MY FIRST SAMBAR

My first trip over was to a new member mentoring camp held near Marysville in April 2025. I stayed on for an extra five days, hunting some thick country, seeing some sign and getting honked at twice, but failing to actually see any deer.

It was a great learning experience. I knew this was going to be hard. A special thanks to all the presenters who gave their time, to Rod who let me stay on at his block, and to Ben who showed me around the area.

My second trip was the following month, to attend the ADA Victorian Hunter Education Course, something I had wanted to do for a long time, but work had always got in the way. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in sambar. It could easily be made a day longer, as the presenters had so much knowledge to share.

Trip number three was my second branch camp in August. I arrived around lunchtime after the 1,100 kilometre drive. It was a quick hello to the branch members already there, then I set up camp and headed out for a drive to get familiar with the area and find a spot or two to try over the coming days.

After a couple of early nights and 4 am wake ups, the first two days were uneventful for me, with not much sign seen and the bush being thicker than it had looked during my drive through. Several deer had been taken by other hunters, so I was still hopeful.

On returning to camp on the Sunday night, there was only one other couple left, Christina and Richard. I introduced myself and we had a chat about how the hunting was going and their thoughts on how to pick an area to try at this location, closer to the fringe country than I had been hunting.

After checking the map before bed, I picked a spot for the next day, which saw me driving to the new area, waiting for first light before heading through, noting some more open hill faces and stopping where the wind would be in my favour.

Working my way to what I thought was about two thirds of the way up the face, I started to slowly work across into the slight breeze, stopping regularly to pick the undergrowth apart with the binoculars. The ground was dry and covered in leaf litter, with no fresh sign.

Stopping for a lunch break overlooking a gully, I scanned it several times, wondering where the deer could be.

After restarting and moving about 50 to 100 metres, I had to work through some thick head-high bush when I got honked at and saw my first sambar while stalking…or at least got a quick look at the south end of one heading north. Letting the bush and my heart settle for 15 minutes I continued on and found some fresher sign.

On returning to camp and having another chat with Christina and Richard, they told me they had found some fresh stag sign and had also seen a hind with calf that day, which they had photographed. They generously said I was welcome to try that area the following day, as they had another spot they wanted to check out.

Day four arrived with Christina and Richard just leaving as I finished my porridge. Driving along the track, I came across the spot as they had described it and reversed back about 250 metres to a safe place.

While getting ready and waiting for enough light to start, I noticed the light breeze was perfect for the direction I had planned to hunt. It was also overcast, with rain forecast later that day.

With enough light, I slowly made my way to the gully I planned to hunt down before starting to contour. It was slow going, stopping regularly as new ground became visible. The bush here was more open, so both the deer and I could see further. The ground was softer underfoot, with deer prints and fresh droppings present.

I reached a point just below some large granite rocks where I started to contour across, using the rocks to break my outline. I stopped at a spot where I could glass the face in front and into the next gully, both fairly thick with dogwood.

Resting my rifle in front of me, I began glassing. I could make out a wallaby in front of me and also something dark through the dogwood in the gully that I could not initially identify. Continuing to glass, I returned to the dark shape in the gully and this time could just make out the shape of antlers through the dogwood, complete with white tips above the dark shape.

I had just seen my first stag. The problem was that it was in the thick stuff, and from the profile of the antlers, which I had not seen move, it appeared to be looking straight back at me.

Expecting to get honked and see the stag bolt, I simply enjoyed the moment and continued to watch through the binoculars.

After what seemed like five minutes, the stag turned its head and started walking up the gully. I only got glimpses of it through the dogwood. I picked up the rifle and turned up the scope, knowing that if I was to get a shot it would be through a small opening in the scrub.

Following the progress of the stag, that small window of opportunity opened. The head, then the neck, was clear. I closed the bolt, followed down to where the chest would appear, and fired.

When I regained my sight picture, I could not see or hear a running deer, so I assumed it had dropped on the spot. This is where the emotions of the moment took over. My whole body was shaking as I thought about what had just happened.

After waiting the required 20 minutes before following up, I marked the spot with paper and GPS, then made my way to where the stag had been. I found blood but no deer, marking the location again, about 90 metres from where the shot was taken. Following the deep running marks on full alert, I soon came across the motionless stag where it had fallen, 40 metres after the heart shot.

There was so much to do now. First were a few quick photos, which I sent to Rod and Ben, who had helped so much on this journey. Christina and Richard would have to wait until I was back at camp, as I did not have their number.

I was not sure how big it was, but I knew it was going to the pool room, so I started on the caping and butchering. Just as I had all the pieces separated, the forecast rain arrived.

Four uphill trips later, I had my hunting gear, head and cape, backstraps and eye fillets, and both back legs at the car, which I had been able to move to within 320 metres.

Back at camp, Christina and Richard had returned. I pulled up and showed them what I had been up to that day. I happily accepted their congratulations and thanked them again for their help.

Finishing the caping, salting and a bit of meat preparation had me in the swag at 2 am, cold, wet and tired, but smiling.

The next couple of days were spent re-salting the cape, preparing meat for the trip back to South Australia, boiling the skull cap at Ben’s place, and visiting the taxidermist.

I would like to thank all the members of the Australian Deer Association’s Central Vic Branch for making the branch camps so inclusive, with special thanks to Rod, Ben, Christina and Richard.