A Story I wrote on a Sambar Hunt from a month or two ago..

DIY- Aus High Country
Rifles- T3 .308 150gr Accubond
&
T3 30-06 Remington Corelokt 180gr


Guys, with my knee op coming up I had planned to go camp out this weekend as it will be my last weekend free until the op...

So Saturday morning on day break we left the Vehicles and headed off into some "back country" up a creek system to try glass a Stag for the day.

We donned the backpacks an got our gear and headed off with a Creek crossing straight up where we layed a fallen log over an walked across using a stick to keep our balance, over the creek we were met with blackberries so thick you could call it a jam factory grow farm but luckily the Deer do their job an keep a track contouring the hill for us!

After about an hour of trudging we had put up a Hind an calf an they honked an took off but we got up to another creek system which we wanted to hunt up, we took 5 to have a drink n prepare for the slow an steady climb up to get some height to Glass faces.

The stalk was going well an sign was abundant , as we got around 100m above the creek along a bit of a spur, Chamois (Sammy) mentioned he could smell Deer, or Stag in particular... Me on the other hand informed him with a top lip full of hair an ciggerette smoke couldn't smell much as this stage but said we would continue sneaking up as there could be something sunning close by,
within 3 or 4 minutes I heard the tell tale faint noise of a critter doing a little bit of a spook run but it didn't sound like it went far, So I got prepared an neared the flat on the spur, the wind was cutting infront an away to the Left so was fairly sure it would Scent me but as I could peer along the ridge line I couldn't see much except some gum trees but something caught my eye in a V between 5 trees.... I threw the binos up an quickly noted Neck hair! so first instinct is ditch the binos an scope it to see what we had infront of us, I had a hard time making out what t was, a proud standing erect neck with head thrown back trying to get a whiff of the intruder to its domain! it was an amazing sight.

Through the V alley of trees he turned to sneak off an that's when I seen Antler, I flicked the safety off an in a brief moment he presented a shoulder which is when I pressed the GO button an sent a 150gr Accubond reload hes way!
He lurched out of sight an after the Boom of the 308 the bush fell deadly silent for a few moments, I wasn't sure if id once again nicked a tree or connected!!
about 30 seconds later the bush erupted and he made hes last run some 30m across the spur an piled up against a fallen log!

I threw the back pack off an searched for my lost Case, lit a smoke an we discussed those final few minutes from when the smell of stag entered the equasion, right up until we glassed him in the binos as he lay motionless... We could see Brow, mass of Antler with reasonable length! I mentioned not to go in with much expectation as it only leads to dissatisfaction!


Walking up to where the Stag was at the shot we passed Hes Day bed, were he would of been chewin hes Cud getting some warmth


We made our way across to where the Stag lay an marvelled my latest Stag, which may also be my final stag this year with an up coming operation on the cards... I was pleased and as always gave him a pat to say Thanks, for being able to take such a magnificent creature which consumes most of my free time.



Some photos of the Accubond where it lay

He had a lot of reasonably fresh Scars from this years Rut which looked as though they were stitched up by a bush nurse, torn earns, face scars an neck scars that wouldn't have been pleasant





We glassed from here for a while an as we were about to move I picked up a Big Light Golden Brown animal almost 800m away up in the top section of the hill, I noted he had Thick timber an that we hustle our asses up n over to a ridgeline running down into the Creek, which may just bring us close enough to get a shot! it would be Sams turn to shoot an id expected it to be 300m away but as we got there the Stag had moved across the hill an was ranged at 450m which was just too far, as I climbed higher an Sam contoured to see if we could pick him up, which we did but as I came down to Sam the GWP was unsure of this creature coming through the bush an let out a few barks... This is when the stag went from relaxed looking up hill, to Proud, alarmed and looking Right at us! This itself was one amazing sight through the Binoculars with hes Long white tipped antlers swept back for the short moment we could see him an then he snuck into a thick wattle stand which happened to be a shallow Saddle an as we glassed for 30 minutes incase he returned, we were sure he had slipped over an away.

