Jim heads offshore to one of his favorite airgunning venues, a mini-adventure shooting the invasive green iguana of Puerto Rico!
Earlier this month I flew down to Puerto Rico for a few days to shoot invasive green iguanas, which have become a major problem on the island, impacting agriculture and the infrastructure. The populations are out of control, and on the drive from San Juan to Ponce, the area where we based our visits to different farms, I saw many large iguanas in the treetops along the highway.
I was shooting with another YouTube content creator and a couple of guys from Hatsan, who had organized the trip. This was my forth time to Puerto Rico after these big lizards, and I really enjoy the place, the people, food, beaches, and shooting are all top notch! We were staying at a beach resort, and after a day of moving through the farms and jungle like woodlands under a glaring sun and high humidity, it served as a great counter-balance.
Our shooting days started with breakfast followed by an hour drive to one of the local farms. The farms were combined crops with plantations of papaya, plantain, and fields of melons and other ground crops. The crops were surrounded by many acres of tropical woodlands where the iguana sun themselves in the tree tops.
The invasive green iguana has caused significant crop damage in Puerto Rico, affecting a variety of crops. Farmers have reported negative impacts such as crop loss, infrastructural damage, and increased management costs. Farmers have tried various strategies, including mesh fencing, hunting, and using domestic animals. There is a consensus that hat green iguana are a significant threat to not only agriculture and property, but also the native ecology.
Arriving at the gate of the property we organized our gear and prepared to set off. While there is a lot of fun with a party shoot, I also enjoy going out solo, and this was what I choose to start off with. I took a powerful .30 cal rifle, some pellets, my cameras, a bottle of water and hit the trail. Ten minutes into the trees two things happened: In that tangled woodland hothouse my clothing was soaked through looking like I’d gone swimming in my cloths, and secondly I spotted my first big iguana up in the canopy.
I shot about 40 iguanas the first day, focusing on the larger ones, the .30 dropped them like bricks out of the trees. One thing about hunting iguanas alone, it can take more time to get a shot. Iguanas are like scaley squirrels in that they lay low on the branches keeping a low profile, and they move around the branches keeping the tree between them and you.
After wrapping up the second session, we headed back to the hotel and hung out on the grounds enjoying the weather, while the islands north of us were getting hit by tropical storms. The next day we got up and repeated, though the property we hunted on the second day saw more shooting traffic and the numbers were not as high, which is good for the farmer. On this outing I shot with the group and had fun. Still, I shot about 15 iguanas, though most were not quite as large as the first day.
We left and drove to a town famous for a mountain road lined with roast pork restaurants with outside dining, where we had a great lunch before rolling back into San Juan. I stayed one more night in the city, and the next morning got up for an early flight back home.
I have shot iguana on several trips to both Puerto Rico and Florida, where they are culled for the same reason. They don’t belong there, they are pests, and they negatively impact the native ecosystem. While the trips to Florida have been productive enough, I have had run ins with anti-hunting Karen’s a couple times, and moreover it seems like exactly what it is… pest control. This is still fun shooting, and more importantly serves the same function. But my shoots in Puerto Rico are little mini adventures, the costs of flights are not much higher than flying into Florida, hotels and guides about the same or a bit lower, and it is a trip you will remember. You just have a couple longer travel days. And it’s also worth noting that as Puerto Rico is a US territory, you don’t need a passport though checking your gun might be a little bit more inconvenient. Options are 1) put up with the delays and check you gun, ship your gun ahead to the guide service, or many guides can provide loaner guns.
I’ve been home about a week now, and getting packed up for a 10 day trip down to Texas for javelina, hogs, predators, and small game. I have the Western Sidewinder set up with an ATN thermal optic for night hunts, and the BRK Sonoran .30 for day hunts, and really looking forward to working more with both these guns. Will post that story on my return. If you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see, let me know!
