The Last Man Eater Of The Mangroves

[Tucketed]

Thanks again for allowing us to travel along on your quest

 

[Mike B. 216]

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed reading your adventures.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Exellent story ,and lot of struggles it was to stop the pain the great striped had.

Glad you liked it, Per.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Bravo my friend! Please, please, please find the motivation to finish that book! If not just for your followers here on AH!

That is a fantastic looking leopard you’ve got there, my friend. What rifle & bullet combination did you use ?

 

[Mort Hill]

I was using my CZ .375 H&H with Federal 300 Gr Barnes Triple-Shock. Not a reloader mind you, so everything ordered on line, back when you could find them. One shot in the Save in Zimbabwe in 2021. 7’2”, 182lbs if I remember correctly. Thank you for the compliment.

 

[baxterb]

Another great story - well done.

As far as putting a book together - a humble suggestion if you are working with a good editor - listen to him. Many outdoor books that contain otherwise good stories are too-often hampered by deferential editing. Andrew Holmberg, Andy Anderson and Terry Mathews are three that come to mind.

I've only published one book - I did all the research, writing, design, layout, and distribution, but I did have an editor who kept things in order. I understand well the stop/start problem. One thing that helped me a great deal was when I taught myself InDesign and got the mass of text to actually look like a 'book.' At that point I could see the end of the project and it helped me want to see it through.

Look forward to more - there are not a lot of people with these stories willing to tell them!

 

[Bapu]

At 5:00 PM, I once again got down onto the canal bank…This time accompanied by 25 forest sentries from the launch. I was carrying my 7x57mm Mauser in my hands, while my forest sentries were armed with their standard issue .303 caliber Lee Enfields. We began to take up the blood trail of the wounded Royal Bengal tiger and all of us advanced cautiously. At roughly 5:50 PM, we found him lying still in a ditch under some Goran trees… surrounded by a massive pool of frothy blood. I ordered 2 of my forest sentries to cautiously approach the animal and pelt him with rocks, while the other forest sentries and I stood at the ready with our rifles poised. If we detected the slightest signs of movement, then we were to immediately open fire.

These precautionary measures proved to be rather superfluous, because the man eater of Atharobeki was indeed no more. Judging from the rate of decomposition of the Royal Bengal tiger’s carcass (and the distance he had gone from where I had first shot him), it was estimated that he succumbed to the gunshot wound roughly 3 hours after I had shot him.

A postmortem revealed that my Winchester Super X 175 grain soft nosed bullet had broken through the great cat’s scapula, penetrating into the right lung of the tiger and tearing open a massive wound cavity. The animal eventually succumbed to his injuries, by suffocating on his own blood. The postmortem also revealed to us why the Royal Bengal tiger had developed such pathologically homicidal tendencies towards human beings. In the animal’s brain, we found a large number of maggots which had no doubt caused some serious brain damage to the striped feline. Even though he had killed and eaten a jarring number of 58 human beings, I could not help but feel an iota of pity for the poor creature. Having maggots move around in one’s head slowly eating away at different parts of the brain, is no doubt a hellish phenomenon. Nature truly is cruel.

And that, dear readers… was how I dispatched my final man eating Royal Bengal tiger. To the best of my knowledge, the Royal Bengal tigers which I had shot (in 1981, 1988 and 1989) were 3 of the only 4 man eating tigers to have been legally killed in the Sundarban mangrove forests after the country became independent in 1971. And as far as I am aware, the man eater of Atharobeki was the very last Royal Bengal tiger (or indeed, ANY endangered animal) for which the Ministry of Forests had issued a Death-Order (as of this time of writing in 2022).

Amongst my fellow hunters, I admit that I became something of a celebrity. 3 of the only 4 man eating Royal Bengal tigers to be legally killed in the Sundarbans (with the other one being the man eater of Talpatti which Pachabdi had dispatched by setting up a gun-trap in 1987) had died by my hand. And each of them were felled with only a single shot. But the raw truth is that I was no great hunter or fearless hero. I had only succeeded due to a combination of luck and very good logistical support from the Sundarban Department of Forests. I got the first 2 man eaters by exploiting their natural kill-sites. And I happened upon the final man eater by PURE CHANCE. I never shot a charging Royal Bengal tiger and only ever hunted the final man eater on foot. Not once was I able to drop any of the man eaters which I had shot at, on the spot. The first one died 7 hours after I had shot him. The second one died 4 hours after I had shot him. And the final one died 3 hours after I had shot him.

By reading these 3 chapters, my dear readers will have their attention drawn towards the numerous mistakes I had also made while going after man eating Royal Bengal tigers. Indeed, I do not consider myself to be particularly talented in the field of hunting the great cats. Sometimes, I still look back at my actions and find myself wondering… exactly how did I manage to hunt down 3 Royal Bengal tigers without any prior tiger hunting experience ? And how did I manage to get away doing all of this ABSOLUTELY UNSCATHED?

Clearly, someone from above was looking out for me.

THE END
View attachment 528201
End Of An Era

Fantastic. Enjoy every word. Thank you

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Thanks again for allowing us to travel along on your quest

Why, thank you, Tucketed.

 

[pilar]

Dear Mark.
The phenomenon is called “Myiasis” and it frequently occurs on Royal Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans. Tigers have no sense of smell and when they return to complete feeding on a partially consumed/temporarily abandoned kill (such as an Axis deer which needs 2 feedings), the carcass of their kill is usually infested with these maggots by then (larvae from flies). While the tiger is having it’s second feeding, sometimes maggots manage to get onto the tiger. After that point, they settle in the nearest orifice of the animal (i.e ear holes, open wounds, nasal cavities, etc). I have also found such maggots in the brain of a bull elephant I shot in Zimbabwe.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

These maggots are screwworms Chrysomya bezziana, bad stuff , the USA had a eradication program

I hope this get published as I collect all the books on Asian and African man eater cats and their demise

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Fantastic stores!

