HUNT CLUB FUN 
By 
C. W. Kilbey 
Photographs by the Author 
Have you ever heard of the La Jagua Hunt Club? If 
not, here is a brief summary of its history. Also a closeup 
of its annual (1954) fun-fest. 
The land on which the Club hunts and on which the 
clubhouse was built in 1926 is owned by Mrs. Alba De 
la Mata, a resident of the Republic of Panama. It is 
lorated south of Pacora, Panama, and the holdings com¬ 
prise about 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of land in a strip 
a mile wide and about ten miles long, roughly parallel to 
the Pacific Ocean. The land is used primarily for the raising 
of beef cattle. Part of this property consists of fresh water 
marshes and swamps, where migratory blue-wing teal, pintail 
ducks, snipe and plover come from the United States and 
Canada to winter. The La Jagua Hunt Club members ha\e 
the exclusive hunting rights to this duck-hunter’s paradise, 
the lucky fellows! 
The Club was officially formed about 1926, although 
the members had roughed it at the campsite for years before 
that, sleeping out in the open when coming to enjoy the 
hunting. Of the charter members, only Karl Curtis remains 
in the Club, where he has held the office of secretary- 
treasurer since 1947. 
The Club has but nine members. Besides Mr. Curtis, 
the officers and members are: Bob Wood, president; Gil 
Hulcher, vice president; and members John E. Hushing; 
Pablo Bracknev; Col. C. L. Pierce; J. D. Tate; Oliver Gulp; 
and Cliff Dansby. Of these, Mr. Brackney is a prominent 
businessman in Panama; Messrs. Wood, Hulcher, Tate, Culp, 
and Dansby are all employed by the Panama Canal Com¬ 
pany; while Messrs. Hushing, Curtis, and Col. Pierce are 
all retired. 
For years the Club has given an annual picnic for 
families and friends of the members. This year the event 
took place on Sunday, February 21, and my wife and I 
were among those invited. 
Vhe La Jagua Hunt Club headquarters. A dozen persons can be bedded down 
an the second floor. A screened dining room and loafing area is on the 
first floor, the* cook shack being housed to the left of the main building. 
\ (Note decoy duck weathervane) 
Karl Curtis watches John Hushing get a slice of "pan liquido". 
Driving from Balboa, we turned left just before reach¬ 
ing Tocumen Airfield and then turned right onto the hard- 
surfaced road leading to Pacora and Chepo. Arriving at a 
crossroad just beyond the Pacora River bridge, we found a 
sign and white flag atop a pole indicating a turn to the 
right as proper to reach the La Jagua Hunt Club. We then 
drove about six miles of rolling, open plains, dotted with 
cattle and with ant nests as hard as rocks and larger than 
a wash tub. Signs kept us headed in the right direction, for 
there is no road, as such, over this area, which is impassable 
for automobiles during ail but the Dry Season. 
We found things in full swing at La Jagua. About 60 
persons were present, including the club officers and mem¬ 
bers with their families, if any. Others present were: Dr. 
and Mrs. A. Wetmore (until his recent retirement, he was 
