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A review by Course Participant
Steven Psichalos
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Sambar are the ultimate quarry in
Australia today and it is impossible to hunt this elusive specie
without some level of knowledge and understanding of their behaviour
as I re-discovered recently. I also began to realise
that I was just visiting the bush and that merely turning up
and being in the bush does not in any way make you a sambar
hunter.
Hunting sambar does not come naturally.
Rather, it is one of those things that must be learnt.
Punters rely on luck while successful sambar hunters learn about
the animal they hunt. They study its habits, foods, mating
rituals and all the physical abilities this species has over
the hunter.
"Successful hunters will, and
mostly do, keep their knowledge to themselves. No-one really
shares secrets because everyone is after the elusive stag for
themselves. "
This is why one Friday
evening in late April 2001, I was sitting in Errol Mason's lounge
room sipping coffee in front of an open fire while Errol went
through the steps in his 'Beyond The Basics' Sambar
Deer Hunter Training Course. In my view Errol is
the guru of sambar and most hunters would know him for his 'Secrets
of the Sambar' column in 'Guns and Game' magazine.
The
others on the course had some experience in hunting sambar.
David, a twenty year-old
from Woodend chose to do the course to expand his knowledge
and was encouraged by his father to undertake it, even though
his father was a seasoned hunter of many years experience.
Same applied to Les from Morwell who stated upon arrival:
If I can learn two things, it will be a well worthwhile
weekend. Les also had extensive knowledge of
hunting with hounds. Apart from a sound knowledge
of firearms and calibres, all I knew about sambar was I liked
venison and loved the challenge that sambar hunting offered!
Using
numerous slides of exceptional quality taken from every conceivable
angle, Errol discussed sambar biology including antler development
and shot placement from various angles. This
was a major point of discussion between us the participants
on when to take the shot and when not to take the shot and where
to place the shot. Having a group discussion on the subject
of shooting at wild game in less than perfect situations, as
is the case with most sambar hunting situations, is the most
valuable thing I learnt on the course. Taking the shot
was discussed on the basis of safety, ethics and a realistic
chance of success with time to discuss and contemplate the "what
ifs". This alone will undoubtedly make me
a better hunter and when that magic moment presents itself I
will be properly prepared to do the right and ethical thing
and not be guilty of watching a mortally wounded animal run
off to die a slow painful death!
At
11pm we retired to a cabin alongside Errol's house. It
was clean and modern and very decent accommodation, considering
I was expecting to stay in shearer's quarters. We slept
comfortably until awoken by Errol at 6.00am. After
showering, Errol and his wife Lynne prepared us breakfast and
naturally the topic was sambar and the days schedule.
After breakfast Errol discussed equipment and made the point
that if you rely on sales people who have never hunted sambar
to sell you what you need, you will end up with the wrong things.
Although Errol was critical of some of my equipment
he gave strong practical reasons drawing on his twenty-five
years experience hunting sambar. My $22 aluminium
water bottle has now been dumped for a $10 plastic Platypus
bladder because the water bottle sloshed so noisily it would
have woken the deafest stag when trying to sneak up on him.
My glorious waterproof oilskin overcoat has been
retired to rainy Saturday afternoons at the footy because it's
too heavy and much, much, too noisy for sneaking up on sambar.
Real valuable practical advise. Errol
told me that one day my backpack zips would open and that I
would lose equipment. Surely enough when
climbing out of a gully later in the course one of the zips
opened, allowing my $800 SLR camera to fall out. Luckily
I heard it hit the ground and was able to retrieve it.
No more daypacks with zips for me.
After
morning tea of coffee, tea, cakes and cookies, Errol packed
us into his Nissan Patrol wagon and proceeded to head bush where
we got stuck into looking for "Sambar Sign". This
term summed up the course. Finding sign, ageing and understanding
it. Why is there a wallow here and when would
the animal be there? What is its purpose?
We also spent some time in farm fringe habitat looking for sign
and then did some hard slog in the deep bush climbing up and
down gullies. The area was selected by Errol for
its abundance of sambar sign and he pointed out precisely where
he had found sambar stags before.
We
ate a hearty lunch of fresh sandwiches, fruit and drinks, prepared
by Errol's wife Lynne, just the ticket for the task at hand.
We then proceeded deeper
into the Great Dividing Range and arrived at another farm fringe
spot where Errol had seen plenty of deer in the past.
We proceeded past the private land and climbed a particularly
long steep hill where we discovered fresh rub trees.
Errol discussed the fundamentals of deer behaviour,
especially in country bordering farmland. Prior
to booking I asked Errol about the chances of seeing deer on
the course. His reply was blunt. "Four
hunters crashing through the bush will make it pretty difficult
to get close to sambar, let alone see one but I will see what
I can do".
