Short Sambar Hunt
With the freezer running a bit low on venison, it was time to head up into the bush with my son and try our luck on the Sambar. It didn’t take long and an opportunity arose.
We set out early with mate’s Bill and Richard in one car and my son, Ryan and I in the other. After a bit of unsucessful glassing with binoculars we had a bite to eat and picked out a gully system each to do a bit of stalking.
Young Ryan was in the lead, carrying the Hunt and Shoot project rifle in 7mm Rem Mag and I had my .338 Edge along, just in case a long shot presented itself.
The gully we chose was full of fresh deer sign and we expected to put up a deer at any moment. But after an hour or so we took time out for a drink and a rest. While resting I glassed the opposite hillside and soon picked out a larg hind and a yearling spiker stag.
Using my Swarovski Laserguide rangefinder, the hind was at a distance of 457 yards. We discussed the situation and decided that as we were only after meat we would let the yearling stag go and take the hind. As the distance was a bit far for the 7mm I opted to take the shot with the .338 Edge.
Settling down into a field position with the front bi pod resting on top of my pack I dialed up the required elevation of 7.25 MOA and touched off the shot. The hind crumpled to the ground while the spiker just stood and looked about and another deer stood up from its bed and then walked off into some thick scrub.
Ryan went over to locate the fallen deer while I directed him to the location with my UHF radio. When he got there he discovered that the shot was perfect and very little meat damage was done, due to the point of bullet impact that can be seen in the above photo. The 300 grain Sierra Matchking bullet sure did a good job on this Sambar.
Unfortunately Ryan never got the chance to shoot a deer with the H&S project rifle but he sure enjoyed carrying it in the bush and now considers it “his rifle”. While Bill and Richard saw plenty of deer sign they did not shoot any deer so came and helped us carry out the venison which we shared. All in all a great day out.
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Category: Hunting Stories, Norman Nelson's Column
