Ah what the heck, a little update from the heart of Sambar land, Victoria- Australia.
may 2021.
the ol lunar eclipse tonight , so another full circle there. somewhat a similiar scenerio for the Sambar deer of the Forests here down in Southern Australias mountainous areas.... Sure there is a few Deer around, but no where near the numbers that once existed...so it is back to the initial days somewhat in a sense, although the population is not high, it is not condensed either, very widespread now the Sambar deer.
Once confined to the foothills of Gippslands flat country, slowly moving north over time, thus came the boom and blast we just experienced.. eventually the hunter/s outweighed the hunted.
The hunters were in low numbers from early on n stayed quite a small gathering of men interested in the sambar initially, this slowly over time started to change with more and more blokes undertaking the Art of Deer Stalking..
Thus giving the deer some time to colonize and fill out herd structure across a pretty large parcel of land , until bushfires came and had no doubt really pushed some deer further north, east and west in some instances, fleeing the fires, the regrowth ensured these deer thrived for numerous years as little pressure from hunter came but was certainly on the rise from the ashes.
twenty of the best years followed, deer in every gulley almost, or so it would seem! Hunters on every track across the state , all trying to find their own secluded gulley system to seek out the Elusive Stag...
What the stalker in the bush doesnt often see, is the competition away from the campgrounds, going about their business in the Cover of night, taking what most strive for with an upper hand in the same Huntin grounds.. this over time has built up an really put a solid dent in what was already getting a hard time , as hinds were never really on the menu , it was the Stags who were taken not only large but nearly large that were 'illegally' taken, yet to many hunters the Big stags just became Elusive all of a sudden an so the mid sized stags looking good were shot fair and squarely but a continuous whisper of whinges would come through the grape vine all echoing the lack of big stags.....
This then sort of got irrelevant after the 2020 Fires, which took alot of the percentage of the Herd out due to not only the fire and smoke but lack of feed for 2-3 weeks following, some covid restriction ceased many going searching for easy pickings of large stags however social media spurkings saw quite a few larger antlered deer on the fringes of the fire regions taken , whilst many hunters had called a Peace time of sorts to allow their prized game animal to 'recover'... Covid helped that but kept hunters out from seeing first hand, following this wass phenominal actions...
The public donated millions o dollars to Charity funds, which in a roundabout way got trickled down to other sectors of the Government.. to organisations like Parks Victoria... Which then seen delusional 'parties' see the hand outs as a prime moment to push the "Pest Deer" movement and subsequently the Parks board organised Aerial Culling operations to assist the regrowth of the Native bush and not to impact the native animals recovery also, although the deer have been around 110 years, also the Mountain Brumby was targetted heavily which caused uproar but not much could be stopped... money talks.
contractors in air and on ground, targetting all the Alpine national Park sections of Victoria went at first heavy and fast across the landscape, no tree canopy aided the usefullness of the chopper, knowing this they attacked again, again, again and again, whilst 16 months later there is another 6 months of planned culling weeks which will be close to 2 years of flying helicopters for a Week at a time, shooting the animals, mostly Game species like Sambar deer..
No rumble in the stables from the Deer assosciation in Australia, nor from the organsation ment to be managing the Game, their boss paid the choppers....
not one hunter is happy about it, alot of questions have been fired with alot of generic replies and responses from those of which should be concerned ... is what is the hardest pill to swallow, if we are discussion the future of hunting Sambar in the public lands then we have missed the boat with making the Sambars presence felt and known in a more positive way, by not kicking up a stink as a collective group or posed more questions into seeking some solutions for managing a smaller yet more valuable and respected herd for economic benefit and positive bush lifestyle values then it really is Apparent that we are on a slippery slope with very , very little to hold onto.
Whats the herds current status..... Low to minimal with slight potential for many large Trophies taken legally in fair chase manner if current trends continue in back country where deer may of 'escaped' Gunships, and have grown a few years away from hunters and if the hunter can manage what he sees a little more wiser with more people in mind, as hard as that seems with many against the true grain of Sambar hunting, it certainly doesnt inspire too much in Me to want to shoot Stags yet those tenderloins on them big ol Hinds are to die for... save a few Antlers for later on and see if we can find a big set.
warm barrels and enjoy the persuit and dont expect the pot of gold at the end of them rainbows for a while, until we all, get on the same Page...from trigger to Canberra.
