# Hunting > The Magazine >  It's that time again... Sambar Rut

## Mooseman

Things are warming up nicely with the Sambar starting to rut. Beeman's camera's are busy catching rutting activity in all the areas frequented by Sambar. 
Since late April stags have been recorded scraping out pads, preaching and closely following hind groups. At present there are several stags showing up on a semi regular basis, two or three are small six pointers and there are a few spikers running around trying to get in on the action, but there are at least two that have our undivided attention at the moment.
The first is a stag we named PD ( Pencil Dick ) for obvious reason as he always seems to have his dick out when on the camera shots. This stag was  very good last year and I had a very close call with him on a little spur ridge where I seen his antler top coming up through the pines only to have him cut my wind. Beeman had a close call as well the weekend before so he was rather lucky.

The second, I think was seen on camera last year a time or two but didn't seem to hang around much, but has turned up again looking pretty good. We have named him Dopey as he was seen several times on Dope Cam along with several other camera's. The two stags are distinctly different in antler structure PD has huge tops and a shape similar to a Rusa stag but definitely isn't Rusa. The other, Dopey, has the classic sweeping antlers both stags possibly a  little short in the brow tines but everything else is spot on.

Last weekend as I checked the camera's on my route I started down that same little spur I seen PD on last year. As I approached a small clearing I glanced to my right into a sunny spot to see a big Sambar Stag wheel around and gape it down the spur, what I did see was those long sweeping antlers as he took off, most likely Dopey. 
This block is an un pruned pine block with large trees so you have a lot of small branches that limit your vison which makes it hard to pick up animals especially if they are stationary.



The following two pictures are of PD one in 2017 the other on the 5th June this year. Interestingly PD turned up in 2017 late in June and the last time we seen him he was bald in late November, this year he turned up again a little earlier but again in June where he went for those 6 odd months nobody knows.


The next picture is of Dopey doing the rounds

A couple of weekends back Beeman and his son found an area ploughed up and at first it was thought to be pigs but further scrutiny showed it was a battle between two Sambar stags, the grass area was turned over by the two heavy weights as they fought, what a sight that would been.
Dopey has two scars, one on either side of his body which we think was from this fight as it is in the block PD has turned up in.
The next several  weekends are going to be busy for  us as we try to locate these big boys so watch this post and we will keep it updated.

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## hillclima

Good luck tracking them down, those tops on PD are very impressive!!

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## Danny

Interesting read mate. Keep up the updates and good luck. 


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## Tahr

That was a wonderful post thanks @Mooseman . There will no doubt be a tinge of sadness when you do catch up with one or the other, or both. They are fine looking gentlemen!

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## Mooseman

Yes it is a pity you can't tag and release like fish but one thing is for sure there genes will already be out there. We haven't had  a lot of luck getting a shot a these big fellas we get on camera, the couple of good ones I have got weren't recorded on camera. One thing is for sure it is exciting looking for them.

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## craigc

Thats a neat relationship you have going there. Like the others have said, taking them may come with a bit of regret.

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## hotsoup

They are monsters, shot my first Sambar hind the other week. 

Mean looking stags.

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## Mooseman

Congrats on your first Sambar hotsoup. These boys are monsters alright especially PD, we will be on the trail again in the morning.

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## Gibo

Good luck Brian

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## Mooseman

Cheers Gibo, will keep you all posted.

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## Shearer

Great photos. Having a history with animals always makes it more interesting.
A good shot with a hand held camera is as good as catch and release. More difficult to get than with a rifle too.

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## Flyblown

Loved the writeup, part 1 of who knows how many, they are elusive breasts alright. After years on NZ reds and various American deer species, when I first went into the Vic and NSW High Country I thought “how hard can this be”... tee hee very over confident I was and man did I pay in blood and sweat it just about did my head in. My Aussie mates had a good laugh at my expense as I battled the Sambar in the eucalypts... came out empty handed the first 3 times but finally came right in the fourth with a good stag. Please keep is posted mooseman, love the surveillance and want to know more.

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## Mooseman

Thanks guys we love the challenge, today we did our rounds and had PD turn up on two of the camera's. I put up two different animals the last one was in the gully below the camera ( approx 100 m from camera) I checked the camera and  found that PD had been there last night so there was a good chance it may have been him who I spooked. Beeman had him preaching at the camera he got him on. (  Amazing how those big animals stretch out on there hind legs to scent mark trees)
All the way around the lines we encountered a fair bit of sambar sign, then in several other areas we seen shit loads of red sign where they have been tearing up the skid sites.
When Beeman sorts out a few pictures I will post them, PD is looking humungas the best pictures are on the videos so he is going to try and take a still of them.

