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It is great to see a trophy from New South Wales feature in this issue of Australian Deer, only the second one in the ADA’s Top 50 for the species! It may not be all that far into the future that Victoria’s sambar dominance will come to an end.
And what a classic trophy sambar stag it is – one that any keen hunter would be only too pleased to get a shot at – great main beam length, great brow and inner-top tines, terrific shanghai tops and very even with it, all features that add up to a substantial Douglas Score.
Charlie Lomas shot this stag in mid-April last year at a time when most sambar stags are still in velvet, suggesting that this animal was ‘out of sync’ with the majority of his potential rivals. The well-polished but intact antler points also suggest that he had been in hard antler for some time but had had few if any sparring partners on which to break those precious tips. The harsh rocky ridgeline and mountainous terrain where the animal fell highlights the fair-chase challenge presented by this mighty sambar.
Charlie’s stag comes in at Number 41 in the ADA’s Top 50 with a Douglas Score of 2017 ¼ points. It is remarkable, looking back, that a ‘benchmark’ sambar stag not that long ago used to be one that scored the then magical 200 Douglas points, but nowadays the benchmark seems to be in the 210 to 220 range.
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