Thread: It's that time again... Sambar Rut

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

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

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.

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.

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)

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

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.

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

Nice looking animal Mm , well done ..

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

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.

Looks like spring has sprung up our way.

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.

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

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.