BY JIM NEIMEIC
LOS BARRILES – It was back in the late sixties that this outdoor journalist was first introduced to the great saltwater angling of the Sea of Cortez and bird hunting options that were available. This was before there was a finished paved road from the East Cape down to Cabo San Lucas. There were only a few resorts along the white sandy beaches and angling was excellent for billfish, dorado, tuna and just about any pelagic species. The red and white sportfishers out of Rancho Buena Vista (opened in 1952) cruised out to nearby fishing spots at trolling speed, as those wooden boats powered by a single engine were slow by comparison of today’s fast twin engine sportfishers.
After a successful morning of angling, there was time to head to a nearby farm or ranch for an afternoon dove, duck or quail hunt. Chuck Walters, owner of Rancho Buena Vista, was an avid bird hunter and owned a collection of shotguns, but shotgun ammo was in short supply for most all Baja Sur. While the airlines didn’t allow transporting ammo from Tijuana to La Paz, there was no restriction on bringing shotshell components into Mexico. Walters had a reloading bench in his garage and on each trip south we brought down replacement ammo components and shotgun parts.
The local Baja Sur Mexican general didn’t like the fact that hunting (shooting) was going on and put regulations into effect that stopped all hunting. After a few years of no hunting, Bud Parr, owner of Hotel Cabos San Lucas, began offering limited dove hunting for guests staying at his deluxe hotel. Finally, after a couple of years, all hunting ended again, when Baja Sur put forth an ordinance of no hunting. Shotgun ammo was not available and, in some cases, firearms were confiscated and locked up in gun safes under control of the Mexican army. Rancho Buena Vista started shutting down in late 1980’s.
Now, let’s jump ahead to 2024. Today, some hunting is allowed across Baja California (both sur and norte) and there are outfitters offering upland game bird and Black brant hunting.
This WON Sr. hunting writer, was invited down to fish and hunt the East Cape by Axel Valdez, co-owner of Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort, and his brother Esaul, owner of Valdez Outfitter.
Upon arrival at the seaside resort, the day before Thanksgiving, we met up with Axel who joined us at our dinner table.
“Happy to see you and I am sure you will have a wonderful time during your visit. The winter fishing has been good with yellowfin tuna under schools of porpoise, there have been some huge dorado caught, wahoo are still around, the coastal waters are holding big schools of Sierras and some roosterfish, and the water is still warm enough to offer up a good opportunity at hooking into a marlin. The weather has been okay and there is still a good supply of sardines and caballitos for live bait,” said Valdez.
Valdez then went on to add, “The weather looks fine for the next couple of days and then the winds are going to pick up. If the winds come up, we have arranged for you to fish on one of our sportfishers based out the marina of the wind protected waters of San Jose del Cabo. Your itinerary also will include a morning dove shoot with Esaul.”
The weather cooperated for the first two days with flags hoisted up on outriggers indicating that we caught most all the pelagics in the Sea of Cortez, topped off by a 45 lb. wahoo that was served up for dinner, while Sierra mackerel made ceviche for all guests to share. Unfortunately, the only species that failed to be in nearby waters were the elusive schools of yellowfin tuna.
On the third morning winds were predicted, but the drive to the nearby ranch for the whitewing dove hunt took us into the wind-protected wilds of Baja Sur.
“We will leave the resort at 6:00 AM and we should be shooting by 7:00,” said Esaul, who then added, “We don’t have to get there early, as we’ll wait for the whitewings to come to water at the cattle ranch. The hunting as been good and you will likely shoot up more than just a couple of boxes of ammo, as the dove drop into one of the few watering spots in the valley.”
The shooting was as good as this hunting editor can remember, like it was back in the 70s.
While I was a little off target, my son did well and bagged a near limit of whitewings. (Of note: Valdez offers a good dove hunting package that is all inclusive including: transportation, dove license, shotgun, dove seats, hunting vest, drinks in the field and cleaning of birds. The cost of a dove hunt runs between $200 and $300 per hunter and the price of a box of ammo is $25).
A winter visit to the East Cape offers up good angling and now a productive dove hunting option. For additional information contact: info@hotelbuenavista.com and esavalmar@gmail.com.
