What time of the year should I come?
The hunting season in Uruguay is a long one, running from mid-February through mid-December.
- Doves and Pigeon hunting is open year-round, with no limits.
- The Duck hunting season goes from May 1st until September 15th.
- The Perdiz Hunting season goes from May 1st until July 31st.
Peak Season occurs from May through July when all the feather species are open and available at the same time. At this time you can enjoy excellent hunting for Perdiz over pointing dogs, Ducks over decoys, as well as decoyed Pigeons and high-volume Dove shooting. Within this May to July timeframe, there are some slight differences, that are mainly weather dependent.
May
During the early season, we are in the middle of the Fall and days are still long and temperatures are mild. The hunting days during this time of the year are very pleasant; at noon there is time to rest and to take a nice siesta.
There is an excellent forage for the birds to feed on at the farms we hunt, due to the recent harvesting of soy, sorghum, and corn, among other crops. During this fall harvest season, the dove and duck begin to congregate in great numbers, thanks to the excellent feed they have access to.
May is also “THE” time to hunt Perdiz over pointing dogs, with birds spread across the countryside, and many different options to pick from when choosing fields to hunt. Pastures are lush and green, providing great cover for the birds, and beautiful pastoral scenes for the hunter to enjoy.
June
During June days begin to shorten and the daily temperatures begin to slowly fall, as winter approaches. As a consequence, generally speaking, there is less food on the harvested fields of the nearby farms.
The doves start to concentrate in greater numbers, with flock sizes growing truly impressive. With the earlier sunsets, these flocks normally initiate the evening flights back to their roosts earlier in the day.
At this time of the season, the perdiz begin to concentrate more, as some of the covers in the pastures begin to wither away, pushing birds into the smaller stands of thicker grass, which still offer excellent food and protection for the birds. In general, where we find good, thick grass, we will find plenty of birds. Perdiz hunts during June are normally very good, as there are still an excellent number of options where to chase birds, on the variety of farms we hunt.
Ducks begin to migrate into Uruguay during Mid-April, with peak numbers arriving around this time in June. With the abundance of birds, it makes June an excellent time of the year to hunt ducks.
July
July has similar patterns as June, but days are a little bit shorter and temperatures a little bit colder. Many guests believe that since July is the last month of the season where we hunt ducks and perdiz, and after 2 months of hunting pressure, the hunting will be far more limited, but in reality, it is quite the opposite.
Due to the amount of land that we own and lease in Uruguay, this month can experience some of the best hunting opportunities of the season. New lands and fields enter into the rotation with an excellent concentration of birds. Pasture grasses keep on diminishing, so our farms, which still have grass, concentrate an amazing number of Perdiz.
As the migration is already over, or close to being over, ducks are plentiful in all our lagoons and ponds with a wonderful number of different species present.
The shorter and colder dates make the doves concentrate even more and the flocks start their flights in the early hours of the morning and return in big numbers to their roost in the early afternoon every day.
