Continuing subscribers will remember a 2004 report we published by correspondent Mel Toponce about a free-range aoudad hunt on a huge property along the central coast of California (See Article ID 1357.) The operator was Don Anderson of Anderson Taxidermy and Guide Service, Inc. Now Toponce says Anderson has gained access to another such opportunity, this time for free-ranging sambar deer that have not been hunted in 40 years.
The property Anderson is hunting encompasses 84,000 acres and is owned by a family that wishes to remain anonymous. Anderson hunted the property himself and took a big sambar stag measuring 150 1/8 SCI, ranking as the largest free-range typical sambar in SCI’s North American records book. This past September, he took two clients on this hunt, and one of them took an even bigger stag. It had not been officially scored at this writing, but the initial green-score was 160 SCI, making it the new Number One in its category. The lucky hunter was Hunting Report subscriber Peter Bollinger, and you can see a photo of his trophy in the Trophy Gallery section of our web site. The second hunter, Bob Howard, took a smaller stag, measuring about 150 SCI (also posted in our Trophy Gallery). The SCI minimum is 115. Anderson says he has seen a number of 150-class and better sambar on the property......
