An Exciting Leopard Shikar From The Back Of An Elephant

Based on how seven members of this magnificent forum have been requesting me to provide an account of a certain topic for quite some time , it is my privilege to oblige. Today , l shall provide an account of hunting leopards from an elephant macchan . If any of my respected forum members is wondering what a macchan is , then let me elaborate . A macchan is a large box built on top of a high structure from which Shikaris would hunt dangerous animals. The elephant macchan is such a box which used to be placed on the back of a domesticated elephant for hunting leopards and tigers in the days gone by . I myself have been fortunate to be party to two such Shikars in my life. While one went by completely uneventfully , it is the other incident , which l shall relate here , today. Thus , Let us begin.

View attachment 308522
Photograph taken by professional photographer brought by the Captain.
Karim is next to the client . I am on the third elephant seen on the right side.


It was the year 1965 , three months before my poor colleague Rongon was executed by the Nilgiri Wild Life Association’s orders for failing to save a client from a Royal Bengal tiger . Times were still positive and all the Shikaris in Sundar Raj Shikar were busy guiding various clients in pursuit of Royal Bengal tiger, leopard , , Gaur , boar , Asian Honey Bear , Nilgai , deer and fowl.

I had just come back from a fishing trip in the Buri Ganga river , and had gone to Sundar Raj’s office , to see what new clients had come. Indeed , there were clients . But let us focus on the client whom Karim and l would be guiding. He was a retired British Military or Naval Captain who had served in the Second World War and was an extremely rich client. He was a man of lavish taste and had brought eight guests along , including his young American mistress.

View attachment 308523
A hunter l am for ever, however fishing was ( and still is ) a most peaceful past time. With me is my old cook , Yasin Miah


What this gentleman had his mind set on , was a little bit of goose shooting and a large male leopard. Simple enough demands and certainly one which Sundar Raj was capable of accommodating. However , his request came with a twist. The client wanted the Shikar to be conducted from the back of an elephant , just like he had seen when he was a resident in India in the 1930s decade. This was a complicated wish , because the Nilgiri Wild Life Association required a great deal of paper work to be submitted to authorize a Shikar from an elephant macchan. And the client ( for the sake of brevity , let us call him Captain ) did not want one elephant. He wanted three. He wanted his guests to accompany him as well. Fortunately , money speaks , and Sundar Raj knew his way with the Nilgiri Wild Life Association ( It is my firm belief that he could have actually saved Rongon from getting hanged , if he gave a bit more effort. However , that is another matter and l do not wish to speak ill of my late former employer ).

The Shikar was authorized. Karim and l would serve as the professional Shikari guides for this luxurious hunt. Karim was very excited , as an elephant macchan back in those days was the equivalent of a roller coaster ride in an amusement park for the young fellow of the 21st Century.

I must confess , with embarrassment, that l was initially terrified of elephants as a child. My mother used to terrify me with stories of how elephants would crush people to death and make them disappear . I suppose it followed me into adulthood. While initially reluctant to ride on the elephant macchan , l eventually obliged. After all , Client is King and Sundar Raj sir had given me a direct order. Karim also convinced me that it was time to grow out of childhood fears.

I had the good fortune to examine the Captain’s armaments . And what armaments they were. One was a double barrel shot-gun of 12 bore made by the excellent English gun maker , William Wellington Greener. It had 32 inch long fully choked muzzles and took the 70 millimeter paper cartridges. This gun was called an Empire model , according to the Captain. The Captain’s other fire arm was a beautiful and ornate double barrel rifle made by the English firm , Westley Richards calibrated for my personal favorite cartridge , the unrivaled magnum .375 from Holland and Holland. His 12 bore cartridges came in boxes from the English Firm , Eley and the magnum .375 cartridges came in boxes from ICI Kynoch. The boxes for the rifle cartridges , however , looked rather worn and l speculated that the captain had them in his possession for a few years.

