Caught this young bloke out

[John Gryphon]

Sneaking about as one is want to do I saw a spikey up ahead of me and using a berry bush clump as cover i doubled up and moved up into the ambush zone, dwindling daylight didn't help me at all and with slow shutter speed and high ISO resulting in ordinary pics,however as the subject is the elusive sambar stag they are 'acceptable'.
The spikey had moved into cover and an errant swirling breeze alerted a hind to my prescence with this stag in attendance.They crossed in front of me and rapidly firing off shots i got a few pics,many others I scrubbed as soon as I reviewed them as all the wrong cons buggered them.

He is only a young stag but none the less shows the bulk his kind obtain..you can learn a lot about calibres and projectiles when you regularly take sambar deer.

Minimum calibre in Victoria by law is .270 win btw.

Oops! something`s up.

spinning around

the getaway

 

[cyberstag]

He's built like a brick sh--house! Does anybody farm Sambar in Oz? I'd like to give them a go. Never managed to see one when I was there in the 60's but did shoot a wallaby near Sale.

 

[docholiday]

looks like he wold make a few burgers

 

[John Gryphon]

He's built like a brick sh--house! Does anybody farm Sambar in Oz? I'd like to give them a go. Never managed to see one when I was there in the 60's but did shoot a wallaby near Sale.

Sambar are indeed brick dunnies!

A few are farmed,they are not as tractable as the reds etc They were being hybridised with rusa 20 odd years ago but that eventually folded.

Doc thats exactly what I had for a feed last night,I minced up a lump of sambar mixed with minced pork and made a few burgers.

 

[Lakey]

Hey John, Wonderful pics as always. What sort of weight would a stag like that go ?, and if you shoot them far from home how on earth do you move em?


Lakey

 

[John Gryphon]

Lakey he might hit 38-40 stone in your parlance.

We cut them up onsite and make multiple trips. I use a game saw and 1/4 them and using a pack frame carry the 1/4`s out ..uphill and down dale. I only shoot meat animals close to where i can get vehicle access these days..decent stags anywhere!

 

[wagne]

bloody lovely beast

 

[jewfish]

Great animal I love his dark coat , when I get back to Ozzie they wil be on my list for sure!
Keep them fine photos coming John

 

[sharkey]

He's built like a brick sh--house! Does anybody farm Sambar in Oz? I'd like to give them a go. Never managed to see one when I was there in the 60's but did shoot a wallaby near Sale.

There is a few of us with them.They are a bit different to reds to work as they are defensive in the yards & twice as strong kilo for kilo.I "try?" to keep "protected contact" when inside yards with them & try to work them from above.They are great in the paddock though because they are way more intelligent than any of the other species of deer or antelope.They generally move through gates & laneways well so long as they have somewhere to go & you can help them figure out what you want them to do (not flighty like fallow,or "mad" like chital).They eat just about everything including most invasive weeds that even goats wont touch, so I use them in a rotation to clean up the enclosures after other species.No herbicides when you have sambar.

Rusa are pretty easy to work, particularly moluccan rusa which are a pleasure.The crosses produce fertile offspring,& a few tried to produce the temperament of the 90kg mollucan in a 220 kg sambar.It failed, but not before it polluted most of the captive herds of pure mollucan rusa down here.Don't believe the sales pitch of some in the industry,there are no pure wild herds of M rusa on mainland Aus, & only two small captive herds remaining.There are still plenty of pure wild Javan rusa though.

To give an idea of the increasing abundence of sambar.In 1967 there was "relatively" 3000 wild sambar in Victoria.In the early 90's 40 000 was the relative figure.Today there is between 125 000 & 250 000 sambar in Victoria.The hunter harvest in the last few years has been at least 35 000 per year,but more need to be taken,or they will continue to increase & no longer be seen as a valuable addition to our fauna.

Cheers Sharkey

 

[bewsher500]

Lakey he might hit 38-40 stone !

Jeesus!

perspective is difficult to judge but he looks like a little sika.
He must be MASSIVE!

funny, I know a Kiwi bloke that looks like your average bloke from a distance...its only when he gets close that you realise his is 6'6" and 20 stone!

 

[scrumbag]

Lakey he might hit 38-40 stone in your parlance.

We cut them up onsite and make multiple trips. I use a game saw and 1/4 them and using a pack frame carry the 1/4`s out ..uphill and down dale. I only shoot meat animals close to where i can get vehicle access these days..decent stags anywhere!

Strewth! And I thought it was sweaty halling a couple of decent sized fallow bucks around!

Keep the photo's coming mate, really enjoy 'em!

 

[Munkjack]

He is a beauty!

 

[Aidy223]

On a point of etiquette John I thought I'd leave a comment as I frequently view your picture threads. I absolutely love your Aussie wildlife photos. Keep them coming!
Now, if only I could get the wife to leave her mum, there's a job up Albury/Wodonga way I'd love to take.

 

[John Gryphon]

You know Aidy223 the point of making a reply is that it is a contribution to the forum which forums revolve around and its not necessarily one to my ego haha...taking the effort of posting pics on this archaic computer is a pain,its worse when there are 1000 views and barely a reply.

And there are also more than a handful of Aussie members on here that rarely bother either,they can GFT`s of course.

Now on the strength of your reply I have picked you out as being a recipient of my " choose a replier " scheme and you have a weeks hunting sambar with me gratis...oh you can buy a slab of Guinness ...I love it!

I will award another week of hunting in time.

PM me an email address for your hunt details.

 

[Aidy223]

You know Aidy223 the point of making a reply is that it is a contribution to the forum which forums revolve around and its not necessarily one to my ego haha...taking the effort of posting pics on this archaic computer is a pain,its worse when there are 1000 views and barely a reply.

And there are also more than a handful of Aussie members on here that rarely bother either,they can GFT`s of course.

Now on the strength of your reply I have picked you out as being a recipient of my " choose a replier " scheme and you have a weeks hunting sambar with me gratis...oh you can buy a slab of Guinness ...I love it!

I will award another week of hunting in time.

PM me an email address for your hunt details.

Cheers John! I will definitely be looking to do the rounds of a few mates in Oz within the next couple of years so I hope to take you up on that!

 

[John Gryphon]

No sweat Aidy,PM replied to.