The Old Shikari Interview With Kawshik Rahman For 2021

PaulT
You will forgive me. I am not familiar with the name . I used to live and work in Darjeeling . Bangalore , l only used to occasionally visit for fishing .

Thank-you for your response.

I thought that there may have been a remote chance that you may have met some of the Muthanna clan as they were quite prominent people, landowners and hunters of that era within the Bangalore region. They were later in being instrumental in establishing the first WWF chapter for the area within the same general generational time span (with all due respect) that you would have been working there.

Thank-you again for your response.
 
Hoe often has you european clients, Mister Kawshik Rahman?
Did you remember German clients also?
 
Hoe often has you european clients, Mister Kawshik Rahman?
Did you remember German clients also?
Bull Hunter
It is funny you should ask. The only client in my career as a professional Shikari in Darjeeling, India from 1962 to 1970 who ever got injured , was a German gentleman .
We had dozens of German clients.
 
The only client in my career as a professional Shikari in Darjeeling, India from 1962 to 1970 who ever got injured , was a German gentleman .
Okay, that was the story with the gaur, as you wrote one page here before?
Did you remember the year/ first name / rifle?
Or some deatils from that gaur hunt?

We had dozens of German clients.
Okay.
They come directly from Germany for the hunt? (With the ship / airplane?)
Or did they stay in India (...for buisness, e.g.) and then they take the oportinity for the hunt....?
 
Okay, that was the story with the gaur, as you wrote one page here before?
Did you remember the year/ first name / rifle?
Or some deatils from that gaur hunt?


Okay.
They come directly from Germany for the hunt? (With the ship / airplane?)
Or did they stay in India (...for buisness, e.g.) and then they take the oportinity for the hunt....?
Sir
To answer your first question , yes. He would not have gotten injured in the first place , if it was not for our negligence. You see , he was using a model 70 Winchester rifle in .375 Holland and Holland magnum . The standard practice in those days to shoot Gaur with such a rifle , was that you would three metal envelope solid cartridges into the magazine and then put a Winchester silver tip soft nose bullet on the top , for the first shot .
Unfortunately , the coolie who loaded this client's rifle did the opposite . He loaded three Winchester silver tip cartridges into the magazine and then a metal envelope cartridge . Disaster ensued .
In all honesty , this was my fault because l was not there to supervise the coolie . I was distracted by doing something else at the time ( l cannot seem to remember what it was , but probably l was checking the camp equipment ).
German clients would come by plane or ship . A normal Shikar trip to India I those days was fifteen days or so.
 
Sir, thank you.

Please, can you describe:
- What happend then, after the wrong loading?
(Or did you have written this here in an other thread? I lost the oriantagon a little bit, sorry)

- Did the German client bring that gun with him?

- What was exactly an coolie?
An local worker from you?
 
Sir, thank you.

Please, can you describe:
- What happend then, after the wrong loading?
(Or did you have written this here in an other thread? I lost the oriantagon a little bit, sorry)

- Did the German client bring that gun with him?

- What was exactly an coolie?
An local worker from you?
The incident took place in 1967 . A German client had approached my operator to book a Shikar for Gaur . I was the gentleman’s professional Shikari . He brought a magnum .375 rifle made by Winchester ( the model 70 pushfeed as Mark Hunter so kindly educated me ) and another Winchester model 70 rifle with a Mauser claw extractor device in the calibre .220 swifts . We had taught all our coolies to load and unload fire arms and before we set off , the coolies were loading our client’s rifles . One coolie was a simpleton and he must have thought that he could load the cartridges into the gun’s magazine in any order. The standard practice was to load one Winchester silver tip for the first shot and then three solid metal envelope bullets for extra shots. This coolie , Daya instead loaded three Winchester silver tips into the gun and on top of them , loaded a solid metal envelope bullet ( so that when firing , it would be the first shot ) . I took my Ishapore shot-gun in 12 bore with SG in each barrel. I was to blame for not supervising the coolie.
After tracking Gaur spoor for hours , we found a suitable size bull and it was feeding in a position which allowed my client to get the side shot at its lungs . Unfortunately , the solid bullet of 300 grains went through both lungs without expanding and causing substantial damage . The enraged animal charged us and panic broke out , My client was a good shooter and he fired three times at it’s heart tucked between it’s chest , but

a Winchester silver tip is a foul bullet for a front shot. It him him with its horns and he fell onto the muddy ground . In a fraction of a second , l fired my two barrels of SG shot at the animal in the neck region . It seemed to focus it’s rage on our client but knew that we could not let our client be harmed . In India , client was like King. Our coolies and trackers were Garo tribal people and fiercely loyal . They pounced on the Gaur attacking it with axes , and ram daos ( big knives used for field dressing Shikar animals ). I was too busy reloading my shot-gun to see what happened . The Ishapore shot-guns did not have ejectors and if you wanted to remove empty cartridge cases easily , the method was to keep the cartridges well lubricated with a little palm oil and to turn the shot-gun upside down and shake the cartridges out . Sometimes if the lubrication material dried ( which was common in the hot Indian sun ) , you had to pry out these empty cartridge cases using an Imperial Schrade folding knife blade . At either rate , l got the cartridge cases out and loaded in two fresh SG cartridge cases . This time l ran up to the enraged Gaur as my coolies were struggling with it and placed the barrels on it’s neck and pulled both triggers . The 24 pellets of SG at zero range must have ripped into its spine as it dropped dead . My client was alive , by the grace of Allah/ God . But his rib cage was damaged . He sustained three broken ribs. My coolies were hit in the hands and legs by the Gaur’s horns . It was horrible and all this could have been avoided if l had simply watched the coolie when he was loading the client’s magnum .375.

