MY 2003 SAMBAR SEASON

I was looking forward even more than usual to this seasons hunt, although it was touch-and-go whether I was going to get in at all. It was Thursday before the final weekend and with no sign of an imminent arrival of our new baby I was given the go-ahead to head south for a look for a sambar.

One reason I was especially keen was the opportunity to see if the young, but trophy six pointer I'd let go in the 2002 season was still around, and what he'd look like now. I called the absentee landowner that same Thursday evening and I was pleased to hear that he hadn't heard of anyone hunting 'my' steep little gorse and pine patch near Wanganui but he confessed he hadn't been anywhere near the place for a while.

Saturday morning and I'd heated up with the climb to my observation spot, despite the very chill pre-dawn air. It was still and calm and I knew the sun would peek over the hills in a few minutes -absolutely ideal conditions to catch a tropical deer like a sambar having a quick bask to let the dew dry off them. I was about to dump my day pack when I spotted a dark figure moving away along the farm track below me. My first reaction was "darn, another hunter".

A check with my rifle scope however and I could see the solid round arse of a sambar, but more eye-catching was the sheer width of the antlers – and don't they always look so big from a rear angle?

I tore into my bag to find my spotting scope and to assemble the leupold pack away legs. Mounting and focussing the scope where he'd last been showed nothing. BIG MISTAKE! I should have kept looking up to see if he'd turned. I now thought his most likely route was up the gully between us, but being unsure I thought I'd wait. Another mistake -I should have trusted my hunch and gone down to intercept him -this would have given me an ambush at less than 80m.

But     I waited. Not too long though, five sambar moved out into the first sunrays on a clearing opposite from me. Three beautiful slate-grey hinds, a yearling and a fawn. The fawn and yearling ran around chasing each other and even one of the hinds joined in the high jinks for a minute. Pure pleasure for me, a wild deer enthusiast. I kept an eye out however for the stags expected reappearance somewhere.

Appear he did, he emerged out the far side of the gully I thought he'd gone in. My binoculars told me here was a trophy to rival my benchmark mount back home on the wall. No time for a live Douglas Score, he was moving toward the unthinned pines; probably he felt he'd already delayed in the open long enough. Approx. 300m shot felt too far for a tough animal like a wandering mature sambar stag on the edge of dense cover, I'd hate myself more if I wounded and lost him. I wanted to be sure of the shot -or I wouldn't shoot at all.

I scurried down the gully toward him, trying not to 'twang' the fences. I did well and my next view was over a ridge-crest 80m from him -or at least where he'd last been. It seemed he'd made the pines, and that was probably his dash for the day. He wouldn't have kept a good rack by being too brave!

I waited there for an hour to be sure, watching a hind sun herself on a gorse face made the time pass quickly. I also knew better than to upset the undisturbed stag in his bedding area; there was always tonight or maybe tomorrow?

Studying the hinds showed how attentive they were to all the sounds of nature and they really paid attention to stock disturbances or any alarmed bird sounds.

I left after watching the last hind and yearling finally move into deep cover as the local farmers 'putted' nearer on their quads. The neighbouring grazier I bumped into was almost in disbelief about my claim to have seen a few sambar -he said he only occasionally saw a deer round these parts.

That evening I returned, but knew the brewing rain cloud and cool wind counted against me. But all was not wasted! I watched what I still think was a seven point stag feed down through some small gorse clearings.

Through the 40X spotting scope he seemed to have an extra 'bay' tine on his right antler. The whitish antlers I've come to associate (rightly or wrongly) with younger stags. A few years ago I would have been happy to take him, but the morning's big stag sighting had made me lose all interest in anything else.

I was pretty much pinned down in my cover by a suspicious peacock -but I couldn't help laughing at him as the strong wind spun him around like a weathervane to always point into the wind. Long tail feathers do have their problems!

I was there even earlier Sunday morning, but the fine misty rain kept me under the trees for the first hour, and I wasn't surprised I didn't see any deer on the exposed faces. I then headed down into a gully and found a hind and fawn feeding on the lee side. The weather picked up but I couldn't find any more animals, so I returned to my lookout knob, to gather my gear to head back to Taupo to keep up the bargain struck at home to let me get away for the weekend. Then I had one of the most memorable sessions in my dozen years of sambar hunting!

My 'last' sweep with the 15X binos settled on a dark bum at the edge of a grassy clearing on the gorse knob about 500m away, and on the wide 'U' tops hovering either side of his shoulders as he fed!! You can imagine the buzz. It was 10.10 AM. This time I got the spotting scope into action, and my first reaction was "what a beauty". While trying to pick a route to somewhere I could get a shot from, I watched him. Then it dawned on me -he'd broken off 2/3 of his right brow tine! It wasn't the stag of yesterday who'd had prominent brows.

I could only see him because of my elevation; I knew that once below his knob his body would not be visible over the gorse. A shot would probably not be possible. The broken brow made this realisation easier to accept, and being the last day of the season I knew by rights he should now live to next season, when I could try for him again.

For 30 minutes he treated me to all profiles of his antlers, often standing frozen, chewing, with his head up looking and listening to the sounds of the farming activity down the valley. With matching brows he would easily have made 180 DS, but I could see he was still below his peak. My mature 1995 trophy had a neck a bit resembling an angus bull, this one wasn't there yet.

