Well, my wife did, so we want to plan a trip there, and I want it to be during some type of hunting season. Could someone post the typical hunting seasons of some of the larger game, such as sambar, banteng, water buffalo, etc? And what parts of the country where these animals may be found? I would assume we would be flying into Sydney...

Sambar? Any time you like..no season as such at all...$40 buys you a tag for as many as you can take...any sex or age..big or small...(err they aint easy though)

We do have a self imposed season of hunting only the winter months though a fair amount of hunters do shoot a few over summer for a bit of meat.. no rules of a Gov season at all. Summer is velvet time and not for stags of course.

BEST times in Victoria are from late May till the end of September though a hunter can extend that for another month if the weather dosent get too warm.

The optimum months are AUG/SEPT.

Heres one looking over a farm fence.

Self imposed season yeah right

Buffalo and banteng are in the Northern Territory (tropical northern Australia). Best hunting times are June-Sept. Unlike the sambar virtually all hunting is on private land - no public hunting really.

However the vast majority of sambar taken by visiting hunters are on ranch hunts. The prospect of getting a representative animal from public land is just too daunting for most. That's just the way it is....

However the vast majority of sambar taken by visiting hunters are on ranch hunts. The prospect of getting a representative animal from public land is just too daunting for most. That's just the way it is....

Yes exactly right Matt G and another reason why sambar deer (stags) are revered by hunters as the number one game animal to hunt here in Australia.
Taking a sambar stag from a game ranch is simply a "no comparo" contest and for the true hunter that really is in it for the thrill and hard yards and all that is associated with this type of hunting to take a free wild stag on HIS home turf is a real pinnacle of success not only for the home wall but for the mind too.
I will post some more pics in a new thread later today titled "preaching"

Just wandering if you ever see anything that comes close in size to this sambar Stag?

quote:

Originally posted by TrackersNZ:
Just wandering if you ever see anything that comes close in size to this sambar Stag?

He'll lose points for too much spread...

Not in SCI score he wont...

fuggin HUGE sambar!!!

True enough... If you worry about SCI scoring that is.

i doubt if that stag would be penalised at all,he is longer than his width as it appears to me,with his nose up like that his head is laying back...its longer than you think and up around the 40" plus mark...i posted that pic a few months ago.

Why anyone would raise "scoring" as an issue is a ? and a half...when it comes to these anaimals if he is a sambar and wild hes a trophy regardless of size,i will post a pic of one i saw on Sun morning in another thread.

Not sure if he is 40inches Gryphon but he is an eye-popping stag thats for sure. Does anyone know where the photo came from? I would suggest that it is behind wire in New Zealand but hey what do I know?? thats just a guess.

You would be surprised how much SCI scoring is taking on here. I went to a measurers course last Feb and there were 20something people doing the course... and not just SCI people and outfitters - there were lots of other folk as well so there must be a lot of interest.

There are very impressive heads like that in the national parks of India.

I looked for evidence of this as soon as I saw the photo. The bush and background doesn't reveal either way but ...

Gryph,

I forget your previous post of him. Was in Aust/NZ or ?

I can offer you free hunting for Sabre-Toothed field mice; they're big, real big like you get in Texas. Even throw in a 50/90 and free ammo. I'll keep ma 58 for back up!

My left nut is on it that its in India /Sri Lanka

That tree in the background dosent belong to NZ or OZ,besides all that we or our blessed kiwi mates dont have that sort of size here and it would go up around the 40 inch mark..when you see so many or have seen so many 30 inch models you know that that head makes them look like pissants

Has a 40"long stag been recorded from India/Ceylon?

Here's a couple of grand heads from the old days.



From here.

The left one is similar in size except in the brow tines of the "live" sambar which are a lot longer. The "live" sambar may actually be 3 or 4 inches longer as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt_Graham:
Has a 40"long stag been recorded from India/Ceylon?

Plenty of them have,longest so far is a FIFTY TWO incher.

Keith M from McDonalds gunshop(ex)saw stags up around that length when in India a few years back.He hunted in the same hound crew as i did and knows his deer too.

NZ author BD Banwells list has his num 2 at 37.5" job,num 3 is a 38.5" num 5 is left38" r 39" num 14 believe it or not is a 39.75 incher that scores 280 and 5/8 ths DS...taken by R G hill in the Moutoa Swamp.

There is much too learn re sambar Grasshopper!And we are all still learning.

when this bloke makes 30 plus we will go for him if hes still around,you never know with the wild ones.

Check the way hes hiding!