Whether hunted in India or here in Victoria’s Great forested Mountains, Sambar have a well deserved reputation for being mysterious and highly elusive. There can be no doubt that the adage, ‘they didn’t get big by being stupid’ applies to the Premier Game Animal of the South Pacific Region, which arguably rates amongst the world’s top ten game animals.
Karl Hartney
Hunt smart course Success Story #42
Errol, I had to let you know how impressed I have been with your Hunt Smart Course. The knowledge imparted by you in three days was a blessing for my Sambar hunting techniques. Your system has allowed me to observe, not just more deer, but deer that are unalarmed and not aware I am there. I not only have the time to observe them but also the confidence to choose and harvest on my terms. Hunting has never been so more enjoyable than now. A must do course for anybody who is serious about hunting Sambar. ...
Dominic Stivala - Hunt smart course Success Story #41
In the early days I spent many hours bashing through scrub and it took me 17 years to shoot my first deer. Most of my hunting was "walk them up" style and something had to change if I was to start enjoying success on a regular basis.
So I purchased Errol Mason’s three books - Secrets of the Sambar Vol. 1, 2 & 3 and started reading and putting into practice his methods. Wow!!! Immediately l started to see more deer but they usually got away as l was still not completely sure of all the things l should be taking into account when hunting.
At this stage l had just five deer to my account in 22 years so l decided to book into the Hunt Smart Course that Errol runs. Bingo - all the information from his books came together as he explained it in a way that you can easily understand. First he explained using PowerPoint on a large screen and followed it up with field trips where he takes you through different scenarios and teaches you how to apply overlays to narrow down where the deer are going to be.
This is where you really start to get it and it sinks in really fast. Since the course l now see between seven to th… Read Full Story >>
Dominic Stivala, Rosebud VIC
Matt Robinson - Hunt smart course Success Story #40
Hi Errol, It hasn't stopped raining since we left course 4 days ago. We put what we learnt into action and found the area has had of lots of hunting pressure, but all the signs were like blueprint as taught on the course.
We went a little more remote and found this hind high on the western face late arvo feeding on a game trail as she contoured around the face at about 3pm. Perfect broadside shot at 120 yards. She didn’t even know I was there. Finally success just 3 days after leaving the course.
Thank you, Read Full Story >>
Matt Robinson, Wallan VIC
Chris Brereton, Bairnsdale - Hunt smart course Success Story #39
After relocating to East Gippsland to hunt Sambar and stumbling through the scrub armed for most of the time, I decided it was time to invest in the Hunt Smart course and have not looked back.
Finding a remote wallow in my pre-course hunts and hunting it several times over almost two years with only one encounter - where my presence was easily detected - but getting photos of many deer on my trail camera, I returned immediately after attending Errol’s course with my newfound knowledge.
Over several months using low impact techniques I constructed a tree stand and waited for the right weather forecast. My first morning in it a stag rose up out of the mud. I observed him unalarmed for several amazing minutes and then calmed myself before harvesting him with one well-placed shot. An instant kill.
Six days later I returned to the spot hoping the heavy rain that fell that afternoon had washed away all my scent but it didn’t matter for as the morning wore on my Hunt Smart knowledge told me I would be better to head into the gully on the opposite side of the ridge, and in… Read Full Story >>
Chris Brereton, Bairnsdale
Jonno Butt - Hunt smart course Success Story #38
Late last year my son Levi was lucky enough to win the Arthur Bentley Memorial Literary Award which is a position on Errol Mason's Hunt Smart Sambar Training Course. Not wanting Levi to gain all that knowledge on his own, I made a call and luckily Errol made a space for me on an already booked out weekend.
My normal hunting mates Paul and Jonno travelled with us and dropped us off and continued on to our regular hunting property - private property near Omeo. We had arranged to meet late on Sunday after Levi and I completed Errol’s course.
Both Levi and I have hunted sambar with some varying level of success, we believed that if we wanted to land a quality trophy we needed to learn more. Errol’s course not only taught us some basic stuff that we have known for so many years, but it also some real tactics that we had no idea about and were keen to get to the bush to try.
