Sambar with the 444 and a trout

[Aussie Chris]

Went Sambar hunting to my usual spot a few days ago. Took a mate I work with that is in the process of getting his shooters licence and deer stalking game licence. Teaching him my limited knowledge of hdeer hunting. To top it off we did well, I shot a sambar hind with my 444 Marlin.

The deer was about 50 metres away in the bottom of a shaded gully, I could hear her moving about 5 mins beforehand and tried to stalk up to where I thought she was. Plenty of fresh tracks and sign were everywhere! When I saw her she shot off to the right, down the centre of the gully. By the time I pushed the safety off (gay push button that I shouldnt use) and put the rifle up, she was running away about 100m away. I quickly centred the Williams peep sight and pulled the trigger. I was sure I hit her and watched her keep running, losing sight of her in the thick scrub.

In the meantime I could hear another deer crashing away to my left, possibly a stag hanging around. I shouted to my mate who was about 100m behind me (with my old sambar gun Tikka T3 in 30.06) to have a quick look for the other unseen deer.

My mate couldnt find the other deer so we set about looking for mine. Went to where I shot her, plenty of fresh tracks everywhere but none clear to really follow, and no jolly blood anywhere! At this stage I am starting to think did I miss? I am not a bad shot but 100M open sights with the triple 4 started to make me think....

We put our gear in a clearing amongst the blackberries in the middle of the gully and I said 'we are not going anywhere until we find the deer'! Started to look around in really thick scrub aand after half an hour I found her lying about 30M from when I last saw her. Very little blood but a huge entry hole from the triple 4 that left some broken rib exposed, no exit hole. The bullet penetrated the left flank below the spine and judging from some bubbles in the blood I assume it hit her throught the lungs and other vitals. She also looked as though she broke her neck in the fall to where she lay. She was around 30m from where she was initailly hit with my 265gn Hornady interlock reloads.

Got plenty of good meat including both hind quaters, both front legs and the best, the back straps. Heres a couple of pics. And also a pic of the biggest trout ive ever caught, which I ate with mum and my brother the other night. Tasted delsih as did the sambar steaks I enjoyed last night with my housemate from this deer! Overall a great successful time with good mates

Chris

[86er]

Very nice! I love Sambar. Good shooting and nice fish!

[Blaine]

Good deal...

[hfcable]

great story and pics. nice sambar and trout! times like that are really good, and good in the remembering years later too.

where are the trout down there? in the Snowy Mtns?

[bdhold]

you look like you're having fun.
Thanks for the story and photos.

[Old Savage]

Nice work there.

[olyinaz]

Great "after action report"!

Thanks!

Oly

[Borregos]

Very nice, well done
How big do the Sambar get??

[BigSky56]

Good shooting Chris, Its hard to beat those hornady interlocks they work just as good as the high $ bullets. danny

[Sixgun]

Nice pics dude! (and great story )-----------Sixgun

[wolfdog]

Nice! Never shot a sambar(never even seen one), then again never shot a trout either.


One of my brothers did take a steelhead with a 12 gauge slug once though.

[Nath]

Excellent report

Nifty shooting too!

Nath.

[rjohns94]

well done Chris!

[shawn_c992001]

Never knew you Aussies had trout! Hmmm, learn something new every day. Nice fish too!

[Chuck 100 yd]

What time is supper???

[FWiedner]

Well done, Chris!

I knew that water swirls the opposite direction going down a drain down in your land, but I was totally unaware that the deers grow with their heads upside down.

The world is a curious place.

[BenT]

What a great day!

[kimwcook]

Excellent! Great job! How's work?

[Aussie Chris]

Thanks guys

hfcable, the trout get stocked up in a couple of big pondage areas and flow everywhere. I am suure there would be some in the Snowy Mountains. I have hunted deep in the alpine national park in an area called The Wonangatta (holy grail of sambar hunting) and have seen them in fresh water streams and rivers there.