Coolie means porter or assistant.
 
24 pellets of SG
That is a 12 g., with 24 balls?
You had written it before: You dont have slugs ("one big ball") atthis time in old India?

My client was alive
You bring him to hospital?
And then?
More hunting? Or back to Germany?

Winchester model 70 rifle with a Mauser claw extractor device in the calibre .220 swifts .
I remember an other story, in witch an client used that caliber..., and it had an bad ending...
But that are different persons?
 
24 pellets of SG
That is a 12 g., with 24 balls?
You had written it before: You dont have slugs ("one big ball") atthis time in old India?

My client was alive
You bring him to hospital?
And then?
More hunting? Or back to Germany?

Winchester model 70 rifle with a Mauser claw extractor device in the calibre .220 swifts .
I remember an other story, in witch an client used that caliber..., and it had an bad ending...
But that are different persons?
Bull Hunter
SG is the Bangladeshi designation of what American sportsmen call buck shot ( 00 type ) . A standard 70 millimeter 12 bore cartridge will hold either nine pellets or 12 pellets . I used what ever , l could find . However , l preferred the 12 pellet variety more.
This client was a very different client . He only brought the .220 Swift calibre rifle to India , for shooting mouse deer.
The client was taken to the hospital. He recovered , but never came back to India to hunt again ( to my knowledge ) .
The client who died , was not my client , but was the client of a colleague of mine and he brought the rifle to shoot a Royal Bengal tiger .
Slug projectiles were manufactured by the local Indian Ordinance Factories , however these cartridges were notorious for misfiring . They still are after five decades ( infact , l dare say they got much worse ).
 
Dear Mister Kawshik Rahman,

thank you for all.
Im some days out of town (I have no Smartphone, pp., extra).

I hope we can continue...

Best wishes.

F.
 
I wish you all an happy new year 2020.
Mutch sucsess, fun, health and great adventures in hunting, fishing, outdoor and shooting.
 
Dear Mister Kawshik Rahman,

can you write me (us) please some lines about:
- pic sticking
- hunting from horses

(I had read some articles in my old book about this, did you practising this also?)

Thank you.
 
Dear Mister Kawshik Rahman,

can you write me (us) please some lines about:
- pic sticking
- hunting from horses

(I had read some articles in my old book about this, did you practising this also?)

Thank you.
Dear Bull Hunter
It is a pleasure to hear from you again . Pig sticking used to be fairly popular during my father's time . However , by the time l became a professional Shikari , the practice was practically dead in India. I never guided a client for pig sticking , no.
Regarding hunting from horses , this was much before our time . When l first joined Sundar Raj Shikar Limited as a professional Shikari , Land Rovers and Jeep's were already the standard for Shikar , like so .
Screenshot_20191006-203533_01_01_01.png
Screenshot_20191008-231524_01_01.png
Screenshot_20191018-001109_01_01.png
 
Pig sticking used to be fairly popular during my father's time . However , by the time l became a professional Shikari , the practice was practically dead in India. I never guided a client for pig sticking , no.

Thank you, Sir.

Please:
Maybe you can get us some backgrounds-infos "about pig sticking -hunting- ", even if you dont practice it.
Because in the old books, there are some words about it.
(I think they did it in some ares in spain even today.)
 
I have a question for Kwashik Raman:
Apparently there were no White Hunters in India ,like there are/was in Africa.
Why do you think that was?
 
Out of curiosity, where do you hail from? My mom's parents are from Rajasthan (Ganganagar) and my dad's folks hailed from Mangalore.
 
Pig sticking used to be fairly popular during my father's time . However , by the time l became a professional Shikari , the practice was practically dead in India. I never guided a client for pig sticking , no.

Thank you, Sir.

Please:
Maybe you can get us some backgrounds-infos "about pig sticking -hunting- ", even if you dont practice it.
Because in the old books, there are some words about it.
(I think they did it in some ares in spain even today.)
Bull Hunter
I have read books about His Royal Excellence , the Maharaja of Kuch Bihar where he makes passing mention of pig-sticking . A Shikari would would get on a stallion with a trishu in his hands ( Six foot long spear with three points , that look like a large pitch-fork or trident ) . A set of beaters would drive the wild boars towards the Shikaris , who would then proceed to stab at them with the trishu.
It was unfortunately a completely antiquated sport in old India by the time l commenced my career in 1962.
 
I have a question for Kwashik Raman:
Apparently there were no White Hunters in India ,like there are/was in Africa.
Why do you think that was?
Foxi
After India won her Independence in 1947 , most British people had gone back to the United Kingdom . The locals were getting increasingly hostile towards any Caucasian people remaining in India and so more and more Caucasians were leaving India , as the locals began to confiscate their property , claiming that it had been acquired through " Colonial exploitation " .
 
Foxi
After India won her Independence in 1947 , most British people had gone back to the United Kingdom . The locals were getting increasingly hostile towards any Caucasian people remaining in India and so more and more Caucasians were leaving India , as the locals began to confiscate their property , claiming that it had been acquired through " Colonial exploitation " .

Interesting that you call the white people Caucasians.
A term that has not been used in Europe for over 200 years or more :)
 

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