Species Profile – Sambar Deer
THE sambar deer is Australia’s premier game animal, hands down. Anyone who disagrees simply hasn’t spent enough time hunting this magnificent species in a fair chase situation. Not only that, their population in south east Australia is greater than ever before and they are widely available for hunting on vast areas of public land.
According to the first volume of Errol Mason’s excellent series Secrets of the Sambar, the sambar that have now colonised eastern Victoria and south western New South Wales were originally imported from Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) rather than India as is commonly believed. The first liberation was made by the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria in 1863, when three stags and three hinds were released at Kinglake in Victoria. Another important release was made in near Tooradin, also in Victoria, when around 12 sambar were set free beside the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. There is a plaque commemorating this release on the property Harewood, which was then owned by William Lyall. In all there were about 20 released in Victoria, from which all the current population is descended (with the exception of the Northern Territory herd,