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## Mooseman

Over the last couple of weekends we have been busy checking the camera's for the big boys who are busy rutting. Beeman has had our big boy PD show up a couple of times and has spent a bit of time trying to catch him out but to no avail thus far. Unfortunately Dopey appears to have been shot as a stag looking very much like him has  shown up on Facebook saying it was shot in the BOP region, the antler structure certainly looks the same and we have not seen Dopey on any camera's since the 23 May and the stag on Facebook showed up on the 8th June so it don't look good for him.
Another sign that he is likely gone is the appearance of a "New Kid on the Block",  he is a nice-looking but young  stag that needs several more years growing to become a monster like PD.
The last couple of weekends I have had several close calls with animals along the line I do but have yet to sight anything since the one earlier in the month.
This is a picture of the New Kid.

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## Gibo

He looks well fed  :Have A Nice Day:

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## HUNTY

Holy Crap!! Look at the size of the hind quarters on the new Kid..
You may have to do some back stretches and Yoga moves,
 before you try lugging something that size out, Mooseman.

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## Mooseman

Yep, we usually only shoot these big boys if they are close to the road and down hill, dragging 160-200 kg uphill even with a couple of you ain't going to happen. The last stag I shot on Anzac Day we ended up cutting him up and ferrying him out in pieces. We will obviously take a shot at a good stag no matter where he is and then cut him up to get him out.

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## Mooseman

Well today was a good day for stalking/ camera checking , no wind overcast and cool with rain in the forecast and despite all this Beeman and I both never even spooked an animal today. We did get the Big 10 point Red going past one camera and several other deer and pigs. PD the focus of our attention at the moment turned up at one of the wallows and stood there for the video, man is he a nice animal, one anyone would be proud of. I sure hope he doesn't die being chewed by pig dogs like another stag we seen taken a few weekends back.
The areas both of us hunted this arvo were ploughed up with red sign and despite everything being good for the hunt nothing was seen, must be night feeders.

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## top of the south

Youll catch up with them sooner or later Brian

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## Mooseman

Nice to hear from you Rod. We sure hope to get  a look at him soon he is one cracker of a stag. The Video we got last weekend was fantastic. Have to have a talk on the land line soon, away this week chasin coons so will ring you shortly.

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## BeeMan

Sorry @Mooseman couldn't email these to you, bloody computers and email. Here they BEE. You put a story with them.  :Thumbsup:    :Cool:

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## Gibo

Great tops!!!

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## Nick-D

Shit yes. Bloody awesome looking head. Very unique

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## Gibo

Looks look PD

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## Mooseman

Sure is Gibo, ,this weekend just gone we checked most of the camera's and along with another average size Sambar  Stag we got PD on four different camera's. The picture above is on a new spot within his normal range that Beeman found last time we checked out the area. It's on a rut pad and a preaching tree and the resulting pictures  are truly amazing ….he is one big sucker.
Kevin was at one camera at 8.50am and the deer had triggered it at 7.38 am so not to far behind. Two of the camera's I check had PD as well but in both instances be was a bit camera shy and bolted when the video kicked in.
It's pretty frustrating chasing a stag like this especially when you know he is close but you can't quite get the stars to align and manage to get a look at him let alone a shot at him. 
That is what makes hunting so rewarding as when you finally do ( if ever) take a stag like this you have earned it.
The rut is in full swing judging by the rut pads in use so we may still have a chance , will keep you posted.

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## Gibo

Good luck. Hope you are the guys to get him  :Thumbsup:  definitely have put in the work

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## BeeMan

Yeah @Gibo and hopefully he doesn't get chewed up and mauled by the doggers.  :Pissed Off:    We bee hunting hard out.   :Psychotic:

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## top of the south

Looks good will have to get up sometime

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## Mooseman

That would be cool Rod, been a while since you hunted up North, bit different to the wide open spaces of the South. ( mind you, there is  some thick stuff down there.)