We left Errol’s on Sunday night determined to stop wasting our limited holiday time bush walking with a rifle up those hills and getting honked at. Yes - we were determined to put Errol’s tactics to use and improve our success rate.
The course was a great insight into the many years Errol has spent st… Read Full Story >>
Jonno Butt
Kurt Pongratz - Hunt smart course Success Story #37
Hello Errol, I had been hunting this stag for several weeks. I refreshed what I learnt on your training course by re-reading your excellent books on sambar hunting. It had been a very dirty wet week up here and the weather was bad when I shot him about an hour ago.
He was bedded exactly where you said he would be in these rainy conditions. And he was in a zone of silence. I just wanted to let you know that all your help has ended in success - a magnificent and better than 30 inch sambar stag. The excitement of taking my first sambar stag has been so great that I have had many sleepless nights since. Read Kurt’s full story in SOTS magazine Issue # 6. Read Full Story >>
Kurt Pongratz, Eden, NSW
Sam Van Assche - Hunt smart course Success Story #36
Gooday Errol, I have taken an amazing amount of sambar since doing your course including this old malformed stag - my 2nd stag since doing your course but I have also taken several hinds for venison. The difference it has made to my success rate is simply amazing.
Thanks again for all your help. Your course really is an investment in a lifetime of more successful and more enjoyable hunting. Read Full Story >>
Sam Van Assche, Malvern, VIC
Andy Ziems - Hunt smart course Success Story #35
Employing sambar behaviour and tactics learnt on Errol Mason's Hunt Smart Course I took this fine young stag.
The great benefit I got from doing the Hunt Smart course is that now I don?t spend all my time walking the bush. I just have my go to areas where I have learnt they will be in the conditions and without a doubt they are never far away. They are creatures of habit.
I now use low impact tactics and I know my hunting area well. All these elements and many more assisted in taking this young stag, My 2nd since doing the course late last year.
The thing about The Hunt Smart System ® is that it just works. It’s that simple. Read Full Story >>
Andy Ziems
Michael Pritchard - Hunt smart course Success Story #34
Hi Errol, My second stag since doing your course in October 2013. A 28 x 28 incher. Using The Hunt Smart System ® I shot him whilst he was completely unalarmed. An instant one shot kill.
Sandro Deluca - Hunt smart course Success Story #33
For 2 years I had been hunting sambar nearly every weekend during the cooler months. I was putting them up but never able to get a shot. They were always running and gone in a flash so I decided to attend Errol's Hunt Smart Sambar Training Course.
Using knowledge learnt on the course, I sat motionless in the right spot and waited for this young stag to walk right past me. When he was a mere 20m away I made him stop and took the shot. I was stoked. If I hadn’t attended Errol’s course I would still be walking aimlessly around the bush putting them up and never getting a shot - let alone a perfectly aimed one at a motionless deer. Read Full Story >>
Sandro Deluca, Tarneit, VIC
Jayson Dehn - Hunt smart course Success Story #32
G'day Errol, I thought I'd share this with you. On Saturday I finally shot my first sambar since doing your course in July this year. It's not a big stag but it's a start! It was exactly where you said it would be. It had got down to about 3°C overnight but the days had been about 25°.
I had picked out a saddle I was going to hunt. I planned to hunt the west face first and then drop back over the east side if I saw no deer. I walked the spur up to the saddle and noticed it was a little windy. Based upon your advice I knew the deer would not be there. However I did have the wind in my favour so I pushed up towards the saddle. As I got closer to the saddle I started glassing the head of the saddle and noticed the bush was still - a zone of silence. Sure enough as I came around the corner of some dogwood I spotted a spiker bedded just to the side of the saddle in filtered sunlight that was shining through. We spotted each other at the same time but by the time he stood up I had already had the rifle up and shot. I saw his legs buckle instantly so I knew I had hit him. He gingerly started to run so I shot again but missed. I watched him slow down start to wobble then lost … Read Full Story >>
Cheers, Jayson Dehn
Michael Pritchard, Melbourne - Hunt smart course Success Story #31
After 4 mates and I had spent several frustrating and unsuccessful years hunting sambar, we decided to attend Errol Mason's Hunt Smart course. We attended on 5-7 October 2012 and on the 20th of October - just 2 weeks later one of my mates and I went on our first hunt since the course. Using the system which Errol's course had armed us with, we began hunting sambar with a totally new approach. And right from the start the plan came together.
