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Beyond the Basics Training Course

Errol Mason’s Hunt Smart^®
‘Beyond the Basics’ Training Course

Strong Demand for Sambar Training

After writing 40 consecutive articles over 10 years for my ‘Secrets of the Sambar’ column in Guns & Game - and now having published Secrets of the Sambar Volumes 1 and 2 - I thought I had provided so much information that no one would ever have a need to attend my ‘Beyond the Basics’ Training Course. However since Volume 1 hit the shelves precisely the opposite has happened. Demand has gone through the roof.

Who Attends

Attendees come with a variety of experience. They range from complete newcomers to those who have been unable to set eyes on a stag in 20 years of hunting. They also include those who have successfully taken a trophy stag but have had many lean years since.

Why Hunters Attend

Students have explained that they can only absorb so much by reading. But if shown, and then actually perform a task they instantly grasp it. This is known as ‘kinesthetic learning’. Research shows that 70 per cent of people learn much better by actually seeing something demonstrated and then doing it, rather than just reading about it. This is why hands-on training plays such an important role in education today.

Two Days ‘Hands On’ in the Bush

Unlike the early days when I walked around in a ‘fog’ occasionally getting a shot at a fleeing sambar, I now hunt using my ‘Hunt Smart’ system. This system is based upon a thorough understanding of sambar behaviour and comprises many key pieces. A thorough understanding and the correct application of each piece is vital if you wish to become a consistently successful hunter.

Consistent with the principles of kinesthetic learning I guide students, step by step through actual hunting scenarios. Students sit in the exact spot where hunters sat when they fired at stags and hinds. I explain why the deer were there, and the process I went through in deciding on the tactics to be used.

Using their own bino’s - plus bino’s and a spotting scope which I provide - students actually glass faces where sambar have been seen, including trophy stags. I explain when is the best time to look, where to look, and what to look for. You will be shown key topographical features and I explain when and why sambar use them.

Twilight Optics Comparison – A Unique Opportunity

From about 1.5 hrs before dark right up until dark you will be able to use and compare 7 pairs of binoculars, 1 spotting scope, 5 telescopic sights plus 2 range finders.

You will compare this large range of optics from twilight right up until dark whilst actually glassing for sambar.

Nowhere else in Australia can you do this.

Remember, when you view optics through a gunshop window in broad daylight the light transmission performance of all optics is the same. It’s only during the last 20 minutes of daylight - when sambar move the most - that really separates the outstanding from the ordinary. On my course you will see for yourself the difference in performance between various brands, magnifications and objective lens diameter. In a nutshell ‘seeing is believing’.

The following optics are also provided for comparison:

Binoculars: Leica Gevovid 8 x 42 with built-in range finder; Kahles 8 x 42; Swarovski 8 x 50; Swarovski 15 x 56; Bushnell Elite2 10 x 42; Vixen Apex Pro 10 x 50; Vixen Apex Pro 8 x 42

Spotting scopes: Leupold 12 - 40 x 60HD;

Telescopic sights: Leupold 2.5 - 8 x 36 Vari X 111; Bushnell Elite 4200 2.5 – 10 x 50 with Firefly reticle; Swarovski 2.5 – 10 x 56 illuminated.

Range Finders: Leica Geovid 8 x 42 binocular with built-in 1200m range finder; Leica 900yd; Bushnell Legend 1200yd with ARC and Brush mode.

Courses Are Tailored to Students Needs

Each course is tailored to meet the specific needs of each participant. By listening to each student’s experiences, I ascertain what each know and don’t know.

Venue

Training courses commence from our home at Sarsfield, Victoria, 10km north of Bairnsdale. Bairnsdale is about 3 hours from the Monash Freeway Ringwood/Frankston Ringroad intersection in Melbourne's east. Bairnsdale is about 4 hrs from Albury. The first afternoon and night is at our home. On the Saturday and Sunday morning we travel to scenarios north of Bairnsdale.

Email for directions.

We Provide:

• Two nights rustic accommodation on large heavy duty Coleman stretchers;
• Bathroom, shower, toilet facilities;
• Transport to the bush each day;
• High quality meals plus Cascade heavy & light beer and high quality red wine;

You Provide:

• Sleeping bag and/or swag, pillow, towel & toiletries;
• Hunting clothes appropriate to the weather for the time of year;
• Daypack, equipped as per hunting;
• Binoculars for twilight comparison and use during course; and
• Camera, note book and pen.

