The Royal Bengal Tiger Which Got A Shikaree Hanged

I wish ! My poor simpleton of a friend stopped writing fresh articles on African Hunting Forums after that incident with the 2 bloody anti hunting " trolls " who insulted him on 1 of our threads 3 months ago ( even though the " trolls " were publicly exposed and humiliated ) . I am currently desperately trying to convince him to resume writing again . If those trolls ever attempt to insult him again , then I WILL PERSONALLY STEP IN and give them a piece of my mind .
Friend Ponton
Sgt Kawshick Rahman has nothing to fear but fear itself. He is a gifted and talented writer. He has many friends hear that respect him and would gladly demean a piss arse troll into submission.
Your friend Bob.
 
Thank you, sir, for an incredible story. Never heard of a professional hunter being hung for perceived dereliction of
professional duty, in essence. As a "professional" gun writer, the client was also not using good judgment.
Quite a story.
 
Thank you, sir, for an incredible story. Never heard of a professional hunter being hung for perceived dereliction of
professional duty, in essence. As a "professional" gun writer, the client was also not using good judgment.
Quite a story.
Why thank you so much for enjoying my article , Doctor . We professional shikarees were always on our toes ... due to draconian laws , such as these !
 
there was a picture of a hunter who killed a tiger with a savage lever action(model 99) in .22 hi power, a hi power is not as powerfull as a 220 swift. you can,t fix stupid, you just stay away from it. AGAIN THANKS FOR THE TRUE STORIES AND HISTORY OF THE SHIKAREES.
 
there was a picture of a hunter who killed a tiger with a savage lever action(model 99) in .22 hi power, a hi power is not as powerfull as a 220 swift. you can,t fix stupid, you just stay away from it. AGAIN THANKS FOR THE TRUE STORIES AND HISTORY OF THE SHIKAREES.
Ah ... you are quite well read , Mr. Hetrick . Your reading is 100 % correct. The gentle man’s name was Reverend Harry R Caldwell ... author of “ The Blue Tiger “ . How ever , the context needs to be elaborated on ... a little bit .
1stly , Reverend Caldwell only dispatched 1 tiger with a .22 Hi Power calibre Savage Model 99 lever rifle.
2ndly , That tiger was not a royal Bengal tiger ( which can weigh in excess of 500 pounds in a fully grown male ) . It was a much lighter Oriental tiger... which weighed only 400 pounds .
3rdly , Reverend Caldwell shot that Oriental tiger in the stomach ... while it’s stomach happened to be full. This what what had caused the Oriental tiger to get killed .

After that 1 Oriental tiger ... Reverend Caldwell switched to using a .303 Savage calibre Model 99 lever rifle , for dispatching his other Oriental tigers .

By the way , does not the .22 Hi Power cartridge utilize a heavier bullet ( 70 grains ) than a .220 Swift cartridge does ( 48 grains , if my memory serves me correctly ) ?
 
yes the .22 hi-power was loaded with 70 gr bullets running 2790 fps in norma factory loads and could be reloaded with 55 gr bullets at 3200 fps. the bullets diamater was .228, not .224. to me the difference between the two tigers weight, still would not get me to try and kill one with the 22-hi-power(maybe in self defence if thats all i had). i have had 16 lbs ground hogs get in their holes after being shot with a .223 with 55 gr bullets at 3200 fps. to me only a fool or one with a death wish would try a stunt like that. even the .303 savage would still be very light to me for hunting tigers, factory loads are 180 gr bullets at 2140 or 190 gr bullets at 1890 fps.
 
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The very 1st thing which Tobin and l did was to understand the movements of our adversary . All 3 of the brute's victims were killed in the forested area spanning between Darjeeling and Siliguri . Till now , it had targeted a wood cutter , a child and a Hindu priest who liked to meditate in the forest . All the corpses of the brute's victims were missing flesh from the buttocks ; the unmistakable sign that they had run afoul of a royal Bengal tiger , which had turned man eater .
We employed the Garo trackers of Sundar Raj Shikar Limited to aid us in narrowing down the area where the brute was lurking .
Time and again ... both Kawshik and l have sung mighty praises in our articles on African Hunting Forums about the prowess of Garo trackers . And this article is no different , dear readers .
I consider Garo trackers to be the most competent of trackers in this entire world . These tribal hill people who live(d) in the hilly regions of West Bengal were terrifyingly competent at their tasks. To quote good old @Kawshik Rahman , " It was as if Garo trackers had been blessed by Divine Providence itself with the innate ability to track down any beast... large or small . "