Borregos from wikipedia: ''The appearance and the size of sambar vary widely across their range, which has led to considerable taxonomic confusion in the past; over forty different scientific synonyms have been used for the species. In general, they attain a height of 102 to 160 centimetres (40 to 63 in) at the shoulder and may weigh as much as 546 kg (1,200 lb), though more typically 150 to 320 kg (330 to 710 lb). Head and body length varies from 1.62 to 2.7 m (5.3 to 8.9 ft), with a 22 to 35 cm (8.7 to 14 in) tail.[2] Individuals belonging to western subspecies tend to be larger than those from the east.[3]''

Here are a couple of pics, my stag is the smaller 15'' one. Antlers can grow to above 30'', check out the massive body of the huge mature stag in the smaller pic! Now thats a trophy sambar!

[Aussie Chris]

Danny, gotta love the interlocks and you are exactly right! Where is your avatar pic gone?

Wolfdog, cant say ive ever shot a trout either haha!

Chuck, come round on sunday, cooking a venison roast at a mates while we enjoy watching Terminator 2 once again!

Gday Kim, works going well mate, on leave at the moment 3 weeks off! Ill be getting my stripes on my shoulders soon! Hope the move is going well mate!

Chris

[Ysabel Kid]

Excellent!

[ollogger]

Wow great pix. sounds like there a great animal too
are they native to India? Got a old book this guy hunted saladang, sambar & tiger in India, good book
You guys got alot of big stuff they shipped in years ago dont ya?


ollogger

[1894c]

Very nice! I love Sambar. Good shooting and nice fish!

+1 -- nice deer...deer hunting in May, now that's an idea whose time has come...only kidding... :)

[AJMD429]

One of my brothers did take a steelhead with a 12 gauge slug once though.

Was it a quick and humane kill...? I hate to think it might have suffered...

[JFE]

Well done on the Sambar. For those not aware, a Sambar of any size don't come easy. They are very elusive, difficult to hunt and even when hit hard have a tendency to travel quite a distance.

Those big calibers just do it so much easier too.

[vanilla_gorilla]

Very interesting. I've never hunted sambar, but I hope to change that here in a few months. We have a local island in the Gulf of Mexico that is well-populated with them and I intend to hunt them soon. Have to use bow or muzzleloader for ours, though.

[JFE]

Sambar, in their native country (India), were the preferred prey species of Tigers and have well developed skills to avoid being taken by Tigers, let alone humans. This is what makes them such a great game species to hunt. Here they are even hunted by hound crews (legally) and deer still manage to avoid being taken. People that have taken both suggest that in tems of tenacity to live and ability to absorb massive amounts of bullet energy, they are often compared to African game. The problem with Sambar in our High Country is that you're often hunting in thick scrub, making them difficult to find once you've made a good shot.

[Aussie Chris]

Sorry bout the late reply.

Everything JFE has said is true.

They originally came from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and even parts of Cambodia -I found this when I was over there a couple of years ago.

As JFE has said, their natural predator is the tiger. Due to this they are extremely skitish having an excellent sense of smell and also excellent hearing.

I have heard from many, including a few yank hunters that they are the hardest deer to hunt. Having only hunted Sambar, I cannot agree or disagree but all I know is it aint bloody easy getting one! I do not hunt with hounds, and do not agree with hunting with hounds for my own reasons. Walking them up, or stalking them is the way to do it in my book.

Do a bit of Sambar hunting JFE?

Chris

[JFE]

I do try to get out after Sambar and occasionally get lucky. Sadly though, I haven't nailed one with levergun yet and is something I need to work on.

[Aussie Chris]

As long as you get out there, it will happen soon enough!
What have you used to take sambar in the past? And what leveraction are you using now?

[JFE]

Mostly I use a 375H&H. I have a few levers, but the ones I'd like to use on Sambar are Browning 71's in 348 or 45/90. I'm a little old school and don't like using scopes on levers and as you know, in dim light a scope works best.

[Aussie Chris]

The old 375 nice choice. Yeah 45-90 cool!

And we don't put scopes on levers, just wrong....beside my 9422 that is

I love my Williams and Lyman peep sights