I will be in NZ next April and am looking for a very good operator for a North Island hunt. Would like to chase sambar and sika if possible.

The "must haves" - great accommodation and food, prefer to be the only hunter there, and a low pressure hunting environment.

Thanks!!

Sika in mid to late April is ideal & plenty of operators. All depends on what you want to achieve - a real challenging free range hunt of the wily animal that is hard to even see, let alone shoot or a more certain hunt on a private property with opportunities to look over several animals that have not been hunted much and which walk around like in a deer park?

Neil Philpot would be a legendary guide to employ for a true wild hunt - http://sika-safaris.8m.com/about.htm

There are many others who will take you on to private stations or hunt on public / Maori blocks.

Sambar is another issue altogether. NZ sambar are in 2 areas - The Bay of Plenty (near the Sika territory of Taupo & north) or around Foxton / Wanganui in the south of the North Island. There is one station that does trophy hunting with high rates. The rest is pot luck with no guarantees. Even locals go for years without getting even a meat animal let alone a trophy stag.

www.alpinehunting.com Shane Quinn

With Sambar you have limited options,why not Sambar in Australia??

Ok, where would you recommend for Australia? I will be in NZ and have an extra week. Would love to spend some time there.

Australia is as big a lump of dirt as the entire USA. You need to decide what you might want to hunt , and where , and then track down a guide who will take you on your adventure.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Ok, where would you recommend for Australia? I will be in NZ and have an extra week. Would love to spend some time there.

April is a bit early for a wild sambar hunt in Australia. Could do a ranch hunt of course but even then there wont be very many samber in hard antler, I would think. You are most likely to get a ranch hunt in NZ anyhow (I would think) with your accomm request.

Wild sambar in Australia is as truly tough as a trophy hunt as their is in the world.

Public land trophy sambar bull is about like shooting a 360 bull on a OTC area in Colorado.

The 3 game ranch sambar operators in Australia all produce, not sure who is the best.

They are Water Valley (with at least 4 or 5 outfitters), Kingham Safaris and Mary River.

I recommend you buy Errol Mason's books on Sambar, his DVDS are also fantastic.

I have spent about 5 weeks chasing sambar, seen two bulls and about 80 cows. Covered tons of land and have never got one. (I lived in Canberra from 2010-2014.

When I go back to Australia for Sambar it will be on one of the 3 places I have listed above.

The word on the street is that the New Zealand Sambar are bigger, but the NZ rusa are smaller.

Errol Mason has made DVDs? Can you give us a link to them, because I didn't know they existed.

Hi Ross
Mort may have a suggestion.
Gerald Fluerty at Wildside may know, he'll have Sika but Sambar? that's trickier
GT

Ah. Ok, they are DVDs he is selling/endorsing, not ones he made. I have those and they are not bad.

If you look at the link I posted above, you will see Neil Philpot has done a few DVDs on Sika hunting. they are quite incredible and a reflection of the man's true bushcraft and ability to get so close to an animal that is notoriously skittish and can hide just 2 meters from you and not be seen!

Neil has shot 20 or more 8 point Sika stags and guided many more and probably observed hundreds - true wild free range animals in areas with good hunting pressure 12 months a year!

As I said - hunting wild sika is a not a slam dunk & very challenging.

Thanks all.