Hi guys...just new to the site but a keen Aussie hunter for 30+ years. During an elk hunt in Montana I got to chat to quite a few US hunters in camp and all thought Australia was chock-full of kangaroos, poisonous snakes & spiders, sharks and crocs and it must be a pretty uninviting place to try and survive ! too much Steve "crocodile hunter Irwin !! There's certainly plenty of the afore-mentioned critters but we also have 6 species of deer to hunt which can make being an Aussie hunter pretty unique. We have good numbers of sambar, chital, rusa & hog deer (all asiatic species) and 2 European species is the red and fallow. Hunting is not heavily regulated as our deer are intoduced (albeit 120 years ago) and most state governments are pro native species and regard exotics lagely as pests. I'll do a few posts on our deer and see what happens. This fella is my main quary : the sambar from India/Ceylon. A big, tough mountain dweller weighing 6-700lbs for a mature stag. Plenty of them about in our mountains but very secretive and challenging to hunt...a good trophy like this one has a long 3X3 set of antlers around 30 or more inches in length. Happy to do a few more posts on our deer or field any Q's about hunting Down Under. Cheers

35 Whelen

Back again....more Deer Hunting Down Under. The Red deer are well established in many mountainous areas of eastern Australia and are of both European and Scottish stock. They provide excellent and exciting hunting especially in the autumn (your fall) rut when the stags "roar" lustily and fight-off rival stags trying to steal a few females. Not as big in the body as the sambar the reds are still a big animal and a large mature European-type stag would weigh 4-500 lbs while the smaller-bodied Scottish stag with be 100lbs or so lighter. My hunting spot for the red stags is populated by the bigger Germanic line and they produce some great trophies. This one is a nice big 15 pointer I took last year during the roar. A 270 is pretty good medicine for these fellas as they are no-where near as tough as a big sambar stag. More deer Down Under soon. Cheers

Whelen35

Still here....more on the deer of Oz. Fallow deer are a European implant down here and very common in most areas of eastern Australia. Like the rest they have been here for 120+ years but in a country which is anti-exotic and pro-native critters they have little or no management with virtually no season or bag limit. Fallow have distinctive palmated antlers like the moose but are fairly small in the body and lightly built a bit like the Whitetail. A large fallow buck would weigh around 200 -250lbs and are easily handled by a 243W or 270. In my hunting spot in New South Wales the red stags and the fallow bucks rut at the same time so you can hunt both together and it is quite common to hear red stags roaring and fallow bucks "croaking" at the same time from the one spot ! Pretty unique. Fallow are in 4 main colour types : the common red with the white spots, the lighter menil but again spotted, the black (which is really dark grey) and the white which is pure white but not an albino. Fallow like the more open forest and are a sucker for improved pasture but the nice black fallow pictured was taken last April at his rut stand in a heavy rainforest gully...rifle is a Rem 700 SS Mountain rifle in 270W....good medicine for all our deer except sambar. More Aussie deer later. Cheers
35Whelen

those are some awsome trophys. how do these deer do on the plate?

nice animals! Looks like you have quite the variety there, thanks for sharing

Great pictures and trophys there Whelan. Makes me want to hunt Australia for sure!

I am learning a lot here. Really neat information and pictures, thanks for sharing!

Lugnut....genreally the smaller species of deer like the hog & fallow are more reliable "on the plate" and certainly the younger animals of the bigger deer like the red & sambar are fine as well. Like any big old stag taken in the rut...they can be a bite gamey and take a bit of chewing if not prepared correctly. Big old stags go best in stews and casseroles and aren't too flash when just "chucked on the barbie" as we say down here. Preparation is everything in dealing with wild shot game meat. Because our deer are introduced there are few regulations to cover their hunting and certainly no compulsion to "carry the meat" as there was when I shot my elk in Montana last November. Most Aussie hunters respect the animal enough to do the meat-lumping but unlike the States mules & saddle horses are not used....down here it's "all on ya back mate" and carrying a 700lb sambar stag out of the bush albeit in bits is pretty hard going in our steep and heavily bushed mountains. Always good to get the last load back and relax with a nice cold beer around the camp fire. Nothin' better. Cheers

35Whelen

Now for Aussie specius number 4...the beautiful Chital or as they are known in the States...Axis. Another introduced asiatic species from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) that inhabit the drier inland areas of north west Queesland. Their distintive white spotted rusty red coat makes a very distinctive mount and they are a popular deer to hunt down here. Chital are generally found on a number of large cattle stations "out west" and access to these deer is often difficult as most are on private property and land-holder permission is required to access them. A number of safari operators outfit for Chital here at fairly reasonable prices....added bonus on chital hunts often include wild pig hunting, dingoes, the odd 'buff and of course all the 'roos you want ! A good Aussie chital stag would have antlers in excess of 30" with the best going around 36+"...a very pretty deer and great fun to hunt. The one pictured here is a great trophy stag with antlers probably in excess of 34" but still in the velvet stages of antler growth...as chital are a herding deer you often see several hundred of them in a day in good country. Cheers

35Whelen]

looks great!
Excellent info and pics!
I have hunted Axis deer free range in Texas. What a challenging animal to kill with a bow.