We continued to contour an keep an eye out for him up high but as we also glassed the immediate face some 300m across gulley, hoping, just hoping one would move around as it was now midday.
We got up to where we could see the opposite side to where the stag had slipped the Saddle but with the blackberrys down low we couldn't cross an decided to have a "boony" for a while (midday bush nap chris boon informed me of whilst hunting with him one day, 'may aswell sleep, the deer are')
Some lunch an an hour kip an we decided to head back down the Valley continueing to Glass and reach a spur above where id shot my Stag to glass the evening away..

By 3pm we arrived and set up the Spotter while we enjoyed our own sunshine as the shadows started to move in, the light breeze had now stopped by around 4pm an I told Sam, it wont be long an they will be moving!! So we glassed pretty hard in every nook an cranny an had seen bugger all moving about.

We contemplated heading out early an trying again from the morning but as always, one last scan of the hill and
That's when I picked up a young Hind, she just popped out an Fed away but hardly moved. but was looking down to her right.. So the binos were working over time to below an right of her..... Nothing!??
Sam took some photos on hes phone of the hind when I noticed that the black shape above her, although hadn't moved an was a big tree stump, actually had a Sambar Stag hidden standing infront of it, chewing hes Cud !! motionless... except the Jaw movement!

The spotter now zoomed right n an photos getting clicked off left an right, we ummed.. arred , looked at the time and I said.... You're up bud, put a hole in it! worth a shot whats to lose!


We gathered our stuff, bee lined for the Creek an a strike of luck had a Hwy running straight across an through the Berries an up a ridge which would put us level with the Stag, if the thermals were right an didn't give away our appearance!

I let Sam go ahead with the pooch an I hung back, ranging now an then to make sure we were within range, 300, 200, 150.. you're on ya own mate shoulders I said.
with the sun slowly going down an light getting lower in the gulley, a few moments later I heard Boooom thwack, an the noise of Hooves running over rocks, I yelled out "Did you hit him, is he down, reload get ready" I know too well what can happen with these mature Sambar, they run like a Buffalo bull full of Adrenaline!!
Sam was confident, Said he dropped but got up an went into some thick ####.... ahhh im thinking not what we wanted, Although a moment later a bit of crashing we seen the Stag sliding down the hill an coming to rest!



From Sams account, As he got to the same level as the Stag, it was in the Same location although had heard us coming up the Ridge an was now Quatering on an looking directly as him, So a swift raise of the rifle an cross hairs settled on the shoulder , the go button was pressed an the Stag dropped an took off.. 120m into the gulley shot!



The time was about quarter past 5 an light was certainly on the way out by the time we got to the stag an began a few quick photos and got ready to Walk back down an out to the "camp".... This is where things got Interesting.

I left Sam to carry out an I would meet him at the Creek where we crossed through the berres as I raced up an grabbed my Head so as we could waltz out together.. as I reached my head, sam still halfway down the ridge, we had to turn on headlamps as darkness took over... No problems.. surely couldn't get lost....


Part 2 Coming


*******



So now we are at Creek level an have to walk out a valley toward Camp/vehicles, thoughts going through our minds of just packing up an heading home to Grab pizza an a warm bed for the night... Sounded bloody good, a little too good to be true.

While we slowly trekked our heads back toward camp via headlamp we contoured roughly where we had come from, pausing to relieve the shoulders every so often, the time ticked on from 630, 730, 830 an we are still not near the 'last ridge' , gulley crossing through the berrys to camp.. we are now up pretty high an running into rocky country which we hadn't passed on the way in.. Where are we? not far to go now we will get there soon..

9 o clock comes an it feels like we have been walking forever , shoulders sore, morale low an effort dwindling in the low moon light...

cutting our way through blackberry tunnels crossing gulley after gulley an stll no idea where we are.... ###### this we have to go down to that creek an start again from there.. All good an well until you come across dogwood upon dogwood upon blackberry upon ######n blackberry... temper short now an CBF levels high, but we are unprepared to sleep out otherwise we would do so...