Carrying
all my gear on the earlier bush walks tired me out so I left
my daypack in the Patrol as did Dave and Les. I
figured all I really needed was my camera to photograph deer
but Errol, being the professional took his day pack complete.
We started by gaining some altitude and climbed a hill
that seemed to go up forever. At this stage I
felt this was weight watchers bush walking weekend because it
was taking a toll on me. These gullies and hills
are not easy. Errol explained that sambar live
in this steep country and if you want to find their sign you
have to get into their country! Errol would chuckle
when I asked the same question over and over; "Are we going
to climb that hill?" After climbing a monster
spur we dropped down the south face. While we
were looking for signs of deer at our feet, Errol was glassing
the north facing slope opposite us. All of a sudden
with finger over mouth he started signalling us to stop.
Four hundred metres across the gully was a large bodied mature
sambar stag in velvet and a spiker. At 5.00pm
Errol had spotted them. This was simply amazing.
Being shown not one, but two, unalerted sambar
stags, neither of which had any idea we were there.
But the largest was ever vigilant. With
nostrils skywards it was constantly scenting the air and looking
around.
For
the reason already explained we didn't even bring our binoculars.
Errol proceeded to get
closer to the deer, while we had a perfect view of the pending
action, we were better served staying put on the face rather
than risk spooking the deer. Errol proceeded down the
gully to get closer. However as time passed
quickly and the darkness approached we realised that we should
have bought our day packs which contained our jackets and torches.
The lesson was learnt because before the course
began, Errol set the equipment requirements and we ignored him.
Errol eventually spooked the deer and at about
6.15pm we started to hike out and up the hill to wait for Errol's
return. We saw his head mounted torch and trekked
towards him, called it a day and headed home.
Back
at Errol's we showered, opened the stubbies and had a hearty
meal of rice with chicken and beef satays. Very
decent food prepared by Lynne and really appreciated after a
long day in the bush. Over dinner we analysed the days
events and concluded that the stags would have been better approached
from above. This would have entailed retracing
our footsteps back up the slope we had come down and working
our way further up the spur so we were level with them and in
a much better position for a shot. With the benefit
of 20/20 hindsight, Errol agreed that his approach had failed
on this occasion because the stags had not descended to the
feed gully below them as he had expected given the time of the
day. Errol also discussed the disadvantages you
face if you try and approach sambar, or any deer species for
that matter, from below.
We all agreed that backtracking is not a natural
response as you want to get closer to the deer, not further
away. This event brought calibres back into discussion.
My view was that provided the hunter was using a long
range outfit such as a 300 magnum fitted with a 12 power scope
and he could shoot it accurately over the distance in question,
then the shot would not have been unethical. Difficult
yes, but far from impossible. Applying theory to the field is
Errol's school's huge strength.
The next morning we returned to
where we had seen the two stags the previous evening.
We spent a couple of hours where
they had been standing analysing the habitat and game trails
leading into the area. We questioned why they had been
at that spot at that time. What had attracted
them? We examined rub trees bearing in mind that only
the spiker was in hard antler, as well as their droppings and
hoof prints which we knew were about sixteen hours old.
After lunch we proceeded to a remote "secret
gully" at the bottom of which Errol showed us an old fighting
arena, wallows and a game trail which weaved its way along the
length of a stream. It was littered with scrapes.
This proved a big lesson for me, one of probably 200 lessons
over the weekend. A compass does not help you if you
have to climb ten hills to get to your car going the way the
"crow flies!" You're best bet is to find a
game trail a stream or gully have sound knowledge of the area
you're hunting. Errol teaches these things to novice
hunters. Have a sound knowledge of the terrain or have
a map. During the course all my beliefs were questioned
and analysed.
It became obvious that Errol is
not doing this just for the money. He is passionate about sambar
and actually wants to educate and promote good sound hunting
practice. I liked the way he explained the reasons behind his
opinion. Sambar, sambar, sambar was the topic all weekend. Errol
did not stop yapping because he wanted to share his knowledge!
Errol has devoted his life to sambar and sambar hunting and
is currently writing a book. He offers guided hunts as well.
The course fee includes everything, even comprehensive notes
on sambar hunting.
Errol
not only covers the basics of equipment, rifles, calibres and
hunting locations, but he puts you in his Patrol and drives into
the bush, and like boot camp, he makes you work the bush, finding
rub trees, wallows, scrapes and game trails. Or
in Errol's words the stag's mating territory. Then he explains
how all the pieces fit together to form a system and he explains
how the deer use each part of the jigsaw. Errol
shows you how to make sense of it all rather than it being a big
mystery. As a result I am now very confident about sambar
hunting and recommend the course to hunters of all levels from
the novice who wants to get started to seasoned deer hunters who
want to know more about hunting this magnificent animal.
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