I have hunted sambar deer for over 50 years in the Gippsland mountains (and elsewhere other deer). Mostly I did it because it was fun and an excuse for a day out in the bush which I love. I still prefer lamb, and having been a sheep farmer for just as long, I always had plenty on hand. These days (I am 73) I rarely shoot the deer I see, and I see many – more than half a dozen a day usually, and I hardly ever bother any more to hunt the mornings and evenings. If I did, I would see over a dozen a day I guess!
NB: This post was written specifically as a request for a novice hunter who contacted me for advice.
NB2: Check out my new post Hunting Tales & Responsible Sambar Deer Hunting
I prefer to get where I am going mid afternoon, make camp, enjoy a fire, a good book, perhaps some music, maybe catch a fish, a lie in mornings…Anyway, it is good to make it to camp, get the tent pitched, collect the wood, lay the fire (unless it’s raining – in which case the kindling is in the tent), perhaps hang your pack out of reach of dingoes, then have the last 1-2 hours of daylight for hunting the river bottoms; that is when the deer will be coming down to feed (and drink). Then hunt the first hour or two of daylight before the deer creep off to bed, that is if you rise at dawn – me, I sleep in now – that way I have avoided being hanged many times!. Mind you some folk swear by these: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/solunar-tables/
For more about Deer Hunting tents See DIY Tents
Tiny our oldest Jack Russell loved deer – she liked them cut up a little smaller though – mind you when I did so (for her) she promptly buried them, imagining (at 13) she would pass this way again. Dogs, it seems share our delusions… As it turns out she has been back for other visits, and lived to be 18 (2018)! She was enjoying a canoe trip down the Wonnangatta only a couple of weeks before she died.
The Jack Russell is the pocket knife of the canine world – you should always have one about on or near your person!
Tasty she said, and then snuggled up in my sleeping bag for a snooze. The dry food is rejected.
Long before you venture into the bush to hunt or do anything, first you need to know how to survive in the bush, how to not stay lost, how to make a shelter and light a fire in the rain…how to be comfortable there. You might benefit from a perusal of my many thoughts on this here: Ultralight Survival Made Easy
I will soon, as often promised, get up a Gear List, but I am sure you can guess at most of it in the above link. Also See eg: Backpacking Gear Advice & Ultralight Hunting Daypack Update & Ultralight Pack & A Gorilla in the Hand & The Ultralight Deer Hunter
First you need to go where there are lots of deer. Deer are lazy just like everyone else, and don’t want to travel too far for a feed, so there will be lots of them where the feed is best. The feed is best just where it is best for normal livestock: creek & river flats and improved pasture on private land – or what was once private land (eg the Wonnangatta National Park), the east side of North facing gullies, any clearing, particularly regrowth burnt areas & etc. The bush above clear paddocks always has bedded deer. Often there is a 4WD track in turn above it. Very handy.
Deer love areas around water supply catchment dams for the same reason (eg Thomson, Upper Yarra, Moondarra, etc.) When the Thomson was low, you could literally see herds of them (50+) at dusk coming down to graze on the clear dam bottoms. The reek of them at the forest edge was unbelievable. Of course the forest areas surrounding are often too thick to hunt them (even if legal).
They also love to colonise fresh burns and logging coups in larger numbers, and naturally their numbers are highest at the ‘peak’ of their ‘wave’ eg where they are moving into far East Gippsland. The regrowth burns on the Snowy should be great places to observe them this season – though it is not legal to hunt them in that area of the Alpine National Park (yet – if ever).
You can check Google Earth for suitable spots in conjunction with Victopo maps and the GMA maps showing where you can legally hunt. Usually I prefer more gentle slopes now, but I used to delight in the steepest country because no-one else hunted it!
I have found that just over half a day’s walk from where you can park a car the deer become much less timid. Up to that point they will honk and run away. 300 metres beyond that point they will often just stand and look at you. I love to stand/sit and watch hinds and fawns playing in a family setting.
I prefer overnight trips/hunts anyway, or multiple days. It is easy enough to carry a week’s dry tucker (@ 500 grams per day, A Hiking Food Compendium and everything else you could need in a pack weighing about 10 kilos. Some good ideas here: Hammock Hunting Till Dark
You are bound to see more deer on an overnight hunt because you don’t have to leave early to get back to your car before total darkness. You will also likely have only an easy, flat walk to your camp in the twilight. Dusk is a magic time. These may come in handy: Hunbting Thumbtack Reflectors
Deer will almost invariably come by and make all sorts of noises within a chain of your camp (if you are alone/quiet) during the night. You could easily shoot them even in the light of the The Nano Torch I wrote about the other day (700 lumens & 15 grams), as it is enough to light up their eyes.
I never shoot at night. First, you don’t really know what you are shooting at, particularly if you miss. Second, if you take a shot and wound an animal, it will suffer horribly before you can possibly locate it (unlikely). I once found a spiker whose lower jaw had been shot clean off by spotlighters, and which had suffered dreadfully for many days. Its face was flyblown. It was moaning. If you want to drive around at night to observe deer, that is another matter. The Upper Thompson Rd rarely fails to provide encounters, as do many others.
So, go where there are lots of deer. It is best if the bush is not too thick. You can also pick this up from Google Earth. Sometimes there are fire tracks not shown on current Victopo maps, (If you can get hold of the older maps, do), or old closed tracks which give access to less frequented country often on foot or by mountain or motorbike – or illegally. ometimes you will have to do a bit of machete work to clear a walking or cycling track, but it will pay off.
A canoe can also provide great access – and a way to get the meat out! See: You Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Low I prefer not to run into other folks when hunting/hiking, so I usually hunt mid-week now, because I can, and never on holidays!
It is good if you can see through the bush. You need to train yourself to look through it anyway. Your eyes/brain naturally want to focus on the nearest objects which means you are not seeing the deer through the trees; you are just seeing the trees. You can practice looking through the cracks in paling fences as you walk around the town streets, or looking through hedges as you drive along until you are used to focusing on the things that are on the other side of the screen of vegetation. You have to look into the distance. You have to put your eyes out of focus. It is a trick worth learning.
Then too you will be better able to see the lie of the land, which is supremely important in finding your way and assessing a deer’s likely path. I can guarantee you that the critters which live in the bush always do this ie look through the bush – which is why they (almost) always see you first unless you are moving very slowly! Really thick bush is a pain anyway, and it will be harder to shoot a deer in it – unless you are hound hunting perhaps.
When a deer honks at you but doesn’t run off is an excellent opportunity to test your ability to see through the bush. You can guarantee it is watching you, and will respond to your every movement, so its eyes (at least) must be visible t