Am I crazy??? Would you go? (ARGENTINA RED DEER)

[Jape]

Very cool!

 

[Art Vandeley]

Looks like a fun trip, thanks for posting.

 

[noharleyyet]

Thanks for the sidecar whisper....an excellent vicarious adventure for this time of year. Happy you guys got to do this.

 

[Elkwhisper]

Day 2 in the high country brought us a ton of wind with rain falling later in the day. We spent several hours on the horses and saw some more incredible country. Fewer pics and video from this day, as it was tough to get the cameras out while riding and with the weather. That said, we did have one pretty cool encounter. Didn't turn out how we had hoped... and we later identified the shooting issue, but on the bright side, we got to spend more time with these cool creatures and ended up spending the night in a really unique place. I can tell you that at one point during our ride that day, I was channeling "The Man from Snowy River". You will see in the video as we ride along on top of a ridge...and then it flashes forward to us in the valley. The 30 minutes between those two clips were some of the most tense moments of my life....... but hey we made it!

 

[520 Road Sow]

Awesome trip thanks for sharing!

 

[Elkwhisper]

Day 3 was a little more laid back. We got a slow start in the morning, and enjoyed a nice breakfast at the cabin. We discussed our game plan, and decided to spend a couple of hours fishing the small stream in the valley for brook trout, while Diego and Ernesto cleaned up and got the horses ready. We would then ride back the direction we had come from several miles, with the idea of camping in a sheltered patch of trees near where we had last seen the big stag from Day 2.

Here is a video / slide show from Day 3.... I'll get Day 4 up tomorrow.

 

[npaden]

Thanks for sharing. Pretty country.

 

[Frazier]

Diego! I recognize him in one of your pictures. That guy is awesome. Guided me and some buddies duck hunting down there a few years back. Best duck hunting I’ve ever experienced, and my liver has never recovered.

 

[Elkwhisper]

Sorry I fizzled on this one guys..... Been too much to catch up with now that I am back home.

The last day, we got an early start and began our long ride back to the ranch. When we reached the big lake we had passed on day two, we stopped to glass this big bowl at the far end of the lake. What we saw, got Diego and Ernesto pretty excited. There were over 30+ deer in this bowl, with several stags fighting, roaring and generally rutting it up.

The clock was ticking, but there was one stag in this group in particular that got Ben's attention.... The stalk was on again.

 

[Elkwhisper]

I will spare you the shakey / windy stalk video on this one and cut right to the good parts. Ben makes two good shots on this big stag!

 

[Elkwhisper]

Even though he was hit hard twice, this tough critter hopped up and made it a few hundred yards up the steep ridge before he finally expired. It made for some real interesting work with retrieval, as we literally had to climb with our hands to get up to him to take pictures and pull him apart..... but the view from up there was worth it.

 

[Elkwhisper]

The really impressive part of this whole scenario, was when Ernesto rode straight up that sheer face with the horses to grab the horns and meet..... Diego drew the short straw and had to ride them back down. Those guys REALLY know what they are doing. The rest of the trail out was pretty uneventful and we were met back at the road by the good ol Toyota Hi-Lux. We loaded up and were able to get a shower at the house before a late sushi dinner in San Martin de los Andes.

An incredible trip I will never forget!