Moroka Trip 2025

By Dimitrios Kasapidis

I have been looking forward to the club trip to horseyard flat for quite a while as I have not done much hunting this year and welcomed the opportunity to socialise with other members and try my luck at harvesting a Sambar Deer.

Arriving on Wednesday afternoon I had a quick catch up with the other members already there, set up my own camp and decided to go out for an afternoon hunt. Not knowing the area too well, I soon found myself in some thick boggy ground with not much to see.

Thursday morning, I went out again in a similar area and spent the next 4-5 hours walking in thick bush, up and down hills and while no deer were sighted, at least I found some fresh droppings and some rub trees. That afternoon many of the members arrived and, in the evening, we had a good fire and great conversations into the night.

Friday morning, I was up again around 6 am and after breakfast, I was about to go out when Jerry, one of the more experienced members asked me which direction I was heading. At my reply he suggested a totally different direction so I decided to give it a go.

After parking my car, I prepared my gear and started walking into the bush. Initially it was very noisy with lots of twigs and leaf litter but soon the area cleared up and I thought that I better chamber a round. Reaching for the bolt, I was shocked to realise that I had left it behind and therefore had to walk the 200 metres back to the car. After all that, I continued in my original direction and soon started to see some sign and used my binos to scan ahead.

This went on for 2 hours and I was now in a good area where I could see 50-100m ahead.

The wind while quite strong, was in my face, and it also muffled my movements. There were more rub trees in this location, and then I found the freshest rub tree I had ever seen. This small tree had its bark ripped off and it was still light coloured and no sign of oxidation. I started to get excited and continued to glass ahead thinking that there had to be a deer nearby.

As I was scanning the area, I caught a glimpse of the rear of an animal just going into a thick bushy area about 100m away. Unfortunately, the area ahead was contouring down hill and I would not be able to see the deer if it continued in that direction. So I decided to walk towards it placing trees between myself and the deer to cover my movement. After about the fifth tree, I settled myself against a large tree and prepared for a shot.

Over the next couple of minutes, I only saw parts of the deer as it walked slowly between head high bushes and then disappeared for about 5 minutes and I thought it was all over. Suddenly the deer appeared again and I could now see that it was a Stag!

My heart was now thumping hard, but I could not take a shot as a small tree covered its chest. Waiting for another minute or so, the deer finally stepped forward and I squeezed the trigger instantly dropping the deer on the spot at about 50m away. To my surprise, another deer ran from those bushes, a hind, and stopped to look at me.

I thought of taking a shot but thought that I was not hunting Fallow and the car was around 800m away. Fortunately, she soon ran away and I ran to the fallen stag. He was still alive but could not get up. In less than a minute, it was all over and I began to contemplate the large task that I had ahead of me.

It took me four trips and 6 hours of hard work carrying all 4 legs the backstraps, tenderloins and the head back to my vehicle. When I arrived back at camp, everyone was very happy for me and with the help of a couple of members we hung the meat between two trees to cool for the night. I left the next day as the forecast was for warm weather and the meat harvest was a high priority for me. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves on the Saturday and the roast pig was a success.

The meat made it home ok and was stored for five days in a spare fridge before processing. The projectile was found under the skin of the second shoulder which was only a part of the empty jacket and a separate small piece of lead. The 30 06 178gr ELDX Hornady projectile absolutely smashed the first shoulder just above the joint and sent shards of bone and lead through the body shedding all its energy internally. The stag was only young and had 13-inch antlers. Not a trophy for some of the members out there but I will treasure this hunt and all that I harvested from this animal.

A big thank you to Jerry who pointed me in the right direction, and to Steve Dunn who organises this trip and helped me hang the meat as I was pretty tired by this time!