The next day we headed to a forest block Gryph had taken to me last time I had hunted with him. Some beautiful forest with this time a dry stream. Last time it was flowing strongly. Angling around the block and back across it cutting up and down the ridges running through the forest. This time it was quiet and no deer were spotted.

Last morning, we headed to the first place again but this time the plan was to be there earlier, heading straight to it and sit on a ridge and glass the slopes and valley below, hoping to spot deer returning to the thick bush at first light.

A stag was sighted but still in velvet, the stag moved to a tree and stood on its hind legs to rub at a branch overhead. A second stag also in velvet could be seen following the larger male a hundred and fifty metres back. Neither was a possibility at that range, and they would be in the thicker bush well before we could reach them, even if they did not see us approaching. Perhaps a hunt in that forest would yield results later on in the day.

A couple of hinds were feeding on another spur feeding into a patch of black berries.

Then a stag was spotted below us in the gully to our left, it was moving downhill and crossed into the bush well below us and we lost sight of it. But it looked like a good one and was in hard antler. Now was the time to move to close the distance and using the curve of the spur we were on we covered the distance.

Gryph motioned for me to move to the right and cover the gully to our right.

I spotted it. Was it the same stag? The first sighting he looked at bit bigger and it well could be a different deer as he hadn't been spotted crossing over to this point but he was still good enough and it probably was the same one. I signalled to Gryphon but he couldn't see me where I was due to the curve of the hill.

The stag was now moving up the gully to my right. A patch of black berries was in front of me and I moved lower to be able to get a shot when it moved further up the gully bottom. It was a gap of only a few metres when it would be visible. If it made it over that gap it could get swallowed up in some bush and be gone quite easily.

Gryphon had moved lower and had also seen the stag again but it was out of sight again. However it was still in the bottom of the gully further down, and JG motioned for me to come up further and around. A useful fallen branch could be used as a rest. The stag hadn't followed the gully bottom and now was moving straight up the side of the next spur away from us. I think Gryphon made a calf call and the stag stopped and I made a quick shot aimed behind the near shoulder which should angle forward through the stag's chest. The stag turned and ran down hill, but it was hit, but how well? I was reasonably sure of the shot but one never knows until the body is found.

Damn! No deer down anywhere in sight. This could be bad. Following the mental picture of the route the running stag had taken, a patch of black berries was in the way but no carcase could be spotted.

No stag could be seen in the patch of blackberries nor anything on the ground in sight!

BUT circling it, with some looking there he was. Down in the middle of the black berries. I was fairly sure he had run straight into the clump of black berries and if he had been hit well, that was where he should have been.

Some tugging resulted in some scratches but with some untangling of berry canes out he came. A nice stag and perfectly fine as a first sambar trophy. I'm not the sort to jump up and down with glee but was very happy.

Moved to a more open spot for some photos. And then off with his head and the shoulder caped out. I would carry that out on my day pack. The two rear legs were removed and hung to be collected later. A nice climb out up the hillside and back along to the vehicle. I was glad the stag was not taken kilometres out up and down in the bush. The next morning we returned for the two hind legs, a couple of pack frames, one each, proved much more manageable than the day pack.

A wonderful result. A representative sambar stag, and some good sambar venison for the table. The hind leg nicely filled the Engel fridge/freezer I had brought to hopefully have filled for the drive back home.

Many thanks to Gryphon for his hospitality and sharing his skills and experience in hunting the sambar. I think we had spotted eleven sambar in the three days of hunting, which is a pretty impressive number, but as always with hunting, we might not have spotted any. All in all a very enjoyable hunt with a good result and finish.