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

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

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.