Dates:

• Courses are held from late March to early November.
• Courses commence 1pm Friday and conclude 1pm Sunday.
• Courses can be run mid-week by arrangement.

Dates for 2010

Positions are fully booked for 2010.

See below for more courses next year,
book now to reserve your place for 2011.

June 11 - 13	Fully booked (Queens Birthday Weekend)
June 25 - 27	Fully booked
July 9 - 11	Fully booked
July 23 - 25	Fully booked
August 6 - 8	Fully booked
August 20 - 22	Fully booked
September 3 - 5	Fully booked
September 17 - 19	Fully booked

Dates for 2011

1. April 1 - 3	Available
2. April 22 - 24	Available
3. May 6 - 8	Available
4. May 20 - 22	Available
5. June 3 - 5	Available
6. June 17 - 19	Available
7. July 1 - 3	Available
8. July 15 - 17	Available
9. July 29 - 31	Available
10. August 12 - 14	Available
11. August 26 - 28	Available
12. September 9 - 11	Available
13. September 23 - 25	Available

Course Size

Each course is limited to 4 people.

Course Syllabus

Learn first hand in the bush about:

• Tracks & pellets – Who left them and when; Learn to determine sex and size from tracks;
• Tactics that work in various scenarios;
• Visit sites where stags have been consistently harvested and learn why they were there and how they were bagged
• The sambar’s sense of smell, hearing and vision and how to overcome them;
• Wallows – their role in the mating & communication system and how to hunt them;
• Bedded stags & how to hunt them;
• How to hunt from face to face. Use my tripod mounted Swarovski 15X binos & compare their ‘sambar finding capability’ with a Leupold 12 - 40 x 60HD spotting scope.
• Food plants eaten and feeding behaviour;
• The sambar’s circadian/biological rhythm - how it determines what they do and when;
• How hunting pressure effects behaviour;
• How various weather conditions determine where you will find them;
• Low Impact Hunting– what is it, how to do it, and why it’s vital to understand;
• Binocular & scope twilight comparison;
• Cartridges, projectiles and aiming points that kill cleanly and why.

Col. Brumley and Mark Freeman of Melbourne, and Ian McDonald of Armidale NSW examine a freshly used wallow.

Because wallows play a pivotal role in the sambar’s mating and communication system they can be great places to ambush.

How to select the right wallow, how to contruct a hide and where to locate it, are all important points taught on the course.

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Course attendees Ilias Salagaras and Toby Gumbridge glass from a hide they constructed under Errol’s supervision.

 

Timetable

Dawn & Dusk Vary With Course Dates

Friday
12-1.00 pm	Arrive.
1.00 pm	Lunch - meet other participants and discuss experiences.
2.00 pm	In the bush. Using natural habitat Errol explains how weather conditions & hunting pressure effect sambar, plus other key points such as the sambar’s circadian (daily) rhythm and how it can be used to locate them.
4.00 pm	Participants rifle evaluation. Cartridge, projectile & aiming points.
4.30pm	Twilight binocular and scope comparison until dark using participants own binos and scopes plus those provided on the course. Click here for Optics Provided.
6.00 pm	Refreshments, beer, red wine and Lynne’s great hot finger food.
7.00 pm	Dinner. Errol discusses keys points and answers questions.
9.30 pm	Shower/retire.
Saturday
6.00 am	Rise & shower etc... Breakfast - Continental Style.
Dawn	In bush glassing using participants own binoculars plus those provided on the course.
8.30 am	Travel further into bush. Inspect feeding, staging areas and plant identification. Discuss effects of weather conditions & hunting pressure. Sign interpretation. Visit wallows. Hide location & construction, treestands, and other tactics such as low impact and hunting according to wind direction & air currents is explained.
1.00 pm	Lunch in the bush.
2.00 pm	Visit various types of feeding & bedding areas, including tree fern gullies. Plants from high to low preference examined. Effective tactics explained.
4.30 pm	Visit logging coup where sambar feed. Tactics, including how to use hides & treestands.
6.00 pm	Refreshments, beer, red wine and Lynne’s great hot finger food.
7.00 pm	Dinner. Errol discusses keys points and answers questions
9.30 pm	Shower/retire.
Sunday
6.00 am	Rise & shower etc... Breakfast
Dawn	In bush glassing using participants own binoculars plus those provided on the course.
8.30am	Travel to face to face scenario. Inspect feeding and staging areas. Discuss weather conditions, wind direction & hunting pressure. Further sign interpretation. Tactics for hunting from face to face, including accurate range finding, suitable cartridges and correct rifle zero are explained.
12noon	Lunch and wrap-up.
1.00 pm	Course concludes.

