Hello from a Down Under sambar hunter,

Sambar Oz

New Member
I’ve been hunting deer here in Australia for 30 years and have been fortunate enough to also hunt in New Zealand and Canada. I hope someday to make a trip to the ‘old country’ and sample some stalking.

Luckily my colonial ancestors released many deer species into the wild here in Australia with 6 species surviving and most expanding in numbers and territory. Red, fallow, chital and rusa exist in good numbers with herds in most states. Hog deer originally from India can be found scattered along the Victorian east coastal strip.

The deer that has best adapted to its new home has been the sambar, which are considered the premier game animal Down Under. After liberation near Melbourne in the mid 1800’s they have colonised all of the mountain forests of central and eastern Victoria and are rapidly advancing along the Great Dividing Range deep into New South Wales toward Sydney 1,000 km to the north.

I hunt sambar in the magnificent eucalypt forests of the Victorian high country at between 2,000 and 4,000 feet with frequent snow experienced at this time of year. Not something most people associate with Australia.

The minimum legal calibre for sambar is .270 with 130 gn bullet. The most common calibres used are 30/06 and 300 magnums with 180 grainers. My favourite sambar rifle is a left handed Browning A-bolt stainless stalker in .338 winchester magnum. Heavy calibres are favoured due to the size of the sambar and preferred forested habitat.

Look forward to reading of the experiences of the other members and hopefully I can contribute with some info and stories from the other side of the world.

Some pics of Australian sambar deer country:

SambarCountry4.jpg


SambarCountry2.jpg


SambarCountry1.jpg


SambarCountry3.jpg


Cheers,

Sambar Oz
 
g,day samba and welcome to the site. was in brisbane/qld in 2009 and hoping to be back in 2012 then hopefully for good after that. went over racing stockrods in the aussie title race representing uk. (got a puncture lap 5 game over lol) so dint get any hunting in but hope to do next time. if your ever over this side of the world let me know and i,ll see if i can do owt for you. atb stav
 
Hello mate and welcome to the site, I am looking forward to reading some of your stories.

John
 
hi sambar

just spent a few months in aus (quite a while in vic) went on AHN looking for a swap or stalk but no takers. Did a bit of roo hunting in geelong which was good if a little brutal. Would have loved to do a bit of deer. My inlaws in tas and other relatives in geelong so there will be other chances. Could do a swap perhaps?
I drove over 10000 km in aus and didnt see a single deer. In uk if i drive from oxford to london on the a40 m40 I often see deer. This is no doubt due to the open space you guys have. The stalking must be very different.

onya

Pete
 
Greetings Sambar Oz,

and welcome to SD. Thanks for the pics and informative intro. I lived in Melbourne for 8 yrs but never hunted deer whilst in Oz. Have done a fair bit of hunting here in UK and Africa and NZ (where I'm from)

How did you find hunting in NZ compared to Oz? Is it similar to NZ with lots of national forest fairly free to shoot, without too many restrictions or more like USA with tightly controlled permits required?

Tell us more about the style of hunting in Oz. Here in the UK deer stalking is very controlled with permissions often hard to get and tightly held. There is a lot of shooting from high seats on farmland and in forested areas and not as much spot and stalk as say in Africa or NZ.

How heavily are deer hunted in Oz? Here they get hammered, particularly on the forestry commission grounds in Scotland.

Would be good to see some pics of what you have shot over the years... if you are willing to share?

All the best
regards
50/50
 
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