Meet Ayden Doumtsis
Where are you based?
Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia
What type of hunting do you do?
Bowhunting, Backpack Hunting, Australia and International Adventures
How did you get into hunting?
From the age of four I was taken on hunting adventures with my father Nick and twin brother James. From those pursuits a love for the outdoors grew. At 12 years old I was given my first bow, targeting rabbits, foxes, feral goats and pigs, then working up to deer and big game animals like wild scrub bulls (feral cattle) and asiatic water buffalo.
Where is your favourite location to hunt?
The Basalt Wall region of North Queensland, Australia
Tell us about your most memorable hunt
A hunt which spanned 2 months in the making. I had a surreal encounter with a mature chital deer stag and videoed him at thirty to forty odd meters. The whole encounter lasted approximately forty five minutes one evening until the sun eventually set. The footage was magnificent and to top it all off, the stag was rutting. Thrashing trees. Scraping the ground similarly to a fallow deer. Then he let out a series of vocalisations which I refer to as bellowing. To this day it is one of the most memorable things I’ve seen in the wild.
Following this encounter I watched back the footage and noticed quite quickly that I was looking at a truly remarkable deer. One that I estimated to be greater than thirty inches in length, with symmetry, large brow tines, inners and width. Overall he was quite literally the stag of my dreams. Every weekend following a busy schedule with university I would race out to the property. Hunt dusk to dawn and then race back to uni for a Monday start. I did this for two months as previously stated. Never laying eyes on the stag.
Just when I was beginning to lose hope, thinking that he may have cast his antlers, been eaten by dingoes, shot by another hunter or laid to waste by helicopter / aerial culls. I finally found him.
The day was one to remember. I had snuck in and scoped out numerous mobs of chital deer hinds in their usual locations. There seemed to be a real rut feel to the day with up to ten seperate stags sighted which would have been mature animals in the high twenties age class. Still, none of them could compare to the stag which I had set my sights on. Hunting throughout the whole day, with fading light I waited off two hinds hoping a stag would join them from the thick tea tree. Just when I thought to turn around and head for the car I heard it.
As if an old friend was calling out to me, a series of chital stag bellows roared form approximately six hundred meters away. In my heart I knew it was him. I ran in his direction, halving the distance. With the naked eye I locked in on him and without even using the binoculars I knew it was him without a doubt. His antlers were enormous, so long and upright. I couldn’t believe my eyes. With fading light I managed to close the distance again, using the upright trees and vertical cover to close the gap to thirty meters. Putting the range finder away, I drew the bow as his head moved behind some timber and settled the pin.
I would be lying if I said I knew where the arrow hit, it zapped through him that quickly it took us both by shock. The stag jumped as if to flee, landed on the other side of a fallen log, took a single step and fell to the ground. He was dead. After two months of searching tirelessly for this magnificent creature our saga had run its course. Laying hands on the stag it became obvious that he the biggest chital stag that I had ever seen. His antlers ended up measuring over thirty two inches in length, with eight inch inners and fifteen inch brownies. Covered in scars, this old boy had likely been putting on the miles searching for hinds and fighting rival stags.
The feeling of being extremely specific and only having eyes for one animals, and an animal that was so unique has far surpassed many of my other memorable hunts. This was something else and a hunt that I will always remember.
What are your top three "holy grail" items?
Binoculars, quality boots, wind puffer and lastly, rain gear - you just never know!
Why do you hunt?
I hunt because it’s difficult. Out of all the endeavours in my life Bowhunting would have to be one of the most challenging yet rewarding of them. Both physically and mentally there are so many hurdles to overcome when hunting. So when it ultimately comes together and you can take the target animals life humanely. With a well placed shot, then enjoy the meat, hide, antlers or so forth there’s something very rewarding about that.