Today , was no different . It was not long before the trackers were able to find the paw prints of the brute . Below , l have provided a photograph taken by myself of the paw prints of a man eating royal Bengal tiger.
View attachment 330397

The trackers were soon able to narrow down a large patch of forested area where they absolutely GUARANTEED us that the man eating royal Bengal tiger was lurking . We then decided that the best course of action was to organize a beat , in an attempt to flush out the royal Bengal tiger towards us . I saw to gathering 5 dozen local villagers to organize a beat for the next day , while Tobin saw to having a brace of Macchans constructed to allow us to shoot at the brute from an elevated position.
Below , l have provided a photograph taken by myself of a large group of beaters prior to the commencement of a beat. View attachment 330398

Below , l have provided a photograph taken by myself of Kawshik's Nepalese gun bearer , Rishi Chokroborti building a macchan .
View attachment 330399

Below , l have provided a photograph taken myself of what a finished macchan looked like , back in those days.
View attachment 330400

We then enlisted the help of young Clay Quiah , a junior professional shikaree working for Sundar Raj Shikar . Clay was armed with an Indian Ordinance Factories .315 calibre bolt rifle , loaded with 244 grain soft point cartridges and he was assigned to " beat duty ". This meant that Clay would have to stay behind the line of beaters with his rifle during the entire duration of the beat , in order to protect the beaters, lest the royal Bengal tiger choose to attack the beaters instead of trying to flee from them and getting flushed out towards the shooters .
( Whilst this is a rare occurrence , l have been unfortunate enough to experience this mishap , more than once during my 10 year career . )

Below , is a photograph kindly provided to me by Kawshik , of Clay Quiah standing over the head of a large water buffalo shot by 1 of his clients , after the head had been severed for preparation for mounting . The water buffalo had been shot with a .458 Winchester magnum calibre Birmingham Small Arms bolt rifle .
View attachment 330401

Below , l have provided a simple drawing of how a beat for a royal Bengal tiger used to work , back in those days.
View attachment 330402

With everything organized , the next day , early in the morning , the beat had commenced . Tobin and l waited nervously in our respective macchans . Tobin was armed with his Fabrique Nationale .423 calibre Mauser bolt rifle , loaded with 347 grain RWS soft point cartridges . I was armed with my " 12 Bore DBBL Made In Belgium " , loaded with a 2.5 inch Eley Grand Prix Lethal Ball cartridge in each barrel .
For 3 hours , we kept hearing the loud drumming and flute playing by the beaters as they moved increasingly closer towards our direction . If the beaters were getting closer towards us , then that meant that the royal Bengal tiger was getting closer towards us , as well .
More time passed . I looked over at Tobin's macchan and saw that my friend was nervously looking over at my macchan . We exchanged glances and even though we did not say a word to each other , we were both deeply worried about the exact same thing :
What if the royal Bengal tiger had escaped the beat , by hiding in a cave somewhere WITHIN the area which the beaters were combing through ? It HAD happened to us before with another royal Bengal tiger and what was to stop this man eater from doing the same thing ?
"No", l convinced myself. The chances of something like this occurring today we're astronomical.
True enough , our worries were unfounded . There , moving silently through the foliage , Tobin and l saw the man eater . He was a huge brute at least 9 feet in length and he was quietly moving towards the direction of our macchans .