Could more beautiful guns ever be seen ? I think not.
And so our Shikar would begin after two days , as the second part of this four part account will relate
Friend Kawshik
The only armament missing from this English gentleman is a howda gun hanging from his belt to make it a truly classic hunt
Your friend
Bob Nelson
 
And so , on the very first day , it was decided that we were going to pursue water fowl near the kuakata stream. This stream ran into the Buri Ganga river and a large quantity of geese , crane , teals and assorted species of ducks could be seen inhibiting this area. It was the bird shooters paradise. The client , and three of his guests ( including his mistress’s brother ) would commence their shooting here. The guns were loaded. The client loaded his William Wellington Greener 12 bore Empire shot-gun with large 76 millimeter BB cartridges . Karim was to serve as his loader . Karim carried a large bucket full of bright red paper cartridges and stood near Captain.
The Captain was a good shooter . With 18 cartridges , he completely laid low ten geese in a matter of fifteen minutes .
However , this paled in comparison to what the mistress madame’s brother accomplished. In less than five minutes ( l was wearing a wrist watch ) , he had blown a dozen geese out of the sky with fourteen cartridges. I was naturally intrigued as to what shot-gun , he was using. It looked like any other 12 bore double barrel shot-gun . It took 76 millimeter plastic cartridges of number 1 size. I asked the gentleman ( for whom l was holding a bucket of cartridges , similar to how Karim was holding a bucket for the Captain ) , “ Shahib , what special gun is this ? It shoots very good. “
The gentleman replied “ This is a piece of good , old American ingenuity . This , my good man , is the Winchester model 21 duck .” . It was from that day , that my respect for the American model 21 from Winchester was born. While l have an exceedingly soft corner in my heart for the English bird shot-guns from the excellent firms , Holland and Holland and William Wellington Greener and similar , that robust American fire arm was a different type of beauty.

The excellent results of a 12 bore Model 21 from Winchester with 70 millimeter cartridge loaded with number 1 shot.




Bird shooting in India was luxurious. You did not not have many restrictions on quantities in those days as long as the number was no more than twenty geese per client. I am most fond of crane shooting and during those days , l would blast away at cranes near the water with my shot-gun loaded with AAA cartridges ( a shot size which l still use for crane in Bangladesh today ). However , l regret my actions very much now , as an old man , as l was using a shot-gun with no choke. This meant that the patterns were most wide and those 44 pellets would fly everywhere . While l did succeed in getting large quantities of cranes , a considerable number of wounded birds escaped to die a lingering death , because of my careless and inhumane actions. An ethical bird shooter should always , in my humble opinion use at least a quarter choke in his shot-gun for birds. I know that my past actions will probably anger and sicken many ethical forum members. I myself am not proud of what l have done and l am most apologetic , but it must be remembered that l was a young man not even 25 years of age who had only one gun and was not fully mature in his choices.
But enough of the geese shooting . Let us go to the exciting part . The leopard Shikar from an Elephant macchan
My dear friend Kawshik Rahman
The sins of the past are the past and only relate to what made you a man of compassion that you are today.
It is only fools that don't learn from the past. You my friend are certainly no fool.
Your humble friend
Bob Nelson
 
