My latest foray into Sambar Land.

My Sambar Sojourn Continues..

I have just returned from 2 weeks in Sambar land, I spent the first week working on the house sanding, plastering and then painting and it is coming along very nicely. I cleaned up the weeds in the yard and sprayed around the edges after trimming everything with the edger. I did manage the odd evening hunt while the house was airing out after a days painting and got myself a nice young Sambar freezer filler early on, that sorted out the meat situation for the remainder of the trip.
That deer came about one rainy afternoon, it was drizzling and the bush was quiet so I went for a prospect walk up a gully the runs off some fringe country.

I hadn't gone more than 200 meters from where I entered the gully when there was a huge bolt of lightning and a thunder clap, as the thunder rolled around the hills I saw a deer stand up about 20 meters in front of me facing the direction of the approaching thunder storm. I took a slow step to balance myself properly and slowly shouldered the .338 win mag, as the cross hairs settled on the deer's shoulder I took the shot and watched her drop without moving.

The Sambar snack Pack, Freezer filler.

As I made my way to the Deer the rain poured and I was drenched in a matter of minutes but the up side of that was it put all the bush flies to ground and I was able to remove the back straps and quarter the animal in peace. I took as much usable meat as I could and made my way back to my vehicle. I met up with another hunter that was working a different gully system and we had a chat for a while before heading back to town as the rain really began to pour. We got 50 mm of rain that night and the next day and it quietened the bush down under foot considerably for the next few days.-

I worked around the house for the next few days then it was up into the hills for a day sitting over a wallow, I didn't catch up with my Stag but I managed to get some footage of one of 3 Sambar Hinds that came through early in the afternoon.

One of the Hinds.

I climbed out of that gully well after last light somewhat satisfied with what I had observed. I left things alone for the next few days and did a bit more around the house finally finishing things up over the weekend. I then went out and retrieved 2 trail cameras I had out over a wallow to see what had occurred in the 3 months they had been in place and was rewarded with a fine series of pictures of the Stag I was following Preaching.

There were also some surprises on there with a wild dog and a fox making an appearance and numerous smaller Stags also using the wallow and preach. I then took a day to venture into another catchment and retrieve another 2 cameras I had out over other wallows and managed to get a couple of very nice photos and some video of a hind in the process. I had just retrieved one of the cameras and was making my way to the next when I heard a noise so I stopped and listened. then I saw some movement in some coprosma bushes and slowly made out the shape of a Sambar Hind. She must have heard me but hadn't seen me as she was sneaking around on her knees trying to get a look at me. As I slowly took my camera off  my pack she stood up and stared at me still unsure of what I was, enabling me to snap a photo.

The Hind looking at me trying to figure out what I am.

She then ducked down and out of view and started sneaking in on me stomping her hoof, trying to get me to move, I too this opportunity to grab my video camera and record the event. It was quite an amazing moment to have a deer that close and seeing how she reacted. After about 2 minutes of trying to get me to move she made off up the gully then stopped for a look back before continuing on her way. I was quite happy as she silently melted away into the bush without so much as a honk. I continued on contouring my way around the catchment towards the other camera when I heard a noise in the bushes in the back of one gully but try as I could I could see nothing. I searched every bush and shadow with my binoculars then taking a step or two and searching again but could see nothing. Eventually it was just too much for the deer that was hiding and another big Hind broke cover at about 15 meters. Again she bolted without so much as a honk, so I gave her 15 minutes to go where she wanted before proceeding on my way.

As I was approaching the second wallow I decided to stalk in a hundred meters or so above the wallow and drop into the gully from above. As I got close to the head of the gully I again heard a noise in the coprosma. Once again I searched as hard as I could but could see nothing, so I looked again before taking a step. I then searched every bush and shadow again to no avail, by now I was thinking my hearing was playing tricks on me (I wear a hearing aid) I took another step and looked again with my binoculars. Again I saw nothing so I looked down to take a step and heard the noise again and looked up in time to make eye contact with a big bodied Stag standing in the coprosma  about 20 meters away. As soon as our eyes met he let out the loudest honk I have ever heard and bolted, he was instantly swallowed by the coprosma but I could see the path he took as the vegetation moved as he crashed through it. Another 3 animals followed him but I could not see them, I could hear antlers whacking into the trees as they made their escape. Later interrogation of the trail cameras revealed what I believe was either him or one of the animals accompanying him.

