III — Wing Shooting
The Birds Live Here.
So Do You.
The campo
Uruguay doesn't show up on most wing shooters' lists. That's precisely why the birds are still here.
The dogs know where the birds are. The campo does the rest.
The lodge sits on 105 private hectares at the edge of a dove roost that stretches for miles along the gallery forests of the Río Negro. Every morning and every afternoon, thousands of birds leave and return along flight lines shaped by season, crops, weather, and wind.
Our hunting program follows those movements. Most dove blinds are less than fifteen minutes from the lodge. Our guides spend as much time watching birds as they do hunting them, searching for new flight lines, different shooting situations, and the places where tomorrow's hunt will be better than today's.
The result is simple. The birds move. The hunting moves with them.
400–600
Birds per day · dove
2
Game species
Year-round
Prime season
02 — Two pursuits
Volume. Craft. And the birds in between.
One pursuit is measured in opportunities. The other is measured in moments. Dove hunting is fast, relentless, and often overwhelming. Birds from every direction. Empty hulls piling beneath the blind. The rhythm of loading, mounting, shooting, and doing it all over again. Perdiz asks something different. A slower pace. A closer look. The sound of dogs moving through grass before suddenly stopping still. Each species demands a different version of you. One built on volume. The other on craft.
— I
Dove
Year-round · High volume
400 to 600 birds a day, across three distinct shooting situations: inside the roost, along its edges, and over agricultural fields. Each demands something different. Unlimited shells. A dedicated bird boy at every blind. The volume is real. The variety is what you'll remember.
— II
Perdiz
Classic upland · over pointing dogs
Nothura maculosa over German Shorthaired Pointers and Brittanys working native grassland and campo. Walk-up upland hunting that money can rarely buy anymore. Wild birds. Honest flushes. Shots that earn themselves.
Dove
Year-Round · High Volume
The birds are here. The challenge is being in the right place when they move. The lodge sits within a dove roost that stretches for miles along the gallery forests of the Río Negro. Every day, thousands of birds leave and return along routes shaped by season, crops, weather, and wind. Our guides spend the entire year studying those movements.
In summer, doves travel continuously between feeding areas and nesting cover, creating steady action throughout the day. In winter, the pattern changes. Birds leave the roost at first light and travel toward harvested and newly planted fields before returning in the afternoon. New flight lines emerge. Winds shift. New opportunities appear.
Some hunts take place within the roost itself. Birds appear suddenly through the vegetation from every direction. The shots are close, fast, and constant. The challenge is not distance, but attention. There is always another bird coming.
Others unfold along the edges of the roost, where birds follow more defined routes. Incoming shots become the norm. Height varies with wind, weather, and the direction of daily bird movement. Then come the agricultural fields. Decoys draw birds toward the blinds. Some commit in a steep dive. Others flare and slow before landing. Others simply cross overhead without warning. Each situation demands something different from the shooter.
Each hunter shoots from an individual blind. 400 to 600 birds a day. Unlimited shells. A dedicated bird boy accompanies every position. Birds are counted and retrieved, shotguns reloaded, an extra set of eyes on the sky. The hunter's attention remains where it belongs: on the next shot.
The volume is real. The variety of shooting is what you'll remember.
Perdiz
Classic Upland · Over Pointing Dogs
Perdiz is a different pace. Hunters move in pairs behind German Shorthaired Pointers and Brittanys working native grasslands, stubble fields, and agricultural edges. Each pair hunts a different field. Fresh ground, low pressure, enough space for dogs and hunters to work naturally.
The birds matter. The dogs matter more. A great perdiz hunt is measured in moments: a dog slowing into scent, a steady point, the walk toward the bird, and those few seconds when everything comes together. The shot is only the ending.
Calendar
Year-round dove. Perdiz over dogs.
Dove hunting is available every month of the year. Perdiz reaches its peak during the cooler months, when birds hold tighter and dogs can work longer and harder throughout the day. Many guests combine both pursuits during the same stay. Two completely different ways to hunt. One lodge.
Cast & Blast
Four species on the river. Add a morning.
The Río Negro runs alongside the campo. Dorado, wolfish, and pirá pitá are in the water while you're in the field.
The longer view
Why the hunting stays consistent.
Good hunting is rarely an accident. Dove hunting changes with the seasons. Birds move between nesting cover, roosting habitat, and agricultural fields. The work lies in understanding those movements and adapting to them.
We do not release. We do not stock. Every bird in our program is wild, descended from birds that were here before any of us arrived. Pressure is rotated across nine partner estancias spanning roughly 18,000 hectares.
Perdiz requires a different approach. Hunting pressure is distributed and monitored throughout the season. Some fields rest while others are hunted. Our self-imposed bag stays well below the regulatory limit. There are no walk-in operations, no day-trip permits, no second groups behind us.
We work with the Sociedad de Caza y Pesca de Soriano on annual population counts and contribute to the regional habitat fund. Most guests never see this part of the program.
They see the result. Birds where they should be. Dogs working with confidence. And fields that still feel untouched.
A day in the campo
From first flush to the last ember.
06:00
Dogs loaded
Pointers into the truck. Yerba mate. Out before sunrise.
07:00
First field
Dove on the sunflowers. Shells in the air before 07:30.
10:30
Rotation
Nine partner estancias. Guides read the birds, not the clock.
13:00
Midday asado
Sometimes in the field. Sometimes at the lodge. Always fire.
15:30
Perdiz
Dogs work the stubble. Walk-up birds. A different kind of quiet.
19:30
Long table
Count closed. Tannat open. Nobody asks about tomorrow.
04 — The full program
Dorado at dawn. Birds by afternoon.
The reason Río Mate Lodge exists is the combination. A morning on the river — golden dorado, the occasional wolfish, the kind of fly fishing that leaves your hands shaking — followed by an afternoon in the campo with birds stacking out of agricultural fields.
No other lodge on the river offers both programs at this level. No other property in Uruguay has the water access and the field access within the same fence line. This is what the Cast & Blast was built for.
Dedicated guides, all ammunition (one case per gun per day), shotguns available if needed. Full program brief — logistics, packing, seasonal recommendations — sent upon inquiry.
See the Fishing Program →
"The perdiz came out of nowhere, the dogs locked up, and I had maybe two seconds. That's the shot I keep replaying. Not the dove count — the perdiz at forty yards in tall grass."
— Marc, Texas · 2025
In the campo.
