Con, how good is that? Congrats to you and your young bloke. A job well done, you probably have your son hooked for life. Great!!

Can't wait for the weather to cool down a bit to get out there myself. Looking forward to my first full year in Victoria, hunting Sambar at every chance I can!

Hey guys,
Take it easy it wasn't my son but a mates! Mind you I'm not allowed to say anything yet ... but October is looking really busy for myself and the missus ... if you know what I mean!? Regarding the lad that took the Sambar, his only other deer was a Sambar hind late in 2005. His Dad was carrying the Sako when the lad looked over his shoulder and spotted the spiker in his bed, casually watching them stalk by. "Dad I see a deer" was all he said. His father (great gun-bearer that he is! ) passed the Sako back and the lad took a 10m shot into the neck. The PMC 150gr ammunition did a good job, but the deer was thrashing about a bit, so Dad delivered a coup de grace at point blank. Rather than risk contaminating the meat, we dragged the entire carcass out whole, and gutted before loading it into the ute. Despite our best efforts we still got some blowfly eggs on the meat which we cleaned off in the cool-room. Next weekend we're butchering.
You know I got more of a buzz watching the kid's reaction then if I had of blooded the new Ruger. But like his Dad said; "Lucky he's carrying the rifles, otherwise I'd shoot him to shut him up."
On my hobby-horse for a second ... as a school teacher we talk about instilling resilience in kids. Well, early in Feb I spent 9 days "Adventure hiking" with a group of Year 9 boys. Most bitched and moaned, but the kid above and three other boys that admire the "bush way of life" ended up carrying a group of 16 to the point where the instructors told them to take a day and a half off. These kids were setting up/breaking camp, cooking, navigating, making decisions etc ... whilst most sat and went along for a free ride. Says a lot about getting your kids (particularly boys) out and about in the bush. I know that I avoided a lot of heart-ache growing up because I was chasing rabbits and ducks and reading Col Allison and Nick Harvey rather than pondering what $10 could buy me at the local railway station
Cheers...
Con

quote:

assed the Sako back and the lad took a 10m shot into the neck.

shows how a sambar will often let you walk past them if they think they are unseen...cunning buggers!

Will be making the long flight to New Zealand at the end of May for a Red Stag and Fallow deer hunt near Napier.

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Originally posted by gryphon1:

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Originally posted by Gadge:
Sambar hunt planned for the Dargo, VIC area on the long weekend in March [11-13th]. Then duck season opens the Saturday after. Woohoo!

Might get a few March flies

I know the j blakes will be about too.

Brief report: Only a few March flies on the Wonnangatta River [unlike Woods Point a few weeks ago, where they were in hordes] , no 'wriggly sticks' sighted [oddly - was expecting some big red bellied blacks, where we were], plenty of water dragons and smaller lizards though. One platypus seen, nothing doing with the trout - water too warm.

Now for the vital stuff: Got to camp about 4:30 pm Fri 10th, was getting honked by a deer [in thick stuff where I couldn't see the thing] within half an hour.

Sign [rub trees, preach trees, 'jelly beans' of all sizes] absolutely everywhere on the flats, but they're well educated - between the two of us, saw 8 for the weekend, but none presented a decent shot! We got honked another 4-5 times between us though, so we were in the right places......

And for the ducks, skipped Saturday, but went out jump shooting dams yesterday arvo; 2 blackies and 1 woody between 3.