NEWS & REPORTS

Papa Joe and His Boys at San Javier Lodge

It was little foggy that morning at Parana Airport and that’s why our friends John, Ryan and Papa Joe had to wait like about 40 more minutes in Buenos Aires airport to get into the plane. They arrived at Parana airport by 10:30hs and by 11 they were with Federico heading to San Javier Lodge.


There I met the guys by 13hs and after a welcome drink and a short introduction to the Lodge we had our first great lunch. If this is the first report you read about San Javier Lodge let me tell you about Pieri, our chef. She is very passionate in what she does. That’s why she is so god and happy at the kitchen and every guest loves her and everybody jokes with her saying they want to take her back with them. We had a great time at lunch, I told the guys a few things about the logistics and like about 14:30hs we got out of the dining room and we went outside to check waders were the right size for them.  That afternoon the guys were going hunting to the marsh. The river is like 100 yards from the Lodge so when we do the hunting in the marsh we take the guys from there in a boat.

The boat is always driven by Mario, who knows the river like the back of his hand. It was 3 o’clock when I saw Mario and Reagan’s field assistants Marcelo, Brian and Maxi approaching the Lodge. After a few minutes joking and having some fun with the guys John and Ryan walked with them to the coast while I took Joe in the truck. By 18:30hs I took the truck and park a few feet from the coast where I knew Mario was going to pull over the boat. I turned on the heater and waited for the guys. Like about 30 minutes later Joe was getting into the truck. We waited for John and Ryan to cross a small fence where I was lighting the gate with the truck and I took Papa joe back to the Lodge (he had had a surgery in his left leg and it was raining that afternoon so it was better to take as much caution as we could). They had a great afternoon where they did their limit in less than 90 minutes. Ryan had some parakeets too!! (they are pest in Argentina and they can do a big damage to the crop. That’s why we always tell our friends to shoot them if they see some).

Once in the Lodge, Carina was waiting for the guys with wet towels and one drink each and since we know the 2 brothers don’t drink beer she had a glass of malbec wine for each. We had an appetizer at the bar we had in one of the galleries and at 8pm we had our first dinner. What we love about this bar is that it has room for a fire so we always wait the guys with a nice fire, drinks and good music (usually country or classic rock). People also love this area because they don’t have to go to the room and change clothes as soon as they get back. They stay out there and while they have some drinks they all talk about their recent hunt. That night we had Champignon tenderloin with French fries. We all loved that menu!!! It was just amazing. 

On the following morning we woke up the guys at 5:30hs, they had breakfast by 6hs and after a few scrambled eggs with bacon they left the lodge by 6:30-40hs. They went really close to the lodge but this time instead of going to the coast, they went to the opposite side. There is a rice field just about 800 yards from the lodge (in fact the rice field is just a few feets from the back of the lodge, but the pond was like about 800 yards. It had rained all night long and it was still raining when we woke up. That’s why Joe preferred to stay at the truck and watch the boys do the magic. The truck was there because we tried to get him as close to the blind as we could but the last 400yds was impossible to get through with the truck and some areas was very muddy to let Joe get through. That was when we realized “papa” was having some difficulty to get to the blinds. So after I spoke with Fabian (operation manager at San Javier) we agreed that, as far as possible, we should go to places where we do not have to walk that much. The guys came back very quick from that huntin, making it one of the fastest hunting of the season: Limit in 25 minutes! It was 8am and the guys were back at the lodge. Papa Joe took a nice nap until lunch time (12hs) while John, Ryan and myself stayed at the living room with a warm fire sharing some stories and looking through the window at how the rain was still going very strong from time to time. 

Finally, it stopped raining by the time lunch was ready. We had meat with cabbage and carrot salad and flan with “dulce de leche” for dessert. It was 12:50 when we all finished our flan. I told the guys that we were leaving the Lodge by 15hs in case they wanted to take a short nap. And so it was, Papa Joe took his second nap while John and Ryan went for their first nap of the day. 2 hours later we all meet at the gallery, where the guys put on their waders and got ready for a new adventure. I knew Papa Joe was not going to have any problem to get close to the blind that afternoon because as I spoke with Fabian that morning, he told me he was going to take them to a hunting spot where a dirt road goes just about it. They did their limit in 45 minutes that afternoon! And the best thing of all was that papa Joe was able to be in the blind with his boys. These guys were on fire!! By 17:10hs they were back in the lodge. That night we had dinner little earlier so by 19:45hs Pieri told me to let the guys know supper was ready. We had another great dinner, pork was delicious and a good wine was accompanied with jokes and laughters, going from one side to the other of the table. 

Next morning the guys went duck hunting at 6:15hs. It was very foggy that morning and it wasn’t until 8am when I could see the sun for the first time in a while, somewhere in the horizon. Finally! I thought. We need your help buddy, we need these roads to dry again. Some areas, like the field we go for dove hunting, are very difficult to get in when roads are full of mud. By 9am they were back in the Lodge and after we made them some ham & cheese sandwiches with a some snacks they went fishing by 10:30. I told Chela, the boat driver, that we were gonna be waiting them by 14hs so we can have lunch and get ready for another hunt. And so it was, by 14:15hs the four of us were having a delicious lunch while the guys showed me some pictures and videos of the Golden Dorado they caught. Dorados are very much sought after by passionate fly fishermen. In Argentina, they abund the waters of the rivers in the north east part of the country and anglers traverse from different parts of the world to get them. Of course they also showed me pictures of piranhas and a very small cat fish. Piranhas are very common when you do live bait fishing. Local people heat them cause they are useless (San Javier town is about 7 miles from the lodge and there are a lot of local people that do fishing for a living).

That afternoon we went hunting very close to the lodge and this time I joined the guys. John put the goPro camera in a stick where the decoys were and we controlled from the blind. Anytime we had ducks coming into the spot I turned the camera on from his phone. While I was taking some footage with John's Sony video camera. We had a blast. I had a blast so I’m guessing the guys had a great moment as well. We had ducks and laughter galore. Once we…sorry; once they finished hunting they started looking for as many ducks as they could find. Since some of them get lost in the field and others they fly a few yards before they die. Once at the Lodge we joined papa Joe who he was at the gallery taking pictures to the lodge (I saw him with the Sony camera while we were hunting. I maximized the zoom and there was papa, walking and taking pictures). So I guess you know what happened later. Yup: Appetizer, music, drinks and a wonderful dinner ended a great cast and blast day. 

Last day was here. And none of us were happy with that. The guys decided they wanted to do Dorado fishing so there was no need to wake them up so early. 8:30hs they had breakfast and by 9:30hs they were heading to the river for a second fishing day. Like the day before, weather was perfect: sunny and not windy. They finally came back by 13:50pm we have lunch and Federico took them Dove shooting. I saw the guys back at the lodge by 19:30hs where they showed me a bunch of pictures where I remember sawing some parokeets, a pigeon and it was the first time I saw some one shooting a bat!! Well done John, you are the first one. That night we had our last dinner with the guys and after one or two more drinks we all went to bed since we had to wake them up very early to take them to the airport. I had a blast with the Reagans family and I will remember papa Joe and his boys for a long, long time!

 

See you back at the DSC my friends.

Jota

Host & Media

Pointer Outfitters

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