To all those I owe my success, I thank you.

With all that has been going on lately with the Corona Virus Restrictions and the Bushfires before that, I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on the hunting I have been able to do so far over the course of my life. Over the years I have been extremely fortunate and have had the opportunity to hunt many different species in many different places and countries but I consider myself a relative novice when it comes to hunting Sambar. When it comes to these big brown Deer I am still putting the complete picture together myself, it is a steep learning curve. I have had and still do have some very good friends that are well accomplished and renowned Deer hunters and often seek their advice on things I am unsure of. One likes to make me work things out myself and often answers a question with a question, though at the same time pointing me in the direction of the answer I am after. Another is more direct and straight forward, all will remain unnamed out of respect for their privacy, however they will know who they are when they read this.  I am truly lucky to have these friends and I thank them for their ongoing friendship and company. 

The earliest picture I have of myself hunting, Tuppal Creek Deniliquin Circa 1988

I started hunting many years ago in the 80's 1987 to be exact, having just joined the navy I was in Melbourne and Wednesday afternoons were reserved for sport. Not being of the team sporting type, I was relieved to discover clay pigeon shooting was one of the sports on offer. I took to it straight away and it was not too long before I was invited to shoot Starlings with some of the guys on the weekends. Less than a year later i found myself in Sydney and being as I was to be based there for the next few years I promptly acquired a firearms license and bought my first rifle, a nice CMC Mountaineer by Howa in .243 win with a 6x40 tasco scope in a set of Hilver rings. I still have that rifle though it sports it's 3rd barrel now, yes it has seen some use over the years. Weekends were spent in the Riverina or the Western plains hunting Goats, pigs and foxes, I soon developed a liking for spotlighting foxes and purchased a CMC in .222 rem specifically for them. My then Girlfriend's family were from the riverina and I got plenty of invites from her family friends to shoot rice and grazing country around Deniliquin. It was here in the now destroyed Conargo Hotel I met a man who would over the course of a few years teach me to understand Foxes and to actually shoot. He was once a fox shooter himself and had since given the game away but what he taught me was invaluable, he has since passed on but the lessons he gave remain.

It was through him I met another man, a Sambar hunter. I had mentioned I wished to try and hunt Sambar and he offered to introduce me to a friend of his that lived in Myrtleford. Plans were made and I was introduced to his friend one early morning in July 1991, I will never forget the heads on his lounge room wall when we were shown inside the. I knew then I had been introduced to the right person, he showed us where to camp on a map and where to hunt and we set off for a month of Sambar hunting in the Buffalo Valley. It was not long before I discovered how little I actually knew of stalking and hunting in general, but a chance encounter with a Stag early one morning only served to spur me on. I was eager to learn and during this trip a chance encounter with a lost hound and a phone call to its owner led to another introduction and an offer to join a hound crew for a hunt.

The very first Sambar Preach I found, Buffalo River Valley, Circa 1991.

Back to the Stag, I was travelling around the fringe of a pine plantation early in the morning and suddenly there in front of me not 50 meters away was a Sambar Stag, he was huge, (32" to be exact but more of that later) I was sporting a Sako .30-06 using 180grn Winchester fail-safe projectiles. I put the cross-hairs on his chest then had second thoughts as to how effective the .30-06 would be against this huge animal. I dropped the rifle off my shoulder and stared at him as he sniffed the air, I shouldered that rifle another 4 times but never fired the shot. I had doubts as to the effectiveness of the .30-06 against this animal, little did I know how effective a .30-06 actually is at the time, and for some insane reason I thought " I've been hunting 2 days and seen this Stag staring at me for 5 minutes, and if it's that easy I will hold out for a bigger one". I let that Stag walk away, never to be seen by me again.  How do I know it was 32" well I later mentioned it to my Sambar hunter friend, he chastised me saying I will probably never see another like that one in my life, he has been right to this day. He kept an eye on the catchment where I saw that stag and 2 months later shot it himself. Do I regret not shooting that Stag, at the time I did but now i don't, I hadn't earned it and it would not have meant as much to me as the one I am yet to take will.

The very first Sambar Rub I found, Buffalo river Valley, circa 1991.

