I'm in Paraguay! We landed in Asuncion, Paraguay a few days ago, but the weather was too horrible to fly out to the ranch. So, we were stuck in the city for a couple of days. 

We finally got good weather and flew out to the ranch. So green here; more green here than the Green Hills of Africa. Flat jungles, amazing country. It was cool because there are these big South American ostrich-type birds all around the ranch house cause it's so wet everywhere.

We got unpacked and took a few practice shots with my bow, then we went out hunting. Saw a couple of Asian water buffalo, sneaked within 68 yards, couldn't get a shot at one; he spooked. They're really switched on, tough to get close to. Saw a giant anteater, an absolute monstrous one, and I took off running after it and I managed to catch up to it and caught it by its tail. It had to be 250 pounds, monster giant anteater, had to be 7 feet long! It kept turning around trying to claw me, and they'll kill you if they get a hold of you. Let him go, cool!

Last  night went out looking for crab-eating raccoon. Didn't see any, but saw a cayman crossing the road, 6- or 7-footer, grabbed him by the tail, cool! Let him go. Then this morning we hiked through the jungle for about four or five miles came within 25 yards of a great big Asian water buffalo, but it was behind a thick screen of brush and then the wind changed and that was it. We were trying with my Alpine bow. Standing out here by the landing strip, it's beautiful sunny. Lots of cool birds. Paraguay is a great place as a hunting destination, we are trying hard to get it open, there are a lot of the people in the government who are for it. It's the only way you can give value to these animals and conserve them.

The Next Day ...

Beautiful day today, cold, though, this morning. We went to a new area on the farthest point of the ranch. This ranch is over 110,000 acres, so we went to the very far end early in the morning to hunt for white-lipped peccary. We got down there, didn't see anything on the way in. Then started hiking back in, we kind of got separated from Pedro, so Matt and I came back out of the bush and basically did a long hike to check out some other area, but never saw anything, so kind of a slow morning.

We got back and went out for buffalo and had an amazing hunt. The little local fellow who works on the ranch is an exceptional hunter, and I was going with my bow. Whoever got me back into bowhunting. What kind of gift is that? Because it was the most amazing hunt I've had in a long time. Fun, fun. Sneaking through the swamps, we were up to our waists in disgusting swamp and lily pads and all kinds of creepy crawlies and buffalo in the swamps in the big tall bullrushes. We were so close to them so many times, the closest I got is about 10 yards, but they were very wary and I could never get an open shot at all. We tried for all evening, it was a fantastic hunt, three or four times I was within 30 or 40 yards, but it was just too thick in there, hands and knees crawling and amazing giant birds. It was a primeval hunt. 

Tonight we're heading out looking for crab-eating raccoon, and we're allowed to night hunt here and that's how they hunt them.

No jaguar signs, for darting have not had any luck at all finding fresh tracks. It's a scientific study and the most important study being done on jaguars right now. They have to dart them and put GPS collars on them so that they can monitor them and know where they are, so they know how big the range is. It's a good cause, and we're excited about it.