Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Hunting in Australia (vic)

Hunting in Vic, Oz presents a fair few opportunities
Deer, The main species here is Sambar

Sambar can be hunted all year round in State forests and for ten months of the year in the Alpine National park, Dec 16 to feb 16 is closed
Deer fee is around $48
Sambar deer can be hunted by scent trailing hounds from april 1 until nov 30 with the same fee although a hound test must be undertaken
Sambar are found right into the outer suburbs of Melbourne
French island in Western port Bay right up into NSW
No bag limit no season for any sex

Sambar grow 3 points per side so a trophy stag is measured by the length
30 " is still the bench mark for a good stag
Hog deer , i think , is the only place in the world you can hunt this species on public land
April being the month that this happens.
Photo by Doug Read
a deer licence gets you two tags free , one for each sex
Limited range for these deer in Gippsland makes them a sought after trophy
Red deer were released around the Grampians in the Western Districts and can be hunted in june and July, although there are now many reds around vic now and outside the Grampians can be hunted all year round
Fallow deer are to be found in many parts of Vic and can also be hunted all year round , no bag limit


A nice sambar stag, The Alpine National park and other areas of the high country offer good opportunities for those who like to back pack in and hunt that way
Me as you might have guessed by now like my hounds and hunt mainly that way

Hey mate, im from vic myself. Which crew are you running your hounds with? And whereabouts do you run?

those hog deer are neat critters.....have read a bit bout hunting in Asia and pretty much all the hardcore hunters thought a big sambar was a far more difficult trophy to get than a good tiger.....guess they are pretty switched on as they are the tigers favorite food source making them nervous as hell and hard to get close to, especially the older trophy animals....have heard public land sambar in Oz is a difficult hunt cause they brought those switched on genes with them....

Those Sambar look very similar to a young Elk in size, color, and antler formation.

How difficult would it be to bring a rifle into country for a hunt? Or, would it be better (or possible) to use/borrow a rifle from an outfitter or guide?
Are guides and/or outfitters required for non-residents? Sounds like a kick to hunt there, especially with the liberal seasons and hunting areas. Just one more reason to want to visit Oz someday.

Bob

I think Sambar can grow to comparable size to Elk..A quick look on the net suggests they can get to 1200lb but are usually in the 500lb to 750lb range..I am guessing thats a fairly typical range for Elk also, depending on the sub species concerned?

I live in Warburton , Every one knows me as Kiwi, we hunt up around the Jordan and Goulburn area
Be easier to borrow a rifle, i suppose,
No need for a guide, non residents have the same rights as residents , Buy a licence and go hunting
Not sure how you get a firearms licence or recognition of your country/states one
NZ is the easiest for that , Buy one at the airport on the way in
NSW has an "r" licence which is fairly simple test to get to be able to hunt on public land

I would give my eye teeth for a crack at Sambar in Vic and I think Oz in general is often over looked as a premier hunting destination..

Thanks for the pictures Hone!

op - great pics.....and very informative post. thanks

Cool pics. You have to love that full year hunting season!

Eric

Despite an ever increasing number of deerhunters and an increasing harvest of deer
The numbers of Sambar seem to be increasing in a lot of areas ,
they area great animal to hunt, switched right onto hounds
Use water really well to shake a hound
A good Sambar stag taken over hounds is a well earned trophy
He has a bagful of tricks and as they say they don't grow big by being dumb
There are also good deer in South Australia and NSW and also Queensland
Issue with Queensland is no hunting on public land
Other opportunities for hunting in Vic include Duck , quail
Duck season is from the 3rd sat in March until June sometime
10 Birds a day
Foxes , Rabbits and other pest species are huntable all year round
$10 bounty on foxes and $50 on Wild dogs
minimum Calibre for Sambar is .270 Hog Deer I think is .243
Not sure about the reds and Fallow , I'll find a link to the regs and post it
Sambar can be found in hard antler all year round but i think the big majority will be growing velvet right now
There is no wanton waste laws here , But it is usual for people to carry out as much as is practicable, We as a crew get as many as possible to walk in and carry out the meat
Back & front legs and back straps
Dogs feed off the rest before the walk out
Back packing trophy hunters usually hunt in groups of at least 2 so the head and a fair amount of boned out meat is carted out
Our normal winters day where hunt is usually around 12 -16 degrees C
Sometimes cooler and often can snow , and pour rain a bit as well
Rivers can get a bit tricky for man , dog and vehicles

Thanks for the education

The laws allow the use of Gun dogs to be used in hunting deer
Breeds such as GWP's and English pointers along with ther pointers or indicator dogs
This is becoming increasing popular with some fine dogs around the state that are multi purpose dogs used also for bird hunting.
The new game regulaions also allow Jack Russell and other Terrier breeds along with the Norwegian Elkhounds
However dogs of any breed are not allowed in the Alpine National park Or any National Park to hunt deer
The use of dogs is not permitted while hunting Hog Deer
Our Game regulations last 10 years then "sunset" During the last year submission are taken for any changes to regulations.
An RIS is also done , then after due consideration , the regulations are put into law and last another 10 years

indeed, I was under the mistaken impression there was no hunting in OZ. Once again, another thing I'm dead wrong about.

if you have a Barnes and Noble or Hastings near you they sometimes have a magazine called i believe "Wild Deer Hunting and Adventure" thats published in New Zealand and often has articles on the deer hunting in Australia aswell....they dont always have it but i see it fairly regularly in the various stores around the state...most the stories are sent in by average joes....

There is also a lot of ferals hunted over there, everything from pigs, and goats to camels, donkey's and scrub bulls. They also have a couple of species of wild cattle/oxen as well I believe.

Kanagroo's are also shot in good numbers, but I believe you need to be a licensed "culler" ..Hone can probably shed more light on that..

Regards,

Peter

Kangaroos are shot by licensed hunters for the export market
Primary producers can get permits to cull Kangaroos or any other animal or bird That is causing damage
I have a friend who culled a lot of 'roos over the years
Was done with shotguns, the farmer and his dad would ride the scrub on a motorbike and 4 wheeler
Pushing the 'roos towards the line of shooters
Let the first one go give the rest something to follow and into them
We were deadly with pump actions and semi auto shotguns but after they went , our output went down with double barrels

With a few limited exceptions, namely native waterfowl, ONLY feral species are allowed to be hunted in Oz. All the deer species previously mentioned are introduced, therefore huntable. Roos are not legally to be hunted for recreational purposes, not that the legal part keeps people from shooting them. Other species available to hunt include pigs, fox, cats, rabbits, hares, water buffalo, bantang (a type of cattle from Indonesia), scrub bulls (wild cattle), camels, goats and brumbies (wild horses). Most of these feral species do tremendous amounts of damage to the native species either by direct predation or habitat destruction and the wild pigs in particular also do a huge amount of damage to agriculture. There's a saying there, "If it's feral, it's in peril!", hunting is very much alive and well Down Under!

Sambar are bigger than elk. I think they are the largest round horned deer.

Sambar around 500 Lbs , Elk closer to 900 Lbs , I reckon
What weight do you guys weigh your Elk in at
The ones i saw in NM and Az were big animals