Tactics for Back Country & Farm Fringe Sambar

Tactics taught apply equally to farm fringe as well as back-country sambar. The reason the same tactics work for farm fringe as well as remote forest sambar is simply because a sambar’s basic genetic blueprint is identical, regardless of the location.

Firearms

Bring your sambar rifle for set-up evaluation and optics twilight comparison.

NB: - Rifles are secured in a safe after twilight comparison. They are not carried during the course.

Course Notes

Course notes are not provided. However the books - Secrets of the Sambar Vol 1 & 2 - are offered at the discounted price of $110.00 per volume collected at the course. If mailed add $13 per book for post and handling within Australia. If 2 books are mailed together add $15 for post and handling.

Course Benefits

In just 2 days you will learn my ‘Hunt Smart’ system which:

• will fast track you to the trophy stag of a lifetime;
• will yield a lifetime of safer, more enjoyable and successful hunts;
• is true value for money.

Bookings

Cost - $799 per person.
Bookings can be made by paying a $200.00 deposit or paying the full amount of $799.00.

 

To pay a booking fee/deposit
please click the image (Using Mastercard/Visa).

or

Chq/Money Order to:
E & L Mason PO Box 727 Bairnsdale, Vic. Australia 3875.

Balance

The balance of outstanding fees are payable in full on arrival.

Balance should be by cash or Australia Post Money Order.
Personal or bank cheques must be received 2 weeks prior to commencement to allow for clearance.
Refunds

Deposits will only be refunded where attendance is cancelled at least 30 days prior to commencement of the course.

Liabilities

Errol & Lynne Mason, trading as Shikari Press, reserve the right to amend any itinerary, or cancel any course should it become necessary, and shall be exempt from all liability in respect of any detention, delay, loss, damage, sickness or injury incurred during the training course. I look forward to seeing you on my ‘Beyond the Basics’ Training Course where in 2 days you will acquire enough quality information to hunt sambar successfully for the rest of your life.

Reviews by Course Participants

Whilst glassing as per Errol’s ‘Hunt Smart’ tactics, I looked to my right and spotted a stag with a hind about 100 yards down the spur. Just as Errol had said, ‘when they’re in the sun they glow chestnut’. The hind was glowing! The stag’s points shone bright and he looked magnificent. I quickly shouldered my .338 and went to take an off-hand shot, wobbling from the excitement. Errol’s words ‘Shot placement’ echoed in my head as I leaned over to rest against the base of a tree. I steadied just as I saw the stag tense and start to turn and bolt. I squeezed the trigger and sent the 250gn Partition aimed for the back of shoulder. We tracked him down the face and soon came upon a very impressive stag - stone dead from one well delivered shot.

Euphoria set in – I couldn’t believe it. I had broken the hoodoo of the Sambar Stag drought that had plagued me for the past 8 years. I looked at my watch, 1.35pm – exactly 23 hours and 25 minutes after completing Errol Mason’s Beyond the Basics Training Course.

I firmly believe my success on that hunt was largely attributable to Errol’s highly professional tuition and my employment of his ‘Hunt Smart’ system. Because it covers all practical aspects of sambar hunting and is delivered in the setting to which it applies, it is easily understood. I believe we make our own luck. I made mine when I decided to gain knowledge by participating in his fabulous course. As the three of us on the course had vastly different experience levels, it was clear that Errol’s course was suitable for beginners through to the most experienced.

Finally, Errol’s course is absolutely unique – a true innovation in the Australian hunting industry and I congratulate him for introducing this first class resource to the hunting community.

Brett Cooke Orange N.S.W.

Click here to read Brett Cooke’s entire testimonial.

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I now find that when I use tips gained from the course I am now able to watch hinds, fawns, spikies and stags that used to crash away unseen. Being able to do gives me a huge buzz. Recently I hunted the ‘High Country’ with some mates and was much more confident with my own ability. I put into practice a lot of the hints and tips which Errol gave me and it all paid off when I took a magnificent 25 inch stag doing precisely what he recommended. Without Errol’s vast knowledge and experience behind me I would still be wandering around the bush hearing a lot of crashing noises in the distance.

Many, many thanks to Errol, Lynne and Daisy.

Mark Walker, Alexandra, Victoria

Click here to read Mark Walker’s entire testimonial.

