* More often than not, our potential clients have questions that extend beyond the scope of simply booking a trip for bird hunting in Uruguay. For this reason, we have added the “Country Facts” link to provide a review of some of the more interesting subjects concerning history, life, and travel in Uruguay.

Uruguay

Caste Systems and Uruguayan Society

At the beginning of the 20th Century, traditional patriarchy began to dissolve in Uruguay. Women’s rights were on the rise, and were light years ahead of the rest of the South American countries. The influence of the Roman Catholic Church was on the decline, and divorces were allowed for women who were kicked and beaten by their spouses. Likewise, with the control of the Catholic Church lessened, men were permitted to divorce their wives for any reason they wished.

Today, the upper class of Uruguay is made up mostly of farmers, business owners, and political figures. Middle class workers are typically small business owners, small ranch owners, and license-holding professionals such as accountants, psychologists, and dentists. The poor work as migrant farm workers, busboys, and/or other lower class jobs (including those that you might encounter while waterfowl hunting in Uruguay)—like dog handlers, and bird boys.

The largely egalitarian social makeup of society in this country lends itself to a large middle class (the largest middle class society in South America, per capita). The basis of this foundation lie squarely in the fact that Uruguay provides its citizen with access to excellent public education, preventing a heavily polarized gap between rich and poor, and haves and have-nots. Although the gap between rich and poor is still apparent today, it is not as prevalent as in other Latin American countries such as Brazil and Venezuela. Furthermore, the gap is not as large as it was in 1951, when large sale economic stagnation began in Uruguay—a stagnation that made a lot of really wealthy people less rich, and more middle class.

Uruguay, the terms upper and lower class are certainly arbitrary ones. Traditionally the top five percent of the wealth in the country was controlled by the “upper” class, leaving the rest of the “classes” up for debate—with most considering about 2/3 of the population “middle” class. Bird hunting in Uruguay is definitely an “upper” class activity, and very few of those who would be considered upper class hunt today. Just like the rest of the world, wingshooting is becoming less common, as firearm ownership is decreasing annually throughout the civilized world.

Waterfowl Hunting in Uruguay

Which of the social classes go duck hunting in Uruguay? Virtually no Uruguayans hunt ducks, and there is no goose hunting in Uruguay that is legal. The geese that are hunted in Argentina are not geese in the true sense of the word—they are “upland geese”, called avutardas. Uruguayan “geese” on the other hand are swans, and they are protected, hunting them is strictly forbidden.

The typical upper class Uruguayan citizen who is a wingshooting aficionado would be a Perdiz hunter, and typically own an expensive European double gun. Bird hunting in Uruguay was more than likely discovered as a commercial industry by those visiting the country and hunting with their upper class “friends” and business associates.

No matter how it began, it is now alive and well…and if you have yet o book a trip to this little country with BIG wingshooting possibilities, you are missing out. Contact Los Gauchos today, or visit us at: www.LosGauchos.TV