Hooroo
may 2021.
the ol lunar eclipse tonight , so another full circle there. somewhat a similiar scenerio for the Sambar deer of the Forests here down in Southern Australias mountainous areas.... Sure there is a few Deer around, but no where near the numbers that once existed...so it is back to the initial days somewhat in a sense, although the population is not high, it is not condensed either, very widespread now the Sambar deer.
Once confined to the foothills of Gippslands flat country, slowly moving north over time, thus came the boom and blast we just experienced.. eventually the hunter/s outweighed the hunted.
The hunters were in low numbers from early on n stayed quite a small gathering of men interested in the sambar initially, this slowly over time started to change with more and more blokes undertaking the Art of Deer Stalking..
Thus giving the deer some time to colonize and fill out herd structure across a pretty large parcel of land , until bushfires came and had no doubt really pushed some deer further north, east and west in some instances, fleeing the fires, the regrowth ensured these deer thrived for numerous years as little pressure from hunter came but was certainly on the rise from the ashes.
twenty of the best years followed, deer in every gulley almost, or so it would seem! Hunters on every track across the state , all trying to find their own secluded gulley system to seek out the Elusive Stag...
What the stalker in the bush doesnt often see, is the competition away from the campgrounds, going about their business in the Cover of night, taking what most strive for with an upper hand in the same Huntin grounds.. this over time has built up an really put a solid dent in what was already getting a hard time , as hinds were never really on the menu , it was the Stags who were taken not only large but nearly large that were 'illegally' taken, yet to many hunters the Big stags just became Elusive all of a sudden an so the mid sized stags looking good were shot fair and squarely but a continuous whisper of whinges would come through the grape vine all echoing the lack of big stags.....
This then sort of got irrelevant after the 2020 Fires, which took alot of the percentage of the Herd out due to not only the fire and smoke but lack of feed for 2-3 weeks following, some covid restriction ceased many going searching for easy pickings of large stags however social media spurkings saw quite a few larger antlered deer on the fringes of the fire regions taken , whilst many hunters had called a Peace time of sorts to allow their prized game animal to 'recover'... Covid helped that but kept hunters out from seeing first hand, following this wass phenominal actions...
The public donated millions o dollars to Charity funds, which in a roundabout way got trickled down to other sectors of the Government.. to organisations like Parks Victoria... Which then seen delusional 'parties' see the hand outs as a prime moment to push the "Pest Deer" movement and subsequently the Parks board organised Aerial Culling operations to assist the regrowth of the Native bush and not to impact the native animals recovery also, although the deer have been around 110 years, also the Mountain Brumby was targetted heavily which caused uproar but not much could be stopped... money talks.
contractors in air and on ground, targetting all the Alpine national Park sections of Victoria went at first heavy and fast across the landscape, no tree canopy aided the usefullness of the chopper, knowing this they attacked again, again, again and again, whilst 16 months later there is another 6 months of planned culling weeks which will be close to 2 years of flying helicopters for a Week at a time, shooting the animals, mostly Game species like Sambar deer..
No rumble in the stables from the Deer assosciation in Australia, nor from the organsation ment to be managing the Game, their boss paid the choppers....
not one hunter is happy about it, alot of questions have been fired with alot of generic replies and responses from those of which should be concerned ... is what is the hardest pill to swallow, if we are discussion the future of hunting Sambar in the public lands then we have missed the boat with making the Sambars presence felt and known in a more positive way, by not kicking up a stink as a collective group or posed more questions into seeking some solutions for managing a smaller yet more valuable and respected herd for economic benefit and positive bush lifestyle values then it really is Apparent that we are on a slippery slope with very , very little to hold onto.
Whats the herds current status..... Low to minimal with slight potential for many large Trophies taken legally in fair chase manner if current trends continue in back country where deer may of 'escaped' Gunships, and have grown a few years away from hunters and if the hunter can manage what he sees a little more wiser with more people in mind, as hard as that seems with many against the true grain of Sambar hunting, it certainly doesnt inspire too much in Me to want to shoot Stags yet those tenderloins on them big ol Hinds are to die for... save a few Antlers for later on and see if we can find a big set.
warm barrels and enjoy the persuit and dont expect the pot of gold at the end of them rainbows for a while, until we all, get on the same Page...from trigger to Canberra.
Hooroo
