Spring Sambar Hunt (pics)

WhelanLad

WhelanLad

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I went away for the weekend, down in the heart of the Victorian high country, to a good friends house to do some hunting with him for a "silly" stag... as the when the wattle blooms some stags go silly!

We hunted from Friday arvo until sunday Midday in various locations throughout the area.

I'l share a few pictures an a little run down of what went down. excuse the amatuer pics

Friday arvo we headed off to an area which was a kilometer off the farmland, a Big gulley system with a creek, flats an several gulleys up to the main ridges a few hundred Meters up, the plan was to sneak up a gulley an loop back down along another ridge.
heres overlooking the creek flats
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Down low was thick so we soon crossed over an began to climb some elevation, We had split an gone our own ways to see what we could find..
I took a wrong gulley an ended up in some thick scrub but promosing sign once i climbed 100m or so, I heard one move off above me as i crunched through on the Dry side of the gulley as to have wind in my favour..

A preech/wallow in the thick sh!t
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I was on the ridge an heading down when i heard abit of rustlin around, an figured if it were a deer it would of taken off by now as the wind wasnt ideal... Could only be a Wild Dog i thought so i got into attack mode with all senses tingling incase of an encounter...
i glassed the immediate ground for any sign of dog, when something dog sized moved around some bracken fern, ... .
Thats when the heart starts racing, an it sounded like there was more than one,. so i inched forward down behind a freshly fallen gumtree which offered good cover while i readied myself an said to myself " mightas well give it one" once i stepped out from behind the gumtree with the rifle shoulder stood infront of me a few week old fresh Sambar calf, actually 3 fresh sambar calves and 3 big old Hinds with the "deer in the headlights" look,,, before they took off across gulley in the fading light.
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day 2 coming
 
day 2

Up early Saturday morning we headed off up the valley to a property which had improved pasture below an cool bracken fern gulleys back up to the sunny faces above... sambar heaven
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This morning I spotted a deer as it snuck into a pocket of thick ahead in the valley, we both paused an sat up a while glassing,
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over the next 20 minutes 6 Sambar walked out infront of us, we waited in hope of Mr bigman. he didnt show but a spiker was hassling one of the hinds, half hour later another Stag did show from above an the spikey hurried off which bought the stag to our attention, we climbed higher on the left hand side an glassed several deer until the wind swirled an a few HONKS an they moved off around the contour, we let them be an glassed several other deer before headin home for lunch

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glassing before lunch
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victorias snowy mountains
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That afternoon not much except a slow stalk above fringe intercepting several deer but no Big honkers!
this creek crossing almost bought Tears :/
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On the Last morning My friend an I were joined by a Good mate an a bloke he had up from Melbourne...

We went up into some good country on a massive system where a creek come into a Y junction, each arm had several gulleys coming into the flats below.

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The creek i chose to head along, on the south facing side...
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After starting off great while 4 of us walked in we were honked several times by 2 Hinds an then i spotted a Spiker an turned out being a stylish 20 inch hanging with himaswell, we went our seperate ways, my friend an I went the left arm, an opposite sides, 5 minutes from parting, Honk Honk, i could hear the Deer as he met them...
After a few hours nothing was seen by myself when in the distance i hear another Honk, then BOOM!!!
Its on!
I wait a moment an then start Coooeee-ing accross the gulley, then i hike it up to the location of the shot.

I meet up with "bob" an begin tracking an animal he had shot 40 minutes before hand!

He had seen some Hinds on the ridge across 120m or so an waited out an watched, when the wind once again swirled an the Hinds honked an took off he Seen the Darker thicker stag behind them running downhill an saw decent length of Antler an let rip with the Abolt 30-06, Connecting with the Stags shoulder as it launched forward..
the rest is History

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My friend an I>
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A hole myfriend fell down while moving the deer
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Thats about all I have for you guys, Thanks for checking it out an Hope it makes some sense!
Had such a good Weekend away, with a good mate in a beautiful area!
such a lovely Shaped stag to pretty much Whind up the 2012 Winter prime time of Sambar hunting an moving into the Warmer Springy days with only a few weeks left until those Darn snakes come back out :(

Cant wait til its my turn ;)

W/L
 
Avro= afternoon.

Thanks for the story there Whelenlad.

At risk of turning this into a mutual admiration society, I really do like reading through yours and Combi's hunting stories from down under. Nice to see how it goes elsewhere.

Cheers
Trev
 
Thanks for the excellent story ......... Super interesting and well written.

Seeing all those ferns mixed into the terrain reminds me of chasing blacktails here on Vancouver Island!

Cheers

Lucky
 
New regs for non residents , Come.over it'l cost ya bugger all to hunt an bring ya Rifle too..


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Oh and your walkin boots, these big mature models dont come easy!
No gaurantees for the wall thats for sure.


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How much is a licence to hunt Sambar? How long is the season? And, how many can a single (ordinary) hunter kill?

By comparison, when I fly from my home in the East to hunt Whitetail in Saskatchewan, I have to go in a particular week in late November at the end of the residents' season. My out of pocket costs are a Habitat Certificate to the provincial wildlife department for about $12 and a $100 nonresident whitetail tag. That is good for one deer, with or without antlers. It is a good idea to apply to the same wildlife department for an export permit so I can take my meat and antlers out of province.
 
WhelanLad said:
New regs for non residents , Come.over it'l cost ya bugger all to hunt an bring ya Rifle too..
Click to expand...

I just floated it by the wife for our anniversary. Oddly enough, you can actually hear eyes roll sometimes.:D

But my Pre-64 300 H&H would be just the ticket for that kind of hunt. Damn. Now I have the hunt want...bad!
 
The Elk is one of 5 my friend owns, There is a 45+ inch male in there but he gets his Antlers cut off each year to protect him from Poachers.... Yes poachers, even though that pen is right by the house!!

Fortunatley Victoria has good rules!
Sambar can be hunted Year Round, As many as you can Kill(find), no restrictions.. (daylight hours only.)
A Non resident license i think for 2 weeks just come into the NEW Regs we have had since 11 Sept 2012. I know 5 years is around $150 (2 weeks surely F/A).

if you're on facebook, i made a page "Hilldog Safaris", check it out ;)
 
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