Growing up in a rural environment saw me hunting rabbits and foxes from a very early age, on and around our family property.  Even though I was a keen footballer and cricketer, the desire to hunt was always present and still hasn’t left me.  My passion for playing football and cricket however has left, which led to me pursuing deer hunting; nearly to the point of being fanatical!

 With stories of deer being sighted and successfully hunted locally, my curiosity grew and as soon as I could drive I started looking for them, this deer being sambar, Cervus unicolor. After many outings into sambar country usually on my own; back then I didn’t even know a sambar hunter, I still had not seen a deer.  That was until one day hunting through a typical wattle and bracken filled gully, I flushed a sambar calf from cover and successfully dispatched it.  I was over the moon, 19 years old and I had my first deer.  Although only a calf, I had it mounted, and proudly hands on my trophy room wall still today, almost 20 years on.

 The next 6-7 years I did some very hard yards and learnt a tremendous amount about my quarry, though I hadn’t shot another sambar, I had seen quite a few, but one miss was as close as I got. Sambar are renowned as being one of the hardest deer species in the world to hunt and compared to the many game animals I have hunted in the South Pacific, I can’t say that this is far from the truth!

 After a bad leg injury playing football, I decided to give up football and focus my efforts into becoming a successful sambar hunter. At least once a week over the next 10 years I would go hunting, more often then not 2-3 times per week.  During this time I have seen hundreds of sambar.  Shot good stags, got video footage, helped friends and others become successful and maintained my freezer with venison.

 This is where Reedy Safaris comes into the equation. Chris and I are there to help fast track you into becoming successful on sambar; “so you don’t have to stumble around for years trying” like I did. I know what it feels like and I’d like to help you avoid the frustration.  With nearly 20 years of sambar stalking between us, we will help you fulfill your goals and learn what took us years, in days. Don’t let the opportunity to pass you by, at least this way you’ll know a few sambar hunters!

 
See you at Reedy Safaris,

 Anthony