We hit the creek an thought we arnt far we will walk up the Creek....

In we go, an up we go, struggle town in the Darkness an now Sams headtorch decides its had enough an stops... ####!!!!

We discuss our options an I knew I had plenty of food with us so we'l have a bite an a smoke an go from there...

Another few hundred meters up the freeing creek and we decide we are either Making things Worse, or getting closer, but which was it??

It was then we decided to accept Defeat, without landmarks I am useless
We came to a deep pool which I wasn't interested in crossing so we parked up on a flat bank, nestled in a clear of blackberry an lit a fire
Its now 10pm


We scrounge around finding any wood possible every half hour or so which we can use to keep us warm, I lay out my rain jacket an use as a layer between cold ground an myself , Im spewing by now, how could I get lost, where the hell are we? I only had a handful of ciggerettes left an knew I was going to have to ration out until morning!!
1 can of coke an 1 chicken meat Sanga left, 1 pair of fresh socks, handful of muesili bars an a bit of Lime cordial , some dunny paper an 9 ciggerettes.... NO GPS!!!!

We didn't sleep much, we weren't shivereing but took off our boots an socks an attempted to dry them as we got a fire going with enough heat to be reasonably OK.

We said we wouldn't look at the clock but instead await for the skies to lighten up to dawn a new morning an from there we can climb high an get a gist of where we are..

This is our basic campsite the following morning at 630am


By 7 we got high enough to see where we think we had to go, we were about 800m as a crow flies from the Vehicles... Close but no cigar.

After a lot of swearing an carrying on, we arrived at "the last ridge" an knew we were safe an sound, we got to the vehicles about 730-8am an dove straight into the Esky an cracked a Black Douglas an said "What a ######n full on adventure, This is what its all about" We conqured the hill an had 2 great reminders of that time we Camped alongside a Creek with nothing but whats on our backs an a handful of essentials!!!!

I'll never ever forgot this hunt, my last weekend an pre knee reco Stag!!!!

24 Hours later, Morale low, energy levels low but theres Smiles under there somewhere!!!!!



This is Living!!!

WhelanLad!

Wow - great hunt and great trophies! Congratulations.

Very cool! Love the GWP too.

Proper hunting and that Sambar is a terrific looking animal.

Thanks for the report, and congratulations! Well done.

This was very educational for me as well. I never realized how big Sambar deer really are. These are as big, or bigger, than our Elk or Wapiti, here in the states.

It made me look up Sambar deer on Wikipedia. "Can get up to 1,250 lbs." I think I have considered them 'deer size', as we think of deer in America; maybe 100 to 350 lbs. Of course, Moose belong to the deer family, so why am I surprised?

No wonder you guys use 35 Whelens on them sometimes (and your very own 35 Sambar). Now I get it. A picture is worth a 1,000 words, as they say. Thanks for the photos.

Again, congratulations!

Well done guys - congrrats.

Yep sambar are a big animal.

The Australian Sambar are from stock introduced from Sri Lanka IIRC. They may go 650 lbs for a big stag. The Indian sambar are larger by 10% - 15%. Large bull elk are bigger with Roosevelt Elk much larger in size. Sambar are more stocky than elk.

New Zealand sambar ale also from Sri Lankan stock. The antlers here are of good mass but not great length.

I have seen wild Indian Sambar in National Parks with antlers of 40 inches+ and an old trophy that would have gone 44 inches. Indian record is around 50 inches!

quote:

This was very educational for me as well. I never realized how big Sambar deer really are. These are as big, or bigger, than our Elk or Wapiti, here in the states.

Yes 1250lbs is beyond fanciful.

Great stags and adventure....

I am sure you are getting a lot of advice on how not to get lost. Not much help when I get lost, which I do nearly every time I go. So, now I take a guide that has a GPS and we get lost together. Oh well.

Thanks for sharing a terrific report and photos...I enjoyed it!
Congratulations!

Congrats on some great trophies. Love that high country backcountry.

them trophys will remind you of the hunt for years to come. bet you had a few drinks after to celibrate

adrian