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## Mooseman

With the weekend just gone being the first time we have checked most the camera's for three weeks due to possum op's so we were real keen to see what had been about. Both the camera's on wallows had over 200 triggers with some good footage of our target stag PD. PD also turned up on 5 other camera's so he had been busy tracking around his territory. Lots of Redskins as well with one mob of 7 Hinds and yearlings with a spiker.
A new Sambar stag also turned up and we got him on about 4 camera's and most the time he got up and did some awesome preaching, amazing how those big stags can get up on their hind legs and rub there scent glands under there eyes as high as they can reach.
So no luck on PD but good to see he is still dodging the doggers which have been busy up there as well. We got a few different lots of dogs going past camera's so they are a real threat to the sambar.
We will be after him again next weekend weather permitting.

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## Mooseman

Here is a great shot of PD from last weekends pictures, hopefully Beeman can send a few more through shortly

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## Woody

You should be able to see a pattern to his movements since you have records of times and places. Plot it out then build a tree stand perhaps. I doubt I could pull the trigger in such a situation, but it would be nice to get a genuine camera pic of him; and just as meaningful as a trophy ay   :Have A Nice Day:

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## Mooseman

The problem with there patterns is they move a lot at night although we got some good pics in a wallow at 11.30 in the morning and was there for a while. We have thought of the tree  stand but as he ranges over an area of up to 5-6 kms it's near impossible to know where he will turn up next and at what time. We can only hunt on weekends so a lot of the shots we get are on week days.
You are right he is  a top class stag and one that as you say you couldn't shoot and many others are the same, we obviously would take the shot but that is a personal thing. One thing is for sure we have great memories of hunting him and the other deer in the area and the camera shots we have are as you say a trophy in there own right. He is the reason we get out of bed on those cold winter morning and spend time searching for him, being out here is what it's about, taking him in fair chase is a bonus if it happens.

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## Mooseman

Here are a couple of shots, one of PD and the other a promising looking stag which needs 3 - 4 years to become a great trophy.

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## Mooseman

The weekend didn't result in a big set of antlers but Beeman caught PD passing one of his camera's on the 28th so it looks like the doggers haven't pinged him which is good. Going around the camera's this weekend didn't come up with a lot of triggers but we did get a big bodied redskin who was looking rather sad after losing his antlers. The afternoon hunt turned into one of those exceptional ones. I decided to look at an area I hadn't been in since Anzac weekend when I shot a nice Sambar Stag so it was about time we checked it out. Walking up the road to where I cut through the pines to the clear cut revealed plenty of sign ….. nice to see. 
Along the edge of the pines and open country there was plenty of recent activity of deer so I decided to sit a while and watch as it was still early. Nothing ventured out but I seen a lot of sign on the dirt patches so new the animals were moving out there to feed. I got itchy feet after about 3/4 hour so made my way up to the top corner were you enter the big pines. Just before the top I seen a big hind and fawn take off up to the top, I followed , slowly, as I crested the top I spotted movement and found the two animals standing , looking around. I put the cross hair between the hinds eyes but didn't shoot even though I was keen to try the new 6.5x55 out.
I moved closer as they moved into some gorse, as I came round some rubbish both were looking at me from about 15 yards away.... they just stood there and looked I couldn't believe it. Eventually I moved toward them and they trotted off and picked up a couple more deer as they entered the big pines. I followed and as I broke out into the pines there the four of them stood 50 yards away. Eventually they went on there way honking and carrying on. It would have been a bit of a drag to get an animal out from there so I am glad I didn't pull the trigger.
On I went down the ridge and about 5 minutes later I heard a branch break, I listened for more but heard none so carried on only to have a big Sambar honk at me and take off real fast.
 On I went following the ridge which eventually curls around and drops down to the road. I was still in plenty of sign when I spotted a dirt patch below me so dropped down to see if it was a rut pad or pig rooting, it was a rut pad but had no fresh sign in it.
I glanced across the gully and noticed a brown shape so I checked it through the scope and sure enough it was  a hind  and a fawn standing to it's left. I waited again hoping a stag was close but after 5 minutes the hind became restless and started to move uphill, I decided there and then this would be the first kill with my new  6.5x55 and touched the trigger, she ran a bit hen I heard a crash as she came tumbling down. She was the unlucky one as I was only about 200 yards from the road and mostly down hill. It took me about half an hour to drag her down but I had her there just on dark and 15 minutes before Beeman picked me up. What an epic day seeing and passing up those deer (most of them anyway)

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## csmiffy

Good stuff. What does it taste like compared to red deer? Much different or pretty much the same because of the same feed?

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## Mooseman

We find that red deer is better but it makes good small goods like sausages , and salami. It is a personal taste as some people like it as steak etc but there are better in our opinion.

