How A Normal Day With The Garo Elephant Poachers Turned Into A Nightmare

[cagkt3]

@Kawshik Rahman Any idea on size of that beast? It looks rather large!

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

@Kawshik Rahman Any idea on size of that beast? It looks rather large!

Cagkt3
You are correct . It was fairly large by Darjeeling standards . This example was 14 feet in length. Crocodiles in the Buri Ganga river reach massive lengths with the largest example l have shot , being 16 feet and the largest recorded example shot by anyone to be upwards of twenty feet.

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

I will take a picture next time I visit him and send you. I’m no expert on crocs, but that one looked pretty big to me. It’s a shame the man lost his leg, I’m glad however it was not worse. I grew up watching Steve Irwin on TV (I’m 22) and am very fascinated by these animals. I might feel differently if I had to live with them however.

Wyatt Smith
It is perfectly alright to feel fascinated by these creatures . Your positive outlook on them will allow you to hunt them with ethics . I unfortunately , have had a childhood fear of these creatures. Interestingly enough , after l killed the first few ones , my fear started to reduce. When l used to collect fallen geese or ducks from clients in streams , l would always try to get out of the water as quick as possible out of fear for crocodiles. I suppose you are a braver gentleman than l , just like Karim who treated them as mere pests.

 

[Newboomer]

What a riveting account! That man was extremely lucky to have you two there. You saved his life and rid the area of one more nasty critter.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Wyatt Smith
It is perfectly alright to feel fascinated by these creatures . Your positive outlook on them will allow you to hunt them with ethics . I unfortunately , have had a childhood fear of these creatures. Interestingly enough , after l killed the first few ones , my fear started to reduce. When l used to collect fallen geese or ducks from clients in streams , l would always try to get out of the water as quick as possible out of fear for crocodiles. I suppose you are a braver gentleman than l , just like Karim who treated them as mere pests.

I doubt that I am any braver than you, my friend. I do hope I can hunt one of these prehistoric beasts someday though.

 

[cls]

Another great story.
You should really write a book of your time as a professional hunter... You have told us many amazing stories which will be lost to time if they don't get recorded somewhere.

 

[Ridge Runner]

What another fascinating article.

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

What a riveting account! That man was extremely lucky to have you two there. You saved his life and rid the area of one more nasty critter.

New Boomer
Thank you so much for your kind words. I consider myself lucky that l did not shoot the man accidentally when the crocodile got ahold of his leg.

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

I doubt that I am any braver than you, my friend. I do hope I can hunt one of these prehistoric beasts someday though.

Wyatt Smith
They are fun to hunt . Thank you so much for your appreciation

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

Another great story.
You should really write a book of your time as a professional hunter... You have told us many amazing stories which will be lost to time if they don't get recorded somewhere.

cls
Thank you so much. It means a great deal .

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

What another fascinating article.

Ridge Runner
Thank you so much for your kind words

 

[Ridgewalker]

Is it the magnificent specimen in your picture ?

Yes sir. I’m very envious that you had the opportunity to take many of them. I took mine at 90 yards with my 375 H&H. If you took all of yours using the shotgun, you had to have been VERY close! Pretty exciting I would think?

 

[Shootist43]

Kawshik you need to enter your name on this AH thread for a chance to win a quality knife with a steel blade that you will not have to sharpen in the field. https://www.africahunting.com/threa...von-gruff-in-a-random-drawing-giveaway.53442/

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

Yes sir. I’m very envious that you had the opportunity to take many of them. I took mine at 90 yards with my 375 H&H. If you took all of yours using the shotgun, you had to have been VERY close! Pretty exciting I would think?

