After the long but successful Hog deer hunt in April, I needed a break for a little while but as the days turned into weeks I started to get the bug again, time to get into the high country and chase the truly tough stuff, south Pacific’s toughest game animal the Samba deer. Matt and I regularly went up to hunt Sambar and a trip was soon arranged with a friend john, matt, Elyas and me. May is a good time to hunt Sambar, too cool for snakes but not too cold to have to get rugged up, or so I thought.

After once again packing everything that is required as well as what maybe required in any situation we set off for a hunt in Victoria’s alpine high country. We arrived up there very late at night and found matt and john had hit the hay early after hunting that day. So I quickly dumped all the gear out of the car set up the swag and hit the hay as well. In the morning a quick stoke of the fire, a hot brew and then the longest part of all; deciding where we were all going to hunt. After dressing myself up in full camouflage and then ragging Elyas up in some warm clothes, we set out on a brisk walk to the hunting area.

We soon separated, 1km off set matt and 1km the other way went john. I decided to stay in the middle; it looked flatter and safer in case of emergency. We agreed on a call in on the UHF’s at 12pm and then every hour on the hour from then on, if a shot was made turn the UHF on and wait for the shooter to call in. Even at such a young age Elyas was fascinated by everything, from showing him deer poo, he too wanted to smell it, to small purple flowers which started a great tradition of bringing home his mother some of the local flora (stick and leaves) or geology (river rocks). The backpack seemed to have gained a little weight (kids grow so fast) since the hog deer hunt either that or the country was much steep, probably a combination of both!

After an hour fresh sign was found, tracks and pellets nice and slimy green. I followed the tracks until it was 12pm, time to make the first call in. Turning the UHF on I waited and within seconds both matt and john checked in and gave approx positions on the map, then a flash of brown and orange caught my eye…….deer. I stopped talking and watched a large stag on a fast trot get 80m away and stop. I tried to get a bead on the stag with the 300wsm but when he did stop to glance back he covered his vitals with a large snow gum. He had in my mind massive antlers, one was covered by another tree but when he continued on I saw both of them, long and curved. Picking the UHF up I told the other what had just happened.

The stag had probably been wandering to find a secure spot to bed, and was disturbed by john, deciding that he go over the hill he had cut across my track and come from behind then been startled by my scent, and moved quickly to my left behind me, if only I had been slower. I don’t know how much slower I could have gone but I was disappointed that the animal had escaped especially having come from behind, I did consider myself lucky though to see a Sambar within 1 ½ hours of hunting.

That was the only excitement Elyas and I had until the 3pm call in. Resting the pack with El in on a large rock I loosened the straps giving myself the ability to glass the valley in front. We all checked in on the UHF’s and then I saw another orange flash……..could it be. Yes another Sambar, making sure the wind was in my favor I tightened all the straps, double checked that nothing could come loose and placed a round in the camber. All I had to do was cover 50m to give myself a clear shot from a large eucalyptus tree, otherwise I would be taking the risk of the bullet deflecting off the tea tree and scattered ferns.

With no word of a lie it took me 50 minutes to cover that 50m, the Sambar now identified as a hind regularly checked the vicinity. I did everything right, showing El the deer he seemed excited too. I placed one foot at a time in between lying twigs and leaves, shuffling my feet so as not to make any crunching sounds. My shoulders aching from the pack I wanted to hurry up and get to the tree, but knowing Sambar any sudden movement and she would have bolted without hesitation. Words simply cannot describe time but eventually I made it to the gum tree. I resting my arm on the tree I placed my rifle on top in a shooting position, signaling El to block his ears and to stay steady I readied for the shot.

I placed the crosshairs on the deer standing 80m away I looked at taking a chest shot, and then realized that I had the opportunity to take a high shoulder and cleanly dispatch a deer with the minimum of fuss. When the hind next looked up I imagined the spine and shot high on the shoulder. The roar of the 300wsm echoed through the valleys, and well before the echoes had stopped the hind had dropped, the failsafe had sheared through the top of both the shoulders but most importantly shattered the spine. I was rapt, turning my UHF on I called the guys, they had heard the shot. I told them what had happened, and they jokingly replied "you’ll be right you can carry it out on your own". I gave them my GPS co’ ordinates and celebrated with Elyas. I propped the camera on a near log and snapped away with a few photos, it was at this time I noticed he was decidedly quiet. I took him out of the pack and sat him next to the deer so he could soak it all in. he patted the deer showed me her ears and eyes. I took some photos to capture the moment we had just accomplished a great feat, we had taken a Sambar together; we had managed to hunt in fair chase a wild Sambar together he at the tender age of only 2 1/2, I then started the hard work of butchering.

Then El started to cry, unsure as to why I checked him over. No dirty nappy his hands seemed fine, it wasn’t until I checked his feet I notice they were frozen! I made an emergency fire and took his leather boots off, warming his feet near the fire. I had been walking and had not noticed the drop in temperature as I had been moving and focused on the deer. I notified the boys and continued both butchering and keeping my son near the fire. By the time the boys had arrived I had the deer in pieces but still crying child. Quickly packing El back in the pack we all took a piece of deer and head off to camp it was about a kilometer away. John was quickly out of sight, Matt however stuck by and helped steady me through the creek crossings and uneven marsh grasses.

With El still crying I was starting to panic, we stepped up the pace as fast as my aching body could go; I dropped my front half of the deer in a fork of a tree and started to run back to camp. When I arrived at camp John had the fire going and I quickly warmed El up by it, also giving him some medication for a lump on the head he had received whilst I was running back to camp. It wasn’t long before El warmed up and actually volunteered to go to bed! Whilst relaxing after he had gone to sleep I revealed in my achievement, I thought I may have a slight chance to do a grand slam of all six deer species with El, but it was probably a dream?