I felt he was the young trophy I let go last year, and this experience was now a reward for my choice then. Suddenly he walked purposefully into the gorse and was gone. I picked up my spotting scope and turned toward the car, still riding a real 'high'.

Until next year!

-Roger Stokes

How to Hunt Sambar Deer : 101.

This article is written to address those requests from people who are new to the game of hunting Sambar. It is not written to be the definitive thesis on the subject but it is intended to improve the chances of the first timers that have drawn a ballot block.

The first thing to remember in hunting Sambar is that they are not Red’s and that they are living in very close proximity to humans on a daily basis. Yet they are not often seen, which is a very neat trick; given their size.

The Manawatu – Wanganui herd, live in an area that is predominated by sheep and beef farms, dairy farms, and forestry blocks. As such there is a continuous stream of noise from motor bikes, cars, dogs and people working the land and the human scent is therefore there continuously. So that it’s only when you get up close and personal that they react to it, by bolting away. This is not to say that you can afford to hunt down wind but more to point out why inexperienced hunters will spend a morning walking around a block and not put any thing up and therefore prove that, “there are no damn Sambar in that block”. Sambars response to humans is often to actually lie down and wait for you to pass; and you can get within 10 m and still not be sure that they are not sitting tight waiting for you to walk by. That does not mean that they stand out in the open in fact they prefer the biggest pile of blackberry and gorse or cut over trees they can find. I have not seen it but have been told by greater experts than I that if they do not think that they have been spotted that they will also creep away by crouching on their forelegs and that they will even hide under water with just their nostrils above water level. ( Before you scoff remember that they are a tropical swamp deer ).

They have very large ‘Mickey Mouse ears’ which are very well used, and good eyesight (but are colour blind as are the other deer species) and a great sense of smell. Their coloration is a perfect ‘dead gorse brown’ with the occasional older stag looking a dark gray if he is wet. They are an extremely powerful animal capable of launching into a full run in an instant. So you have to hunt them on their terms; after all they have spent the last 5 million years avoiding tigers and the like, so most humans are easy to avoid.

So; rule number one GO SLOW.
Rule number two GO EVEN SLOWER.
If you forget rule number two then go back to rule number one.

If you are hunting Sambar in close cover, (which is where they will be hiding during the day), you should be moving at approximately 100m per hour. (That’s Rule number one.) Moving this slow is very hard on the brain and on the knees because Sambar unlike Red’s will not look over the top of a bush but are more like Sika and will look under the bush. So you need to be low and look along the ground for something looking back at you.

A set of binoculars is as important as your rifle. In close conditions such as hunting 5 to 10 year old pines that have not been thinned; normal vision is to the first line of trees and maybe part of the second row. Use binoculars and you can focus through the gaps and see 5+ rows deep. Try it in the bush or in the local park you can then see how it increases your ability to pick out things that you cannot see at all without them. Having got your binoculars out; lie on your belly and do a 360 deg sweep. Move up 5-6 m and repeat the sweep keeping as quiet as possible.

This sort of hunting is hard on the brain and maintaining concentration is hard. So when you realise you are thinking about whether you are winning Lotto tonight; then stop. Have a chew bar, drink or a sleep where you are. When the brain is back in gear, then move on again, SLOWLY. Zig Zagging across the block into the wind is the best way to cover a block such that a 5 ha block can easily take you half a day.

Covering the face and the hands is very important. Remember that you are in their back yard and you are probably going to shoot at less than 30 m because that is how close you will be and your hands and face will give you away. Deer are colour blind but they can see the light colour and movement of your face and hands. I had the neat experience to be caught in full view of a hind and her fawn at 25 m with both of them watching me and they were not worried about the High Visibility gear bag I was also wearing. It was only when I moved too quickly that they parted for the hills.

I wear a High Visibility bum bag and have been told by the guy hunting the next block to me that he was sitting and watching when he heard a noise and saw my bright orange bum sneaking past, so did not need ( I hope ) to put the scope on me to identify his target. Remember that in the Public Ballot Blocks; the deer should out number the hunters, but not necessarily by much and that part of the licence conditions is that High Visibility clothing is a Licence Condition.

Sambar are BIG and they can take a serious amount of stopping, hence the conditions on rifle calibre, bullet weight etc. Sure any calibre will kill and I will not get into the never ending debate on the perfect calibre. However there is this to consider. You are most likely to get your shot in very dense cover. Therefore if you do not drop it on the spot they may only run 50m, but that might as well be China if it is in a raupo swamp or Auckland in a pine forest. Chest shot stags have been tracked for miles and still lost. So if possible take a head or neck shot that are going to drop them instantly.

Finally do not be put off if your block is not the size of half the Ruahines. If it was and if you hunted it properly you would never cover it. Try to get a look over it prior to the weekend and find out where they are living. Yes you will be putting your scent over the area but so did the last logging contractor, dirt biker, dog sledder and horse trekker that walked the road half an hour ago. Don’t be put off, remember that these deer live there all the time and human activity is normal for them. So remember rule number one, then find the heaviest cover you can dive in and have fun.

Oh by the way, rule number three is, ‘Don’t let a chance go by’.

Neil Hammer – Chairman.