It's April, the rut should be well and truly on by now, and the recent steady rains have softened up the ground and all those pesky dry leaves just nicely.

That's right folks, 'tis the season to be sneaky!

Anyone been getting out after the Sambar yet?

Am thinking about having a crack at 'em - or at least checking out some of the hills (north-east of Melb) to see what's out there.

P.S. has Rhino managed to pop his cherry on a deer yet?

After reading his thread "F*cken Sambar" of a couple of years ago it sounded like he'd been putting heaps of effort into it, but was coming up empty every time and was looking for whatever help he could get.

Did he manage to figure it out in the end?

Was the family property full of blind does and stags?

He seemed to have no-eyed deer....

.... ba-da-boom.

Yep. That really was pretty appalling wasn't it? Don't worry folks, I'm not planning on chucking in the day job just yet.

Cheers!

No deer north, head east

Na no deer yet mate, we have put plenty of time in at his dads property cameras etc and they where only coming onto the property round midnight for 5-10 mins once a week. Still trying to find where they are during the morning.

I've taken 2 this year, but haven't been out much. As for the rut! That only applies to red and fellow, samba don't roar! They only honk at you.

The fallow rut is on now. The fallow bucks will be vocal for another week. Went out on the weekend with Mladz and knocked a few does over for the freezer but didn't see any big bucks worth taking.
As for sambar what watto said covers it. I'll start to chase them in a couple of weeks

What's that you say Watto?

2 already so far without even really trying?

And now sunshine and Mladz have knocked a few over too?

'Think I just heard Rhino throwing a tanty whilst simultaneously being violently ill. Poor lad.

Guess the rest of us have all got a bit of catching up to do.

lol yep, no deer for me. Apparently the area we're hunting is almost impossible to nail em in due to the thickness of the brush. Was using a bow too which doesn't help!
Most guys around there dog it which makes it a bit easier, working on getting onto some easier land at the moment!
Fucken Sambar!

_________________
Like a farken underwater ninja!

The fish were blinded by overexposure to his pure awesomeness!

C'mon Rhino there deer! They aren't rocket scientists!!!
It does help growing up with a state forest at the bottom of your st! But no matter how thick it is there's always a way to hunt it!

Rhino - from what Nas reported it sounds like your problem is a lack of frequency/predictability of the deer visiting the property and the time they spend on it (I get the impression they bed down somewhere off property).

So to my mind you need to do something to change this - if they had a reason to visit every night and spend a fair bit of time there (preferably in the one spot), it would increase your chances of getting one immensely.

Have seen some clips of bowhunters in the U.S. improving their odds of getting a shot at whitetail by planting seeds of grasses/cereals that the whitetail love to eat in front of a blind/under a tree-stand, and then when the whitetail come in to eat the cereal/grass, they take their shot. I think they may have even developed specific varieties of cereals/grasses specifically for this purpose.

In short, can you burley 'em in?

Will your Dad allow you to plant something in an area he's not using, but that you know the deer pass by and whose layout would give you a perfect shot?

Mind you, I'm not sure if "baiting" is allowed in Australia - you'd have to check, and also find out what's "catnip" to a Sambar.

Just an idea.

What's more, in such a situation (i.e. very close range), it probably wouldn't make much difference if you were using a bentstick or a smokestick.

Cheers!

I have heard over the years that they like Oats, but everything will eat them

Yeah have toyed with the idea of dropping some oats/feed where they go but would prefer to do it au' naturale if I can first.

_________________
Like a farken underwater ninja!



The fish were blinded by overexposure to his pure awesomeness!

Vaguely recalled in one of the clips I saw, they mentioned BioLogic Maximum - 10 seconds of googling later, this turned up:

http://www.whitetaildeer-management-and ... ximum.html

Looks like it's a feed seed based on New Zealand brassica's (so would probably do well under Aussie conditions?) and the web-page is by a farm experimenting with the different feed seeds out there as "baits" for getting deer onto the property for bowhunting. Looks like BioLogic Maximum wasn't touched for a fair while after planting, and then suddenly eaten out by the deer over a period of two weeks.

Sounds like it could be a way to get them coming consistently onto the property for a fair amount of time over a 2-week period.

Here's the webpage listing all the different types they've tried so far.

http://www.whitetaildeer-management-and ... -seed.html

Okay, so Sambar aren't whitetail, but they're both still deer aren't they? Could be a place to start.

Cheers.

Nice work mate, might have to look into that one!

_________________
Like a farken underwater ninja!



The fish were blinded by overexposure to his pure awesomeness!

No worries Rhino.

Also, according to DPI, the months of June through August is a period when there's the least amount of food around for Sambar - and during which they'd probably be more willing to take a risk to get it. So I'm guessing that would be the time a bait crop would be at its most effective.

Brassica's are cruciferous vege's like cauliflowers, cabbages, broccoli etc, which I think are mainly winter vege's, so that BioLogic Maximum stuff (or a similiarly brassica-based feed seed) could be ideal. Or at least anything that is at it's peak during those winter months.

Of course, other species like roos/wallabies, rabbits, wombats and maybe even possums might decide to go the munch on your bait crop too before the deer get onto it. In which case a trough with oats/hay in it would be much less work and possible wastage?

Anyway, if you do decide to do something about it, let us know how it all goes.

Cheers!

While your out wandering around take a look at the kangaroo apple plants as deer enjoy smashing them down!