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## csmiffy

Ive had red deer, farm wapiti, fallow and whitetail. Rusa, sambar and sika a bit far away

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## Boaraxa

Nice looking animal Mm , well done ..

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## top of the south

Good to see you blooded the new rifle
We’ll done

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## Mooseman

Yeh we had a good weekend but this weekend was better, Beeman blooded his new Swaro HD5 with two Redskins, one at 273 m and the other at 300 m, me I bombed another Sambar at 50 yards the 6.5x55 works a treat just need to try it at more distance. We are both impressed with the 143gr ELD X they work so well even in other calibers, I won't be changing any time soon.

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## Mooseman

Looks like spring has sprung up our way.

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## BeeMan

The red faces are from the cold and retrieval, @Mooseman didn't tell the full story. I couldn't find the animal from my second shot, with darkness closing in I scoured the area with no joy then returned to the first kill and gutted it. Darkness had closed in by this time so I left my kill to pick up @Mooseman so he could help drag it through the cutover slash and 1 metre high fireweed to the road. We keep in contact with handheld radios, so when I called up I was informed that he was still in the proses of dragging one off the hill and needed a hand. Hence I gapped it to help finish the recovery of a nice fat Samba hind, when we returned to my kill @Mooseman convinced me to have another look for my lost animal which I thought was fruitless and had planned to check the following morning with my trusty hound. I'm glad I have a rubber arm, with nose to ground, boots n arms flailing through slash and scrub Moosemandog found my second kill. Talk about hot, cold, cold hot, sweating dragging and sweating again. Saved me going out the next day. Thanks again @Mooseman.  :Thumbsup:

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## Mooseman

Well Beeman has been busy this weekend , but more on that later. Saturday morning had us checking a few spots early in the piece but to no avail. We then split up to check the camera lines. It has been a couple of weeks since we checked them last so we thought there may be a few triggers.
My line had been busy with deer on all but one camera and fresh sign around. One place we call Waterhole skid had heaps of sign around the mud/waterholes and I am keen to put a camera up to see what's bouncing around there, but looking at the sign it looks like Red stags.(next weekend )
Beeman's line was much the same with heaps of sign about. One place that the sign has been regular Beeman put up another camera to see if PD is passing through. PD was caught on one camera on Friday 14th so hopefully he is still around.
After lunch and checking the camera chips we headed back up the forest for the afternoon hunt. We did a bit of cruising around earlier on and seen several areas with promising sign.
Beeman asked me where I wanted to hunt later in afternoon but as I wasn't sure he said to come out to his "Lookout" and whoever spotted the animal first would take the shot.
 I was keen to see the spot Beeman had shot the two animals a couple of weeks back from so accepted his offer. We arrived there with about an hour and a half of light left and after a short hike we were in position on a commanding high . Shooting distances ranged from around 300 yards out to 650 yards depending where they popped out from.
We settled in with the sun still above the tree line but that soon changed and dropped lower and started casting the evening shadows. I had been watching most of the bush edge but couldn't see a small potion to my left so a bit before dark I move around a bit and almost immediately spotted a stag. Quickly I told Beeman and he to had him spotted. I said he could take the shot if he wished, which he accepted without hesitation.
 Quickly Beeman got himself set up for a 304 yard shot using his 260 with the HD 5 Swaro which he only needs to aim, press the range button, hold the red dot on the spot and shoot. 
At the shot the stag reared up and bolted down the steep face to the bottom only to turn and run at an angle back up the face ( I was starting to panic at this stage and suggested a second shot was needed). By now the stag was at the top of the hill but was on shaky legs and stumbled and fell, tumbling all the way to the bottom.
We gathered our gear and hightailed it to the truck then drove to where we could drag the stag back to. Half an hour later and with darkness just upon us we had him loaded up on the truck. Interestingly the shot was perfect, dead center shoulder with the bullet exiting behind the off shoulder, why he ran not sure as the bullet sure messed the insides, just one of those un explained shots. Bullet was the 143gr ELD X.
View from the "Lookout"   The 100kg plus Redskin

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## Mooseman

One thing we did notice when checking the camera's was a new Sambar Stag at several of the camera's which was a bit of a worry as it may have suggested that PD was not in residence any more.
The stag has been scraping out rut pads and preaching at a lot of the sites that PD frequents. As said above we did pick up PD on the 14th Sept so hopefully he's still about and judging by the amount of scars on this new boy he may have had a few encounters. This one will be a cracker in 3-4 years if he's careful.