Tobin flicked off the safety catch of his Fabrique Nationale .423 calibre Mauser bolt rifle and l readied my Belgian shot gun . 50 yards , 45 yards , 40 yards , 35 yards , 30 yards... the brute was getting closer. He could not let him escape .
Mr. Vidya C Shukla had given us a direct order. When the royal Bengal tiger was within 25 yards of us , Tobin and l jumped to our feet and stood up , snapping up our guns to our shoulders . As the brute looked up to acknowledge out presence , we did not give him much of a chance to react. I instantly fired off both barrels of my Belgian shot gun ,at it's head , right between the 2 eyes . Tobin fired an entire magazine from his .423 calibre Mauser bolt rifle ( 4 cartridges ) at the head of the brute , simultaneously. No body knew how to work the bolt of a bolt rifle faster than dear old Tobin Stakkatz. The brute already fell to the ground before Tobin had gotten off his 3rd shot . But ... there is no kill like over kill .
Tobin hastily loaded 4 more cartridges into the magazine of his Fabrique Nationale .423 calibre Mauser , while l broke open the breech of my Belgian shot gun and turned it up side down , to dump out the 2 empty cartridge cases. I quickly loaded in 2 more 2.5 inch Eley Grand Prix Lethal Ball cartridges and snapped shut the breech of my shot gun . We cautiously approached the lifeless form of the brute , with our guns trained on it . What if it was merely acting dead , and was really just waiting to pounce on us , as we drew closer to it ? However , our concerns were unfounded . True enough , the man eater was slain .
I breathed a sigh of relief , as Tobin put a camel cigarette into his mouth and lit it with his old G.I Zippo lighter . He chuckled at me and said " I only got 1 question , buddy . The boss told us to bring back this thing's head . How the hell do we show the boss a tiger head which looks like THAT ? We completely shot it up ! " .
True enough ; our gun fire had completely made a mess of the royal Bengal tiger's head . But then again , with 2 Eley Grand Prix Lethal Ball bullets and 4 Mauser bullets weighing 347 grains inside it's head ... What Royal Bengal tiger WOULD have it's head intact ?
Below , l have provided a photograph taken by a local villagers of Tobin , Clay and l ( along with Sundar Raj and his family ) near the slain 9 foot brute .
View attachment 330403
He weighed 502 pounds and had a most impressive coat .

In the next and final part of this article , l shall share a few reflections on this shikar .
IMG_3187.PNG

Hello! I have enjoyed reading some of these posts relating to the Indian subcontinent, however incredulous they sometimes sound. However, some of the pictures used are of different people from those ascribed in the post. This is just one example. The picture used in the above post is actually a blurred out and flipped version of this picture from S.A.H.A.A. (Tootoo) Imam's rare to find book 'Brown Hunter!' published in 1979. Visible in the picture are late Tootoo Imam and his son Bulu Imam at their family home 'The Grove' in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.
 
These stories and fantastic and RARE! There are not many people who have experienced these events and can share them as freely as our friend Major Khan - thank you very much sir!

I am just reading Corbett’s Temple Tiger book and one thing I like doing is getting on Google maps while I am reading and zooming in to the town names he mentions. The landscapes there look rugged and beautiful at the same time. Wonderful stuff.
 
@ASMak I have a hard time to fathom what you are trying to say. Could you elaborate more?
AH photo grove.png


Above is a screen shot from the post that uses a blurred out and digitally flipped version of a picture from the book 'Brown Hunter!' by S.A.H.A.A. (Tootoo) Imam published in 1979. The post also claims this tiger in the picture was a man eater in the Darjeeling area and was shot by them.

Below is a picture of the book itself.

The picture is from the Imam's family home in Hazaribagh, the tiger in picture was shot by Tootoo Imam near Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, using his .470 double that is kept on the tiger. Also in the picture is his son Bulu Imam (extreme left), who still lives in this house.
grove group.PNG


For anybody interested in knowing how this hunt went down, below is an excerpt from the relevant pages (142-143) of the book.

brown hunter.jpg
 
@ASMak Correct me if I'm wrong but are you saying that the stories and/or pictures are being made up or partially made up? Or what are you trying to say. I'm confused.
 
@ASMak Correct me if I'm wrong but are you saying that the stories and/or pictures are being made up or partially made up? Or what are you trying to say. I'm confused.
I cannot dispute the stories, those are for the individual to tell and the readers to judge. I can however point out that pictures are being regularly made up.

This is quite apparent from the few that have been lifted from Tootoo Imams book 'Brown Hunter!'. S.A.H.A.A. (Tootoo) Imam was a well regarded hunter/ sportsman in India, and ran a top class Shikar outfit for a while, and unsuccessfully contested the ban on hunting upto the Supreme Court of India. His book 'Brown Hunter' was published in 1979 and is now out of print and quite rare to find.
 
Wonderful reading sir. Personally I have a .423 Fabrique National myself. It is a 404 Jeffery. Is that the chambering your speak of or something like the 10.7x68?

Best wishes and in gratitude for a great story,

Scrummy
 

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