i drew Moutoa swamp block in this years sambar deer ballot



with the odd's of about 1 in 10 of getting a ballot the chances of drawing moutoa are even slimer and i was lucky enought to be my second hunt in there

it isn't a big block ruffly 650m x 900m in size all flax and grass with the odd cabage tree



having shot sambar before i had decided to use this hunt to try for a stag and pass up any hinds that i came across

on the friday before the hunt i went for a quick look around the block to see where most of the sign was
the sambar had been jumping the fence to get the good grass on the farm and had lefe a bit of hair on the barbed wire



the numbers seemed to be down a bit since the last time i was in there but there were still a few about
i saw two hinds and a nice 6pt stag

looking out over the block



i had seen enough so left the block and headed off to meet up with another guy and go check out a private block he can hunt where we saw a few but no stags

next mornning saw me parked up at the gate with a good idea on where the stag would be it wasn't long before i saw the first hind for the day 10m away in the flax playing hide and seek



there was a lot of stag sign around in this part of the block





in full snecky pete mode i was working the wind but it was starting to pick up and making such close combat hunting hard at times but still managed to stalk in on 3 more hinds in the next couple of hours

out at the dich for a break from stalking a sit down and bit to eat
the deer had been crossing alot out to the open stuff at night



this hind wasn't in the best of shape not sure how she ended up in here



more snecky pete and some more sign this stag can't have been to far away



he hadn't been in this wallow for a few days but had been using it



the sambar feed on all the grass in the block but also pull the flax out and eat the base of the leaf



i carred on working the area and saw a couple more deer



there was plenty more sign about and the wind was picking up even more





so i made my way back to my pack for lunch at around 1:30pm
(i should add the pants are undone as the dome broke and the strap to hold them up was cutting in a tad )



with the time ticking on i pland my hunt for the arvo and started back around to where the stag was living

now i have found some strange shit in the bush but this one takes the cake

what the fuck would a hunter be carrying this around with them for



and then only 50m past there i found this aswell



the hawks were circling waiting for the booommmfffaaa so they could have a feed :P



just back past the wallow i saw a deer just move off so as slow as i could i moved in on it and got a look at it's rum it was a big fucker but i couldn't see it's head or get a good shot at it from about 5m away then the wind shifted and it lept foward and out of sight and stoped for a second then crashed off and i got a glimps of antlers bummer it was the stag but i couldn't get a shot

the last hour of light and it was now kill any thing time but as luck would have it i never saw another one

so it was out to the ute after dark and meet the monitor for the block

it had been a great day in the mud hunting sambar seeing 8 deer for the day and spooking another 6 i passed up shots on 4 hinds and a fawn
no stag this time but i came close hopefully next time

madness,
cool story, do you get to have another go on that spot again? how dose this ballot work? and its only for sambar?
thanks for the story it was great.
greg

hey greghud no it was only a one day hunt

the heard of sambar in the Manawatu area is under a moratorium and can only be hunted on a ballot unless you have private land you can hunt on,

but even with private land you can only shoot one sambar for the season (6 weeks and only hunt on the weekends) the ballot works buy entering your name in the draw and it is about a 1 in 10 chance of getting a block
most of the blocks are in 4 foressty blocks on the coast

Great story, MADNESS.

Very VERY effective way of giving the feel of the place with the pics and text interposed like that. Good stuff

so i made my way back to my pack for lunch at around 1:30pm
(i should add the pants are undone as the dome broke and the strap to hold them up was cutting in a tad Wink

Hey Aaron the boys on the NZ forum had a bit of a laugh with that bit mate....as said before good post mate.