Why, thank you, Mats.

 

[PARA45]

Wow, what a fantastic story. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Jörg Krüger]

What an awesome read

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed reading your adventures.

Why, thank you, Mike.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Another great story - well done.

As far as putting a book together - a humble suggestion if you are working with a good editor - listen to him. Many outdoor books that contain otherwise good stories are too-often hampered by deferential editing. Andrew Holmberg, Andy Anderson and Terry Mathews are three that come to mind.

I've only published one book - I did all the research, writing, design, layout, and distribution, but I did have an editor who kept things in order. I understand well the stop/start problem. One thing that helped me a great deal was when I taught myself InDesign and got the mass of text to actually look like a 'book.' At that point I could see the end of the project and it helped me want to see it through.

Look forward to more - there are not a lot of people with these stories willing to tell them!

Baxter,
That's a capital idea. Right now, the idea to self publish on Amazon seems like a feasible proposition.

 

[Traveler1]

Nothing like a great man-eater story.......Can I put a deposit down now? I have several Man-eater first editions and this would complement greatly.

​

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Fantastic. Enjoy every word. Thank you

Namashkaar, my friend. If only I had your .375 Holland & Holland Magnum pre ‘64 Winchester Model 70 and some 300Gr Winchester Silver Tip soft nosed cartridges. It would have saved me one hell of a tracking job.

 

[typilotguy]

Fascinating tale, and well writen! You must let us know when you get this published. I would love to purchase a copy.

 

[PerH]

Sent you a pm about self publish service, one self publisher i know of likes it very much.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

These maggots are screwworms Chrysomya bezziana, bad stuff , the USA had a eradication program

I hope this get published as I collect all the books on Asian and African man eater cats and their demise

Let’s see, S-3 Ranch.

 

[Jim Golden]

At 5:00 PM, I once again got down onto the canal bank…This time accompanied by 25 forest sentries from the launch. I was carrying my 7x57mm Mauser in my hands, while my forest sentries were armed with their standard issue .303 caliber Lee Enfields. We began to take up the blood trail of the wounded Royal Bengal tiger and all of us advanced cautiously. At roughly 5:50 PM, we found him lying still in a ditch under some Goran trees… surrounded by a massive pool of frothy blood. I ordered 2 of my forest sentries to cautiously approach the animal and pelt him with rocks, while the other forest sentries and I stood at the ready with our rifles poised. If we detected the slightest signs of movement, then we were to immediately open fire.

These precautionary measures proved to be rather superfluous, because the man eater of Atharobeki was indeed no more. Judging from the rate of decomposition of the Royal Bengal tiger’s carcass (and the distance he had gone from where I had first shot him), it was estimated that he succumbed to the gunshot wound roughly 3 hours after I had shot him.

A postmortem revealed that my Winchester Super X 175 grain soft nosed bullet had broken through the great cat’s scapula, penetrating into the right lung of the tiger and tearing open a massive wound cavity. The animal eventually succumbed to his injuries, by suffocating on his own blood. The postmortem also revealed to us why the Royal Bengal tiger had developed such pathologically homicidal tendencies towards human beings. In the animal’s brain, we found a large number of maggots which had no doubt caused some serious brain damage to the striped feline. Even though he had killed and eaten a jarring number of 58 human beings, I could not help but feel an iota of pity for the poor creature. Having maggots move around in one’s head slowly eating away at different parts of the brain, is no doubt a hellish phenomenon. Nature truly is cruel.

And that, dear readers… was how I dispatched my final man eating Royal Bengal tiger. To the best of my knowledge, the Royal Bengal tigers which I had shot (in 1981, 1988 and 1989) were 3 of the only 4 man eating tigers to have been legally killed in the Sundarban mangrove forests after the country became independent in 1971. And as far as I am aware, the man eater of Atharobeki was the very last Royal Bengal tiger (or indeed, ANY endangered animal) for which the Ministry of Forests had issued a Death-Order (as of this time of writing in 2022).

Amongst my fellow hunters, I admit that I became something of a celebrity. 3 of the only 4 man eating Royal Bengal tigers to be legally killed in the Sundarbans (with the other one being the man eater of Talpatti which Pachabdi had dispatched by setting up a gun-trap in 1987) had died by my hand. And each of them were felled with only a single shot. But the raw truth is that I was no great hunter or fearless hero. I had only succeeded due to a combination of luck and very good logistical support from the Sundarban Department of Forests. I got the first 2 man eaters by exploiting their natural kill-sites. And I happened upon the final man eater by PURE CHANCE. I never shot a charging Royal Bengal tiger and only ever hunted the final man eater on foot. Not once was I able to drop any of the man eaters which I had shot at, on the spot. The first one died 7 hours after I had shot him. The second one died 4 hours after I had shot him. And the final one died 3 hours after I had shot him.

By reading these 3 chapters, my dear readers will have their attention drawn towards the numerous mistakes I had also made while going after man eating Royal Bengal tigers. Indeed, I do not consider myself to be particularly talented in the field of hunting the great cats. Sometimes, I still look back at my actions and find myself wondering… exactly how did I manage to hunt down 3 Royal Bengal tigers without any prior tiger hunting experience ? And how did I manage to get away doing all of this ABSOLUTELY UNSCATHED?

Clearly, someone from above was looking out for me.

THE END
View attachment 528201
End Of An Era

You rocked and rolled!