78 | SPORTING SHOOTER _ APRIL 2015First Sambar
Corey Night is a mad-keen hunter with
bow and rifle. Here he recounts his most
memorable hunt for his first sambar.
SAMBAR
I
T WAS my favourite time of
the year, our annual trip
down to Victoria to chase
sambar in July. It was a long
six-hour drive but it was worth
every minute. We got there
around lunch time on Sunday
and that meant we could go for
a hunt that afternoon; nothing
like striking while the iron's
hot. It turned out to be a very
eventful few hours, with my
uncle Andy seeing a 25+ incher
but not being able to get a shot
away in the thick ti-tree. He
was devastated but kept at it
and looked for him all week,
but no luck.
Monday and Tuesday we saw
plenty of does and younger stags
which we weren’t really chasing
(let em go let em grow). On the
Wednesday it was my birthday
and I was hoping for a birthday
stag. It nearly happened when
I followed some big tracks into
a new gully system. A handy stag
charged out of the tea tree but
did not give me time for a
confident shot opportunity,
so I just watched him charge
through the thick scrub
sounding like a bulldozer.
To say I was devastated was
an understatement, but I was
happy with my decision not
to pull the trigger.
It was Thursday morning and
we were up early, keen to get out
there because we had had some
rain overnight and consequently,
it would be easy to tell if the
tracks were fresh or not. Being
the youngest and the fittest I
offered to go the highest spot on
the hill (best decision of my life).
It was only 20 minutes into the1
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