MarkR picked up the mount stag for me.... I wont get to see it until October, except these images...

taxidermy by Ian Humphries...

Stunning.
Well done.
For those of us not hugely familiar with Sambar, how difficult a hunt are they?
We don't seem to see the hunts heavily advertised.
SWS

Hey SWS- in my limited experience I would say that a sambar stag in Australia is a very difficult trophy to secure (I was very lucky + a bit of good management)... I have heard it described in international circles as "the bongo of the South Pacific". While the herd in south east Australia is most certainly growing and expanding territory - they remain a difficult species to hunt, given their habits and the terrain where the seem to like living. They are unlike other tropical species in that they seem to prefer not to be so gregarious.

No you dont hear a lot about it - most international hunters just see it as being too difficult and the vast majority of visiting hunters will take their sambar in game ranches of various sizes. Perhaps that will change one day when the status and value of the animals and the wild hunt increases... I hope that happens because when it comes to this species the ranch hunts are a poor substitute. We offer both hunts but realistically less than 3 hunters will do the free range hunt each year.

anyhow - there are tonnes that can and have been written about wild sambar - and others here far more qualified than myself.