One of the Stags in the wallow.

I cant be sure as yet but I believe he has been visiting both wallows as a similar sized Stag with very similar antlers has shown up on both cameras. I have also picked up cast antlers ranging in size from 23" through to 29.5" in the same catchment so there are some very good animals residing in there.

Another interesting capture was a sequence of 2 younger stags pushing each other around, I have managed to capture this occurrence on 2 occasions on separate cameras in different catchments. It seems they are jostling each other, just testing each other's strength rather than actually fighting.

After that encounter I moved to the wallow and retrieved my second camera only to discover that a bird had landed on a nearby branch and snapped it so that the leaves were covering the view to the wallow, the camera card was full. My only hope was that there were some nice pictures taken prior to the bird snapping the branch. I know a bird was the culprit as it was captured by the camera in the act, it looks like a rather large currawong. I have had some trouble with birds using my cameras as perches in the past too so it it something to be mindful of when setting up trail cameras as they can fill a card very quickly.

Once I had retrieved my camera I moved a few hundred meters away and sat in the shade and had something to eat and drink in preparation for the climb back out of the catchment. A vertical gain of nearly 700 meters over just on a kilometre is required to exit the catchment I was in and is not something to be rushed into. I like to take my time and contour my way out of this place glassing the opposing faces as I go, I find by doing this and stopping a few times for a drink break along the way it takes me nearly 3 hours to climb out to the ridge line. So after my drink and something to eat I began the climb out just as the catabatic winds started dropping cool air down the faces. If I time things right I can hunt my way out with the wind in my face and arrive at my vehicle just on dark, this also helps me keep cool during the climb.I saw nothing of any note on the climb out and arrived at back my vehicle tired and in need of a drink and a rest, I phoned home to let my wife know I was ok and then made my way back to the house in the dark.

Over the next few days the prevailing wind was favourable so I spent some time in a hide I have built from windfall timber overlooking one of the wallows and managed to film a couple of Hinds feeding up the gully on a few occasions. One afternoon while sitting there I heard a noise behind me and instantly thought that's either a big snake or a wombat. So I slowly turned around to come face to face with a wild dog not more than 3 meters away sneaking in on me. I very slowly picked up my rifle and started to move, the dog then quickly jumped a few meters to the side but in doing so created the perfect shot for me. The dog made to escape and went to take off but I was already on it's front shoulder and pulled the trigger as it took a step. It dropped instantly not more than 8 meters from where I was sitting. I picked up my camera and filmed the moments after the shot as this has never happened to me before and I wanted to show how close the dog was before I heard it. I don't think it was stalking me with any ill intent as it was on its own but I have no doubt that a pack of them could cause someone a few problems if they wanted to.

The Dog that stalked in on me.

I scalped the dog to claim the bounty at a later date and stayed in the hide until dark but saw no deer that afternoon still it was an interesting day to say the least.  I had one more day in the hide overlooking the wallow and spotted a couple of very big old Hinds using a trail behind the wallow but unfortunately I didn't see any Stags. A detailed look at the trail camera footage later revealed they only visit for about 10 days a month, so I would guess there must be other wallows in the next gully that they also visit and I haven't hunted that yet, though I did manage to locate a very feint trail over a saddle that they use to cross into the next gully. It seems I have some more exploring to do at a later date.
I had one more morning in the hide and watched the hinds feed up the gully whilst heading to their bedding area on the faces far above, before replacing my cameras and climbing out. I headed back to the house and packed my gear then cleaned up and secured the house, I said goodbye to the neighbours and loaded my gear into the vehicle then left. I drove to a friends place some hours away and stayed the night with them before getting on a plane home the following morning. As always I spent the flight home dozing and mentally planning my next foray into the bush in Sambar Land.