Ridge Walker
Some times when you talk , you remind me exactly of my late Shikari partner , Karim ( l mean it in a good sense , seeing how much braver he was as a person , than l ).
In order to use a shot-gun loaded with SG , we had to get a little too close for comfort. Like in this incident , we were practically 8 or 9 feet away from the beast. Karim used to find it exciting , but l must admit that l was terrified ( but then , l am far less brave than he was ) . If l had a magnum .375 like yourself , l would have liked to put some distance between me and the reptile. Eventually , Karim started using his .22 Long Rifle Brno auto loader to kill the crocodiles. There is a region in the back of a crocodile's head which is more delicate than others . A .22 Long Rifle bullet placed correctly here , will kill the crocodile. However , if your aim is even slightly incorrect , the bullet will bounce off. The irony is that the Shikari who was excited to be among them was able to use a rifle to dispatch the beasts , while the Shikari who was terrified of them was forced to get close to them and kill them with SG cartridges from a shot-gun.
Perhaps l should do a separate article on hunting crocodiles , if it would interest you ? With my photographs of course ( l do have a few )

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

Kawshik you need to enter your name on this AH thread for a chance to win a quality knife with a steel blade that you will not have to sharpen in the field. https://www.africahunting.com/threa...von-gruff-in-a-random-drawing-giveaway.53442/

Shootist43 , thank you so much for bringing this to my attention . I see that it is made from 1095 non stainless steel . It looks quite beautiful . I actually like this kind of steel much more than stainless steel.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Perhaps l should do a separate article on hunting crocodiles , if it would interest you ? With my photographs of course ( l do have a few )

I would enjoy an article on crocs! And a few pictures would add even more interest!

 

[IvW]

Difference between African and Asian/Indian/Bangladesh elephant.

African forest elephant 5 nails on front feet 4 on the back
African savanna elephant 4 nails on front feet 3 on the back
Asian elephant 5 nails on front feet 4 on the back (rarely 5)

Large ears in shape of Africa vs small ears shaped like India. African ears are much bigger and reach up and over the neck, which does not occur in Asian elephants.

African elephants have fuller, more rounded heads. The top of the head is a single dome whereas Asian elephants have a twin-domed head with an indent in the middle.

African elephants’ skin is more wrinkled

The African elephant’s trunk is visibly more heavily ringed and is not as hard as the Asian trunk.

The trunk tip is a major difference between the species. The African trunk has two distinct fingers which it uses to pick up and manipulate objects. The Asian elephant has only one ‘finger’. The Asian compensates for this by holding objects against the underside of the trunk and appears not to suffer from any lack of maneuverability.

The pictured elephants appear to be more African than Asian

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

Difference between African and Asian/Indian/Bangladesh elephant.

African forest elephant 5 nails on front feet 4 on the back
African savanna elephant 4 nails on front feet 3 on the back
Asian elephant 5 nails on front feet 4 on the back (rarely 5)

Large ears in shape of Africa vs small ears shaped like India. African ears are much bigger and reach up and over the neck, which does not occur in Asian elephants.

African elephants have fuller, more rounded heads. The top of the head is a single dome whereas Asian elephants have a twin-domed head with an indent in the middle.

African elephants’ skin is more wrinkled

The African elephant’s trunk is visibly more heavily ringed and is not as hard as the Asian trunk.

The trunk tip is a major difference between the species. The African trunk has two distinct fingers which it uses to pick up and manipulate objects. The Asian elephant has only one ‘finger’. The Asian compensates for this by holding objects against the underside of the trunk and appears not to suffer from any lack of maneuverability.

The pictured elephants appear to be more African than Asian

IvW
Your observations are correct. I have only seen twelve or thirteen such elephants in India in my entire life and none outside Tamil Nadu or Darjeeling. On a related subject , l have seen on television , African female elephants with tusks while Indian female elephants lack tusks. Do all female elephants in Africa have tusks ?

 

[IvW]

IvW
Your observations are correct. I have only seen twelve or thirteen such elephants in India in my entire life and none outside Tamil Nadu or Darjeeling. On a related subject , l have seen on television , African female elephants with tusks while Indian female elephants lack tusks. Do all female elephants in Africa have tusks ?

Never seen or heard of that as these have all the markings of being African elephants pictured. Even to the fingers on the trunk tip, large ears, single domed head, very strange....

No there are tusk less females refereed to the bitches of the bush and they are more aggressive than there tusked counter parts.

You also occasionally find tusk less bulls.

I have never encountered a tusk less matriarch in my time, though...

 

[mark-hunter]

Dear mr Rahman,
Thank you for this appaling real-life report!

I have a question, did clients ask for hunting crocs?