets, Parakeets are a different breed of bird and the farmers truly hate them as they are very smart and brutally attack the agricultural landscape with such intelligence that farmers are very happy for us to hunt this very aggressive species.

Here at Rancho Cristobal, we have all “5 feathers” to hunt; high volume dove and parakeet, no limit pigeon all year round, then during the winter we offer Perdiz and duck.

All of our wing-shooting is conveniently located within touching distance of the lodge! Outside of the shooting species we have an amazing range of wild chickens, pheasants, hawks, cardinals, Horneros (which create the most amazing nests) and many more.

This year we have been in a drought situation with very little rain, so much so that many of the corn harvests were abandoned this year and instead the corn husks were baled for cattle feed.

This created a perfect storm for our dove population – not only did they have a huge number of hectares with corn everywhere to feed on over the winter months, every time the cattle were fed, they would feed on the seeds in the corn the cattle did not eat. Henceforth, we have seen a massive increase in the dove, pigeon and parakeet populations has they all feed on the same food.

As a result, we are now having farmers come to us asking for our help with controlling the bird populations on their lands, which is a win-win-win! Win for our clients, win for our farmers and of course a win for us at RC.