The following years saw me at sea for a lot of the time and I took my rifles with me, I made use of the opportunity to hunt where ever I could when we were in a foreign country, a trip to a local gun shop was usually all that was required and a day or so later I was often out hunting. This was between 1991 and about 1996 and I had a wonderful time returning to the Victorian Alps during winter to hunt Sambar whenever I could. I was camped up at lake Cobbler Hut, the night Australia recorded it's lowest ever temperature, -23 at Charlotte's Pass, I will never forget that night. Sleeping on the ground in a 3 sided hut high on the Cobbler Plateau, I can still feel it when I think about it. I still enjoy camping above the snow line in Winter, however my sleeping arrangements have vastly improved since those days. It was during these years I learned the value of synthetics " polar fleece" over cotton when hunting in the wet, I returned home so cold and frozen from one trip I developed pneumonia which took a month to recover from. In 1992 I turned my long term girlfriend into my Wife and I am pleased to say she has always supported my hunting, I think the worst I have ever got from her was a, "I would prefer you didn't hunt this weekend, I have something I'd like you to do with me this weekend". I wonder how many guy;s are that lucky?.

Some of the Pig Tusks I have collected over the years.

The tracks of a very large boar I was chasing for several months in 1998.

1997 saw the birth of my son and we began the task of raising a family, I moved from NSW to WA due to work and my hunting took a backseat for a number of years, hunting opportunities in WA are limited and raising a family took precedence. During this time I took to spearfishing and through my diving club I met a man who's  owned a concession in South Africa. He returned to South Africa some years later and we keep in touch to this day, my Wife and I have visited him there numerous times and I have been afforded the opportunity to hunt a vast array of South African Game all the way from the East Cape through the Karoo up into the Kalahari and across to the Limpopo and Mpumalunga on the Mozambique border. During this period I met another man in South Africa who has become a very close friend, we too have hunted together extensively and he has since moved his young family to New Zealand and I have plans to hunt there with him in the very near future. As my son grew I involved him in my spearfishing and hunting and we hunted together in Africa for 3 weeks prior to him joining the Army, that is time together I will forever cherish. I changed jobs a few times over the years and have been lucky the rosters I work have allowed me to hunt during the week reserving the weekends for my family, something I am sure has contributed to the longevity of my marriage. 

Hunting in the Kalahari with my son, his Red Hartebeest, without doubt the hardest animal he has hunted.

My Spearfishing took me to Mexico and the United States and it was here that I met guy's that went on to become great friends, and we have dived together now for many years. I have been fortunate enough to be afforded the opportunity to spend time with them hunting Elk, Mule Deer and Black Bear in the mountains of Colorado.

I will never forget my first encounter with a bugling Bull Elk, a huge slob of a Bull 7x7 antlers in full rut, slobber just dripping from his nose as he Bugled not 30 yards from me, me pinned in plain view, arrow nocked unable to draw my bow. I eventually drew on that bull only to have him bust me at half draw, but what an experience. I plan to return to the mountains of Colorado to hunt Elk again as soon as I can, next time hopefully I am successful. I have been offered the opportunity to hunt Canada Geese and Turkey along with White Tail Deer and plan on doing so just as soon as I can. 

Hunting Elk in Colorado.

I have since purchased a home in a Northeast Victorian town, with views of the mountains and on a good day I can glass Sambar making their way up to the ridge lines in the early morning from my back verandah, well that was before the fires. I have made a few local friends and hunt often with a couple of guy's, I hunt most often during the week when the bush is quiet, I leave the weekends to the houndmen and reserve them for my wife, an arrangement that has served us well over the years. I still enjoy hunting Sambar and I am still to take a representative Stag, I have found a few over the years, trail cameras verify their status as Trophy animals but I am yet to encounter them in person. I have no problem keeping the freezer full but still find that one trophy Stag elusive. I thought 2020 would be my year of success up until the busfires of New Years eve and then the Corona virus restrictions, now I see they are being eased a little and we will be able to get out and hunt again soon, however my Stags may have to wait another year of two, if they are even still alive. I have been watching 3 in particular for the past 2 and a half years, or rather my trail cameras have, and I have picked up cast antlers that verify their size at just over 30' inches. Still I wait and continue to learn from those friends that have afforded me their time and advice, to all of them I thank you.   

One of the Stags I have bee following for a few years, I hop he is still alive after the fires.