What regulations are in place for someone traveling to AU to bowhunt?

Thanks for sharing with us!

Hi Yankee....on your bow hunting enquiry. Regualtions for hunting deer in Australia with a bow vary from state to state but generally there are few if any restrictions on hunting with a bow. Aussie governments are paranoid about firearms and we are heavily regulated in this area but bows are pretty OK I think...although I am not a bow hunter. In the state of Victoria where I live regulations for bows stipulate a mimimum draw weight for deer hunting (50lb) and the broadhead must have at least 2 cutting edges...that's about all. Much the same for the other states I believe. Hunting wise each state has a Game Licence for deer....hunters need to purchase one of these prior to hunting and this also applies to bow hunting....the Game Licence is just endorsed for "Bow". There are certainly provisions in our hunting regulations to allow for bow hunting by overseas hunters for all manner of game down here : 6 species of deer, wild pigs, goats, buffalo, camels, wild dogs & horses and small game such as rabbits, foxes, hares etc. There are no separtate bow hunting seasons or bow-only areas to hunt like you have in the US....all in together Down Under I'm afraid !
Hope this has been of some assistance. Cheers

35Whelen

Aussie deer species No 5 is the elusive Hog deer....a native of India & Sri Lanka and an introduced resident in Australia for 130 years. Australia has the only wild, huntable population of Hog deer outside their native range where they are fully protected. These are a small, solid-bodied deer with a mature stag wieghing around 120 lbs and hinds up to about 75 lbs....they have short legs and a compact squat appearance. Coats are a golden brown and white spotted along the dorsal line in summer and a darker uniform brown in the winter.
Quite a few overseas hunters travel to Australia to hunt hog deer as this is the only place world-wide where a legal trophy can be obtained. Hog deer are found in my home state of Victoria along the coastal strip which is mostly swamp land with heavy T-tree and eucalypt scrub. Unlike most of our other deer species, hog deer are subject to a 1 month season (April) and a bag limit of 1 male & 1 female per hunter. Tags (which are free) must be obtained prior to hunting and attached to the rear leg of any deer taken immediately after it is killed. Each year about 700 - 800 sets of hog deer tags are issued to hunters. Animals must also be presented to regional "checking stations" for weighing, measuring and photographing. Annual legal take for hog deer is around 150 animals with about a 2:1 bias on stags. Hunting is generally on public land around the coastal stip or for some lucky hunters on private land adjoining coastal forest and wetlands. There are plenty of areas to hunt hog deer on public land although success rates are fairly low as the deer respond quickly to hunting pressure generally by going nocturnal.
Hunting is usually done from high seats placed in trees with the hunter sitting and watching feeding areas, game trails and water holes. As the scrub is thick and noisy to move through traditional up-wind stalking techniques are not too successful on hog deer. Ambush scenarios not unlike hunting Whitetail on scrapes and crop edges are the most successful methods used to hunt hog deer.

Antlers are typically asiatic with 3 points per side ( a brow tine, and a terminal fork at the top of the antler with an inner and outer tine) antler length for a trophy hog deer start at around 12" with 14" being very good and anything over 16" exceptional...the Australian record hog deer has antlers around 20" in length. I live very close to our hog deer range and have hunted them for over 30 years taking several top-class trophies in the 17" class.....I use my TC's to monitor the hog deer on my private-land block prior to hunting which has improved my success on these little deer in recent years. The April season in 6 weeks away...and like US hunters with their Whitetail hunting....those with access to hog deer eagerly look forward to the opening of the season. Attached is a TC pic of a nice hog deer stag with antlers around 16" leaving a waterpoint on the property I hunt hog deer on...he'd be a nice one to take this April. Cheers

35Whelen

Great info!
Hog deer would make an excellent rare species for a trophy room

Im going hunting for wild hogs tommorow evening to stalk and set in.

Im bringing my Winchester .284 semi auto iron sights

It will be my first time going for this type of game. Anyone have any suggestions/tips for stalking or anything else?

Thanks