Sika Deer hunting
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Where to hunt Sika Deer
Sika deer originated in East Asia, but now the only country within its historic range where you can legally hunt it is Russia. For a true wild sika deer hunt, visit Primorski Krai on the Pacific Coast; in other areas of the country the offers for sika hunting imply introduced animals on game farms. Sika deer was at one point widely introduced, either as an ornamental animal or for hunting purposes, into many other countries, including the USA, New Zealand, the British Isles, the Czech Republic, and other European countries.
Price distribution
The price of a sika deer hunt depends greatly on the location. In Europe, a non trophy cull or doe hunt may cost about $500 a hunter a day, but a trophy fee for a spectacular record-book animal can rise the bill into the $3,000-$5,000 range. On Texas game ranches a trophy sika deer hunt will cost about $3,000. New Zealand deer hunting packages that include sika deer may be priced at $9,000 or so. Perhaps the best bargains are Russian hunts, where for $4,500-5,500, without an additional trophy fee, you get to hunt a true wild animal in its native – and totally awesome – environment.
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Learn more from our blog story
Primorski Krai, or Primorye, the original home range of the sika deer, is a unique area on the Pacific coast of Russia, where tigers and Himalayan bears coexist with brown bears, sable, and other denizens of Siberian taiga. Here are seven reasons to explore this wonderful land – sika deer being one of them.
9 Nov 2017 Do Tigers Call Deer? 7 Facts a Hunter Must Know About Primorye.When to hunt Sika Deer?
Sika deer hunting opportunities for introduced animals and on high fence operations can often be found a year round, but the hunter who seeks to harvest a trophy buck should consider their antler growth schedule. In the Northern Hemisphere sika deer shed their antlers in April, and drop the velvet in August, in time for the rut (which usually happens in late September – early October). In Russia the sika hunting season runs from September 1 to January 15; most outfitters suggest that the earlier into the season the better the hunting.
Hunting methods All hunting methods (7)
Sika deer are highly adaptable, and developed their own set of predation avoidance techniques that may puzzle a hunter who’s used to hunting other deer. For instance, sika deer may hide in a scenario when other deer will flee, and vice versa. They can be harvested by a variety of hunting methods, including calling, waiting from a high seat over feeding grounds or a salt lick, and driven hunt. But the most popular method perhaps is a combination of calling and spot-and-stalk during the rut.
Why hunt Sika Deer?
Sika deer is a smallish, but beautiful animal, and even the adults’ skins feature white spots. The bucks carry thick, branched antlers, that neither crown like with red deer nor palmate like with fallow deer. All points grow from the same stem, there are typically four points on each side, rarely five, and almost never six. Sika deer antlers in velvet stage are highly prized by traditional Chinese medicine (and do contain some substances that actually have medical effect), which at one point nearly led to the species’ extinction. Fortunately, deer farming appeared as an alternative source. Sika deer hunting provides delicious and healthy venison, an unusual and beautiful trophy, a challenging hunting experience, and in some cases an opportunity to visit some of the most amazing environments on this planet.
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