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This course caters for everyone from the novice to the experienced sambar hunter. It was refreshing to see that Errol made every effort to tailor this course to our specific needs instead of bogging us down with information we already knew. The field trips were astounding, with real-life scenarios dissected instead of going over text book cases.

As experienced sambar hunters, Errol helped us piece together the complex jigsaw that hunting these elusive animals presents, and it finally all made sense by the end of the weekend. It took someone with his knowledge and experience to confirm some of the hunches we had and also give us the why, where and how to go along with it.

The secret world of the stag hunter is sometimes very hard to extract information from. To find someone who is so willing to share all this information not only shows Errol’s dedication to teaching others, but also shows the passion he has for these deer, inspiring us to learn as much as we can about these magnificent creatures.

We can highly recommend this course to everyone. Comfortable accommodation, outstanding hospitality and family atmosphere, great home-cooked meals (thanks Lynne, you are a Master Chef) and a wealth of knowledge at your disposal – worth every cent in our opinion.

Carlo Nicolo, Paul Brincat and Anthony Macciocca.

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I have been hunting all my life, starting with my father as a kid. I had always thought about hunting deer but it wasn`t until in 2005 I really got serious about it, since then I have had some reasonable success (more by luck and persistence than technique). Over that time I have read lots of books and articles on Sambar particularly Errol Mason`s ‘Secrets of the Sambar’. I found them extremely interesting and helpful, but it wasn`t until I went on Errol`s ‘Beyond the Basics’ Hunting Course that it really came together. It was like Errol turned a key with his ‘Hunt Smart’ tactics. Suddenly the information was unlocked and everything made sense. I think it was the practical side of actually seeing and doing the things that Errol writes about in his books and articles that made me understand the information that had been right there in front of me all the time.

I recommend this course to anyone who has been working at hunting Sambar for a while and may or may not have had a lot of success I believe you will certainly increase your chances of taking the Sambar in the future.

Col Brumley.

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I have been hunting deer over the past 2 years and have had some success with the ‘Walking Them Up’ method of hunting that I taught myself following reading pretty much everything I could get my hands on as well as watching most of the videos available. To date I had managed 3 Sambar and 4 Fallow deer but no Sambar Stags. The best I had managed to achieve was fleeting glances of a departing stag even though I had watched Hinds through the binos on a couple of occasions for lengthy periods.

I figured there had to be a better way and have always considered the key to success is knowledge. After seeing a number of Errol's photos of unalarmed sambar (unalarmed being the key) and reading his articles, I guessed that his knowledge was far better than mine, I just didn't realize how much better. I knew how to put deer up and on that basis I figured I must have walked past many more than those I had alarmed, but this method was leading to more frustration than reward.

As luck would have it the other coarse participant pulled out and I got Errol to myself for 2½ days of one-on-one tuition. So what did I gain and what should you expect:

To learn a hunting method that has taken 25inch plus stags consistently year after year for Errol's clients and be taught the science behind the method to back it up so that you can then put them into practice for yourself. You just cannot beat being taken to the area of a previously successful hunt and worked through deciding is there is a resident stag, how big is he likely to be, what and where is he eating, where is he sleeping, and how do I get an opportunity to hunt him, whilst un alarmed, so as not to risk wounding a magnificent specimen and then see the photos of the stag to prove the science and technique.

Concurrently Errol will advise you of the most suitable hunting kit for deer and in doing so may just save you a fortune in ensuring you get the right gear the first time round. As it turned out, Errol's and my gear were remarkable similar however I might add I have sold, shelved or given more gear away than I care to admit and of course lost money in arriving at my hunting kit via trail and error based on half the B.S you will be told by so called experts who wish to sell you something. Errol knows hunting gear from rifles to calibres to projectiles to optics to meat safes to tree stands to back packs to everything in between from all around the world and he's done the trial and error thing for you.

2 ½ days of solid tuition from 7am to 10pm that's jammed packed with information. So you will mentally tired but not physically exhausted from your time in the bush so long as you are moderately fit

First class food in a magnificent environment. Cannot recommend the investment highly enough.

Matthew Appleton

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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 the novice who wants to get started to seasoned deer hunters who want to know more about hunting this magnificent animal.

Steven Psichalos

Click here to read Steven Psichalos’s entire testimonial.

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I really loved the course. It was fantastic.

I’ll never hunt sambar the same way again. And I must give a special mention to the hospitality and food. It was simply awesome.

Thanks Errol, Lynne & Daisy

Keith Grundy
Mialls Guns Shop
Frankston

Click here to read Reviews of the Course

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