At dawn on the first morning of our hunt - for the first time ever - we got to watch sambar that did not know we were there. First we watched a hind travel down a spur line, backlit by the red glow of the rising sun. What a spectacular photo that would have been. Then we spotted 6 or 7 others with calves on what Errol calls a feeding hub - the hub of his wagon wheel approach to understanding sambar.
Then I spotted him on a distant hub just 100m above the valley floor - a young stag grazing in the soft diffused light of dawn. I stalked into a patch of wattles - set up my shooting sticks, took careful aim at his broadside form and from 250m and released a 180gn Core-Lokt. He ran 50m then fell over dead. Instantly Errol’s Hunt Smart system made what previously had seemed nearly impossible, almost too easy. Read Full Story >>
Michael Pritchard, Melbourne
Edward Malone - Hunt smart course Success Story #30
Hi Errol, It's taken me 8 years of hunting but only 3 trips after attending Errol's Hunt Smart course for me to secure this - my first Sambar stag last weekend. I'm absolutely stoked!!
In 2012 I decide to step it up, I was not getting near stags trying to walk them up so decided to change tactics. I started to become involved in the online forums, asking questions, I read Errol Masons "Secrets of Sambar" several times and made a promise to spend every week off footy in the bush.
The research I had done highlighted the "Hunt Smart" course as a very valuable experience, I spoke to Errol several times and he was kind enough to fit in with my footy commitments and I joined in a course. All I can say here is that anyone even contemplating hunting deer should make this mandatory. I would have saved the cost of the course twice over with the advice on binoculars, scopes and clothing alone. The course syllabus is then a bonus, which is apt because money can’t buy what I learnt on this course.
I’d like to extend my gratitude to Glen Roberts of Pr… Read Full Story >>
Thanks & Regards, Edward Malone
Andy Ziems - Hunt smart course Success Story #29
Hi Errol, Just a quick note to let you know that I caught this stag out in the open and was forced to take a standing shot from 80m. He's only 23 inches but I am very happy to have taken one since doing your course in late June this year.
This stag met perfectly the 90% predictability that The Hunt Smart System ® provides and it was great to put the theory into practice after doing the course. Read Full Story >>
Andy Ziems, Wodonga Vic.
Robert Borsak - Hunt smart course Success Story #28
Another fine Sambar Stag taken using Errol's Hunt Smart system.
Jim Colquhoun - Hunt smart course Success Story #27
Since attending our Hunt Smart course in late 2011 Jim Colquhoun has had close encounters with 3 sambar stags. The first two eluded him, but the third wasn't so lucky. It was close to dark when this 3 year old stag with 20inch antlers came out of the bush just 42m to Jim's front.
The stag exited the bush lower down the face than Jim had expected so he had to partially stand to obtain sufficient elevation to shoot downwards. Despite moving slowly and cautiously - the instant he did so the stag - who was facing straight ahead - saw Jim’s movement, turned and stared at him.
Fortunately by that time Jim was able to fire the fatal shot and take his first sambar. Well done Jim!!! Read Full Story >>
Jim Colquhoun
Sam Van Assche - Hunt smart course Success Story #26
After hearing about the instant success many hunters have had after attending Errol's Hunt Smart course I booked and planned a hunt immediately afterwards. Equipped with an incredible amount of knowledge acquired on the course I was able to properly plan my hunt and this fine sambar stag is the result. If you want to enjoy instant success on sambar, do yourself a favour and attend Errol's course. It really is a fantastic experience.
Matt Sheffield - Hunt smart course Success Story #25
After studying Secrets of the Sambar Vol's 1, 2 and 3 and attending Errol Mason's Hunt Smart Course I took this magnificent sambar stag. During my last 3 trips since doing Errol's course I photographed the first stag I have ever seen and taken a stag on each of the next 2 hunts, so I must be doing something right. Reading Errol's books and attending his course has definitely fast tracked me to consistent success.
