Why hunting with pets is catching on

Herald Sun, Page: 1. Saturday, 7 June 2008

Hound hunting for sambar deer – the uniquely Victorian pursuit that caught Todd Russell’s attention – is a sport on the move.
And a reason for this is a miscalculation by our Department of Sustainability and Environment.
In 2005, under Green pressure, the department outlawed fox-hounds that had long been used for scent-trailing sambar.
They claimed the dogs were a danger to deer, though hunt-master Geoff Maggs, who has hound-hunter for 40 years, insists he has never seen a fox-hound harm a sambar.
Hunters are now required to sue the smaller beagles or bloodhounds – a ruling that stunned hunter, but to which they have now adjusted.
Since the ruling, membership of Victorian Hound Hunters has grown from 500 to just on 2000: the opportunity for people to hunt with dogs that make ideal pets has made the sport far more attractive.
Milka Bojanis, 20, works at Wangaratta Hospital and hunts every weekend of the season.
She is typical of the new, younger recruits to the sport.
Pictured left, Milka shows Todd Russell the antlers from her first sambar stag, shot recently.
The fine trophy means that Milka, a third-generation hound-hunter, has shot the largest sambar ever taken, over hound, by a woman hunter in Australia.