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## Cigar

Wicked scars, cool photo

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## Mooseman

The weekends camera check revealed plenty of deer moving about but no further shots of PD this time round. There were several shots of a reasonable stag on a couple of camera's ( see Trail Cam Pic's) as well as this one 
It looks as if the rut is over for another year but the stags still seem to wander around the areas they have been living in for the last several months so we may still get some pictures or maybe even a crack at the big boy , who knows, but we will be out there looking. One thing is for sure if he turns up next year and is bigger than he is now we might end up living up there in the hope of getting a look at him.

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## csmiffy

Dark skin.
Bit like a fallow

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## Mooseman

It's been a while since the camera's have picked up on our star attraction PD. Beeman checked wallow cam yesterday and sure enough PD was there in all his glory around mid day on Saturday.
Funny enough though we didn't check many camera's last weekend and had we done this camera we may have been lucky ….. you never know what's around the corner, it pays to check.
There was also another smaller newbie sambar stag and a very promising looking Red stag with nice looking velvet with a bit of growing still to do.
The first two pic's are PD then the smaller Sambar followed by the good Red.

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## Wildman

That is a bloody big head on PD. 

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## Mooseman

@Wildman you are correct ,we think he has to be up there in the DS the only place he may lack is in brow tine length the rest of his antler growth is great. It is amazing how far these stags move about as Beemans cameras are spread over a fair area and PD seems to turn up on most from time to time, of late he has been on the two outer extremities and he could be traveling further out than those. It makes it hard to work out a pattern but it sure keeps things interesting.

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## Gibo

Ooohhh he is looking bloody good Brian!!

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## Wildman

> @Wildman you are correct ,we think he has to be up there in the DS the only place he may lack is in brow tine length the rest of his antler growth is great. It is amazing how far these stags move about as Beemans cameras are spread over a fair area and PD seems to turn up on most from time to time, of late he has been on the two outer extremities and he could be traveling further out than those. It makes it hard to work out a pattern but it sure keeps things interesting.


Very cool. But his brows aren't short, just short compared to the rest! 

There are reports from round the Manawatu of stags moving up to 10 kms in the same season. ..

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## Mooseman

> Ooohhh he is looking bloody good Brian!!


You are dead right on that one.

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## Mooseman

@Wildman the brows do look short but most likely are better than they look due to the length of the main beams, would be good to even find one of his casts that would give us a pretty good idea on lenght and score.

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## Sideshow

Have you tried measuring them against something in the background? Might give you a good idea. Even stand our put a pole of known length in the spot where he was lying would do the trick. Cheers for the posts :Thumbsup:  I've never seen them in NZ only in Mauritius.
The do driven hunting for them there.

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## Mooseman

@Sideshow we have tried to guess the length by using the skull length method. The average skull length of a Sambar stag (adult) is about 17 inches, by using this which is a bit rough we think he could be in the 37-38 inch in length, may even more due to the curve in the main beam.

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## Sideshow

Cool @Mooseman with luck he has a bigger head than normal then you will be in for a nice surprise if you ever chatch up with him :Thumbsup:

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## Mooseman

Can only but keep trying.

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## Wildman

Something caught my eye the other day reading Bruce Banwell's sambar book. PD looks like he might have a bit of Rusa influence in there with those longer inner tops. Photo below is from his book and the second biggest trophy in there. 

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## Mooseman

We have thought that as there are Rusa in the area. The body on PD is Sambar but if he has Rusa in him it may show in the antlers. I shot a nice Mule Deer in Canada at my son's and the body was all Mulie but it shows characteristics of Whitetail deer in the antler structure, only way to tell is DNA.

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## Wildman

> We have thought that as there are Rusa in the area. The body on PD is Sambar but if he has Rusa in him it may show in the antlers. I shot a nice Mule Deer in Canada at my son's and the body was all Mulie but it shows characteristics of Whitetail deer in the antler structure, only way to tell is DNA.


Yeah there is another Sambar in his book with Rusa influenced antlers but the body is obviously Sambar at over 500lbs... That one in the photo above has antler length of about the same as you are estimating PD @~37" or 38". Either way bloody big and very very cool looking.

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## Mooseman

If we are correct in the estimates it would put him up there in the top 4 or Sambar in NZ. Phil Chalmers who does a lot of measuring Sambar and who has a book at print at the moment on Sambar Trophies does DNA also so he would be the man to check it if we ever get lucky. That one in the book was shot a fair distance from where we are hunting but certainly has very similar characteristics as PD.

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