The thrill of the hunt: recreation-minded Americans cross border for more than just margaritas and beaches. (Leisure).

Hunting has been part of human life since prehistoric times, when man depended on the meat and leather animals provided. But what started as a means of survival has in modem times developed into an important recreation industry in Mexico. Due to large rural spaces, liberal bag limits and cheap costs, Mexicans, Europeans, and Americans alike can be found across the nation chasing game and fowl.

An abundance of doves, quail, ducks and geese has attracted throngs of wing-shooters, while trophy white-tailed deer, turkey and javelina, or wild pig, bring in numerous large-game hunters.

Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), U.S. hunters have become more aware of the world-class opportunities in Mexico. As a result, U.S. businessmen now make up one of the largest groups of sport hunters travelling to Mexico.

Although Mexico's wide-open spaces and fine game bring in hunters by the thousands, what is arguably the biggest attraction to U.S. sports hunters is Mexico's comparatively low cost, said avid hunter William Meyers, president of Case Mexico and a former AMERICAN CHAMBER/MEXICO president.

"I know people that have quit their hunting clubs in the United States and come here to hunt," Meyers said. "They find more game for a fourth of the price."

The Mexican hunting craze has also spurred the arrival of hundreds of hunting outfitters. Mexican law requires hunters to work through an outfitter and hunt only in designated areas. Many of these companies are based in the United States and have contracts with Mexican landowners. For a reasonable fee, most will take care of any needed paperwork, including visa applications and gun and hunting permits. Upscale outfitters don't hesitate to shower their clients with royal treatment by covering expenses for meals, lodging and travel and often throw a personal hunting guide into the package.

Tim Dunnwald, a senior project manager for a Minnesota contacting firm and an avid bird hunter, has made hunting in Mexico an annual ritual because he sees more fowl here than at home.

"Because of the climate, the birds are more plentiful," he said. "They breed more than once a year [in Mexico] so there are more of them."

HARD TO MISS

Choice hunting can be found throughout Mexico. White-winged and morning doves are plentiful in the summer and early fall, and hunters are allowed by law to kill as many as 40 doves per day. This relatively large limit is due to overpopulation, and northern wheat farmers even encourage dove hunting, as they consider the birds pests. During peak hunting season, locals claim that doves migrating from South America blacken the evening sky.

Due to overlapping migration patterns, other fowl are found in large numbers as well. Sportsmen who travel to Mexico may find a bit of disappointment in the ease of their bloody endeavor.

"The ducks are very congregated when they are in Mexico, and it would not be much of a hunt, but more of a slaughter," said Dunnwald. 'There are getting to be less and less ducks in the (U.S.) flyways, and I would just as soon not shoot the ducks when they are resting for the winter." Instead, Dunnwald said he makes his annual trip to Mexico as a waterfowl-watching excursion as well as to hunt geese and quail.

Hunters also appreciate the variety of birds found here and add that the nation's expansive rural areas gives hunters plenty of distance between each other.

"At times, you and your party may be the only people within 5,000 to 10,000 acres. That is almost unheard of in the United States," said Meyers.

He added that on some outings, hunting for different species on the same day provides the ultimate experience.

"Sometimes I hunt doves in the morning and ducks in the afternoon," said Meyers. "Now that's a real treat."

Sinaloa is highly populated with Canadian geese and more than a half-dozen species of duck. Wild pigs and deer are popular in areas around the state's tourism epicenter, Mazatlan, along with dozens of other birds. Large white-tailed deer also roam freely there.

Joining the recent wave of foreign hunters, former U.S. President George Bush recently came to Mexico to try his luck at duck hunting with beer entrepreneur Peter Coors, the former president of Ducks Unlimited.

Surprisingly, wild boar, record-weight white-tailed deer and turkey are also commonly hunted in Mexico, especially in areas just south of the Texas border. While not sharing the same popularity as wing-shoots in Mexico, wild game hunting offers a new experience for hunter's accustomed to trudging about in the States.

"The hunting is world class," Dunnwald said.

Mark Gudmastad is a farmer intern at BUSINESS MEXICO.