I should point out to hunters not from Australia who may be unfamiliar with the topic. Changed the title above to reflect the topic.

Hunting the sambar deer is done with a team of hounds in the thickly forested mountains of Victoria. It is not like the "hound hunts" of Great Britian or France, with horses and a pack of hounds running down foxes or stags (no comment on this activity - just different).

MY understanding is that shooters are positioned in likely exit points for the stag, but may shift depending on the direction the hounds go, and if one of them is lucky enough, gets a shot off at the running stag. Or one of the very fit individuals who follow the hounds may get a shot at a bailed up stag.

The venison is shared among the team and if a trophy stag, the shooter gets the trophy. Most teams operate most weekends during the winter so they are very dedicated men.

A mature Sambar stag can weigh about 660 lbs and is the third largest deer, after the various Moose species, and the Elk or Wapiti. And the deer density is very low, and is at an average of maybe only one animal per 2 square kilometres of thick mountainous bush. Generally the animals are singles or in groups of only two or three.

Lesser breeds of deer would not cope with hunting using these methods but Sambar appear very strong and as long a the hound team is not excessive stand a good chance of escape. Inaddition the hounds are scent trailing hounds and do not bring down the deer. The dogs would not come out of it well if they did mix it.

If hunting sambar deer by stalking I once saw the statistics for the average sambar stalking trip and the probability of SEEING a sambar was 0.83 deer ie less than one deer was sighted per trip. I imagine most of these trips were weekend hunts, but not a deer taken let alone a trophy per hunting trip, but not even a deer SIGHTED per trip.

Hound hunting sambar on the other hand does increase the odds as a team on scoring but dedication is a key.

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Gryphon,

Correct or comment on anything above you feel like.