We are frequently asked: What is the difference between the SOTS Trilogy, The Hunt Smart System ® Book and The Hunt Smart Course?

In short, our new book – “The Hunt Smart System ®” - is very different to the SOTS Trilogy. It brings our 3 day Hunt Smart Training Course - and much more - to life in one highly detailed reference.

Using minimal text but countless photographs - many of which have been overlaid with diagrams - I show you - step by step - how to hunt Sambar from the initial planning stage right through to “Taking the Shot” and “After the Shot.” The many diagrams used to show Sambar behaviour and movement are very easy to understand and they explain it much better than words alone could

Nothing of importance has been left out. I have been careful to ensure that our new book is a complete A- Z reference which shows you how to find sambar at any time of the day, in any weather, in any level of hunting pressure, at any elevation, no matter where they are - on the farm fringe, in remote country or in the subalpine

Although the SOTS Trilogy contains much helpful information which many hunters have used to consistently observe unalarmed Sambar, not all “Overlays” have been included, nor have they been provided in any particular order. But the Trilogy is not and was never intended to be an A-Z systematic manual on “how to find a sambar”, even though each volume contains many “Overlays” and other vital knowledge.

The Trilogy evolved – slowly but surely - during my 28 year journey studying these Big Brown Deer – the last 18 years of which was full time. After guiding sambar hunters for six years from 2000 to 2006, I had identified and gained sufficient understanding of enough “Overlays” and biological, ecological and behavioral knowledge and effective tactics to write Volume 1 (256 pp.) - which we published in December 2006.

My intense full-time study of sambar continued, and by 2008 I had identified and understood enough additional “Overlays” and biological, ecological and behavioral knowledge and effective tactics to write Volume 2 (256 pp.).

By 2010 - after living in the bush for two years during which time I observed sambar almost every day - my knowledge had increased hugely enabling me to identify enough additional “Overlays” and biological, ecological and behavioral knowledge and effective tactics to write Volume 3 (320 pp.).

So – as you can see – each volume of the Trilogy was written as I first identified, and then came to fully understand each “Overlay” plus the various other pieces of the jigsaw, which includes their biology, ecology, behavior and effective tactics for hunting them. So this 18 year journey caused the Trilogy to be written in a somewhat ad hoc manner.

In stark contrast - our new book “The Hunt Smart System ®” - all 464 pages of it – provides a systematic approach to hunting these deer. By the time I wrote it in 2017 and 2018 I understood all the key pieces of the massive jigsaw which I have presented in a systematic way as “Overlays” in the 237 page chapter by that name. See pp. 146 - 383 of the “Contents” pages.The Hunt Smart System ® includes all the key information which you “must know” to successfully hunt these Big Brown Deer. It contains much more information than I have time to teach on my course - and even if I had time - participants would not remember it as it would be information overload. But that fact makes our new book a comprehensive reference for those who have or have not attended our course.

The big advantage of our course is that most of the 3 days are spent in the bush where I teach all the “must know” pieces of the jigsaw especially the numerous “Overlays” which are a key part of my system. As a result “tradies” who learn best by “seeing and doing”, usually learn much better by attending our course than by reading a book.

With this in mind, our new book has been written and designed so it is as close as possible to actually attending our course so that people who learn best by “seeing and doing” can easily learn from it. In fact this book has been written and designed in a way so that it can replace our course when we no longer run them.

The new book “fine-tunes” and adds many “Overlays” which were not included in the Trilogy. Plus many subjects are covered with much more precision and in far more detail than in Volumes 1, 2 and 3.

In addition the new book discusses many “Overlays” which were only touched upon briefly in the Trilogy. But if you want more detail on many other subjects which have been discussed in much greater detail in the Trilogy you have to go to each volume.

If you compare the “Contents” pages of Volumes 1, 2 and 3 and our new book, you will quickly see how the information in each differs. The comprehensive Index included in all four books makes it easy to find any subject you wish to learn more about.

If my sole aim was to find Sambar at any time of the day, in any weather, in any level of hunting pressure, at any elevation, no matter where they are - on the farm fringe, in remote country or in the subalpine, and I could only afford one book it would be our latest – “The Hunt Smart System ®.”

But if I wanted to learn as much as possible about these Big Brown Deer and everything related to how to hunt them then I would want to own the Trilogy as well. In fact many people own all four books and find them all to be extremely useful.

If you are in doubt about the value of our new book I encourage you to read the "Peer Reviews" which are on our website. The peer reviewers – namely Dick Power, Neil Hair, Leon Alexander, Jim Lay and Robert Hoggard are all extremely experienced and highly successful sambar hunters, and each of them have hunted these Big Brown Deer for somewhere between 40 and 60 years. Some of the short reviews and testimonials which follow the peer reviews have been provided by newcomers and mildly experienced hunters.