A Bowhunt Field Report From La Pampa: Red Stag, Fallow, Mouflon and an Iron Sights Buffalo

This field report follows one bowhunter through a week at Poitahue Hunting Ranch in La Pampa, Argentina: several failed stalks, warm days that quieted the roar, a mouflon, a fallow buck, a water buffalo taken with iron sights, and a red stag on the last cold morning.

It is a useful picture of how a real bow week goes, because very little of it went to plan.

A Friendship That Started in Elk Camp

The trip began years earlier in Colorado, where our guest met Santiago Rossi during an elk season in the Flat Tops Wilderness. Santi was guiding there, and his stories about roaring stags back home in La Pampa turned into a standing invitation. When our guest finally landed, the same people from that elk camp were waiting.

Home for the week was our Estancia style lodge, on a ranch that still runs cattle through the hunting season.

Day One: Stags Everywhere, None in Range

The roar was on before the truck doors closed. Stags were calling on every side, and the group spent the day putting on stalks. None of them ended in a shot. A swirling wind ruined some, and too many watching eyes ruined others. With a bow, that is a normal day. Getting close to one stag often means getting past several others.

Red stags in the rut keep a schedule much like elk. They move early and late, then bed down through the middle of the day, and a good guide leaves them alone. So the midday hours went to other game. The ranch also holds water buffalo, axis deer, wild boar, feral goats, mouflon and fallow deer.

A Mouflon Between the Cattle

That first midday, heading in for lunch, the group saw mouflon slip into a thicket. Cattle were resting in the same cover, and with the wind right, the cattle and trees became the screen for the stalk. The shot came at twenty yards, nearly broadside, and the arrow passed clean through. It was the first animal of the trip.

When Warm Weather Quiets the Roar

Days two and three turned warm, and the roaring nearly stopped. The stags the group did find were in bachelor groups, and that many eyes make a bow stalk close to impossible. Every hunter who comes for the roar should know this can happen. The answer is to keep hunting and use the time well.

Moving through thick forest at midday, guide Jorge stopped and dropped to the ground. He had picked out the antler tips of a chocolate fallow buck, bedded at the base of a tree and almost hidden in the grass. The approach took close to an hour on hands and knees, through thorns, with branches blocking the rangefinder. Our guest finally ranged the tree beside the buck and waited.

When the buck stood, the arrow went on a quartering shot that hit a little high. A short follow up stalk and a second shot finished it.

A Change of Weapon for Water Buffalo

A 400 grain arrow is not much for a bull that can top 2,000 pounds, and a wounded buffalo that reaches cover is dangerous. Our guest had hunted Cape buffalo in Zimbabwe and Zambia and chose not to test it, carrying Santi's CZ in .458 Winchester Magnum with iron sights instead.

The group spotted an old bull feeding about 800 meters out and worked in with the wind in their faces. At 80 yards Jorge signaled for the sticks, but our guest asked to get closer. The first shot came from 22 yards and anchored the bull, and a second to the chest ended it.

Skinning and butchering took about two hours, with the crew working fast with their knives and using all of the meat. It went back to camp to hang in the open air.

The Last Cold Morning

With time running short, the weather finally turned. A cold morning brought the roaring back, and the group soon heard two stags fighting. As they eased in, the younger stag gave up, and the mature one took his anger out on a tree.

He was walking toward an open lane. Our guest ranged him at 56 yards, came to full draw before he stepped out, and released. The hit looked good, although the footage later showed the stag reacting to the shot and the arrow landing farther back than planned. Because he was slightly quartered, the group still expected the arrow had reached the far lung, and they did what experienced bowhunters do: they backed out and gave him time.

A few hours later, Jorge and Santi took up the blood trail and found him quickly, with his antlers showing above the grass. For a hunter raised on elk, the crown was something new.

What This Week Says About Bowhunting at Poitahue

• Failed stalks are part of it. Most of the week's stalks did not end in a shot.

• Weather decides a lot. Warm days can quiet the roar, and one cold morning can bring it back.

• Midday is hunting time. Stags rest, and other species keep the days full.

• Patience after the shot matters. Backing out on a doubtful hit is what recovered this stag.

The week ended the way it should, with the whole crew around an open fire, wild game and Argentine beef on the grill. Poitahue is the only lodge in Argentina managed and run by pro bowhunters, and this is the kind of hunt we build. Read more on our bowhunting page and our guide to free range red stag in the caldén forest.

Plan Your Bowhunt

Compare our options on the programs page, then contact us or call +1 (346) 209-2363.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the weather affect the red stag roar?

Yes. On this hunt, warm days nearly stopped the roaring, and a cold morning brought it back.

What do you hunt when the stags are bedded?

The middle of the day can go to other species on the ranch. On this trip, those hours produced a mouflon and a fallow buck.

How long is a bowhunting program at Poitahue?

Our bowhunting program is 6 nights and 5 1/2 hunting days.