It was three days later that the Shikar was arranged. It was a luxurious affair. There were three elephants . Karim would be on the first elephant macchan with the client and his mistress , I would be on the second elephant macchan with four guests. Another fellow local Catholic Indian Shikari named Clay Quiah would be on the third elephant with four other guests. A large number of Palowans ( Indian for beaters ) were hired .
However , there are certain complications when organizing a Shikar involving an elephant macchan. You see , there is always a chance that the elephant(s) may go mad due to the gunfire or if clawed or bitten by the leopard . That is why a person from the forest department would always accompany the Shikar party when using an elephant macchan to kill the elephant if it went mad in case of an emergency. Indeed , a young forest department officer named Mohiyuddin was to accompany us ( he would go on to become our close friend after this incident until his unfortunate death during the 1971 war of Liberation). Mohiyuddin carried his issued .303 bore Lee Enfield type rifle made by Birmingham Small Arms , loaded with old British blunt head , metal envelope ammunition .
The Shikar began at day break. I had my 12 bore Ishapore shot-gun loaded with SG cartridges in each barrel along with a good quantity of spare cartridges Karim similarly took his own shot-gun , loaded with SG cartridges loaded in each barrel .
Clayton owned an Ishapore Arms Factory .315 bore bolt operation rifle , loaded with 244 grain soft head cartridges.
The captain had that beautiful Westley Richards magnum .375 double barrel rifle with him . However , this client had a particularly odd choice. He had ordered the coolies to load his rifle with 300 grain metal envelope blunt nose bullets . I humbly told him , " Shahib , may l suggest using soft nose cartridges for leopard ? They will do more good ". The client politely , but assertively told me that he did not trust Kynoch soft head bullets and that he always used solid bullets for everything . I did not think too much of this at the time , as the client was a good shooter ( based on how he had made quick work of all those geese before near kua kata lake ) and l thought that there was no risk of the client getting injured by the leopard , as no leopard could reach the client who would be safe up in the elephant macchan. If only l was more well read at the time.
Let us now go to the actual Shikar itself . Our Garo trackers had tracked a large leopard to the bushes . He was a large fellow. Our client was ready with his magnum .375 double barrel rifle. The beaters began to do their work to draw out the leopard. All was eerily quiet . Every body was intense. The only sound we were hearing was the sound of the beaters doing their work. Suddenly , the Leopard sprung out. He was a big fellow. With the proficiency of a British pigeon shooter swinging a light 20 bore shot-gun , the Captain fired off a left and a right ( this is a colonial Indian term for double barrel guns. It means that the shooter quickly fired the left barrel , followed by the right barrel ) at the large beast. The first bullet hit him too far in the back , while the second one hit him in the stomach. The leopard was not pleased. These creatures are devilishly swift in their movements and incredibly vengeful . They will single out whom to torment and attack them first, before picking their next target ( my fellow forum member , a professional African Shikari by the name of IvW describes this with utmost grotesque accuracy ). The leopard charged at our client. Our client had two spare cartridges between his fingers and quickly folded the gun open , ejecting the empty cartridges and put in two more. He closed the rifle and took aim at the leopard and pulled one of the two triggers. Nothing happened. The rifle had an automatic safety mechanism and the safety had automatically reactivated . I stared in utter disbelief as the leopard actually began to spring up the elephant macchan to reach the Captain . I certainly did not foresee the resilience of these great cats. But Karim , a level headed Shikari ,with nerves of steel and as quick as lightening tool immediate action . Grabbing the captain by the arm , he pulled him back in the fraction of a second and placed the muzzles of his shot-gun right in front of the leopard by inverting it and pointing it down. At point blank distance from the muzzle , the leopard was reaching . Karim fired his right barrel. Those nine pellets peppered the face of the leopard and it fell to the ground , but in a second or two , it was getting to it's feet again .
Karim shouted loudly in frustration " Ei kuttar baccha mortei chacche na " ( This son of a bitch just does not want to die ) . Luckily , the client had turned the safety mechanism of his rifle off , by now. Taking expert aim , he shot the leopard in the head and the Shikar was all over .
The epilogue will follow with the picture all my dear readers long to see.
Friend Kawshik
Maybe if the gentleman had use soft nose ammunition the out come may have been different but those shot placement wouldn't have been of much use.
That leopard is one tough SOB to absorb a point blank blast of a 12 gauge and still want more. Your client was fortunate to have Larimer by his side at that time.
Your friend
Bob
 
The leopard weighed a good 217 pounds as measured by Clayton and myself . He was a big , mature leopard. He had taken three metal envelope bullets from a magnum .375 and a point blank distance discharge of 12 bore SG shot. The first magnum .375 bullet had passed through the leopard without hitting the heart , although a single hole was found in one of it's lungs . The second bullet had also passed through it after rupturing the stomach. The nine SG pellets did not penetrate into it's brain , but it had been blinded in one eye and a few pellets had reached it's nose cavity.

Karim , Clayton and l with our happy client, the Captain outside Darjeeling Circuit House. The leopard was brought here and is about to have it's skin removed. Karim holds Clayton's Ishapore Arms Factory .315 bore bolt operation rifle.


I had once warned all my readers never to use a double barrel rifle against dangerous animals which had an automatic safety mechanism. Today , you all know what incident had influenced me to reach this conclusion.
The client was very happy. Me , Karim and Clayton were paid Rupees 4000 each and all of us very tipped heavily .
For his valiant actions in saving him , The Captain gave Karim a special gift. This gift would be taken to the Shikar field by Karim every day for the rest of our career until 1970 . After he passed away in 2003 , his wife gave it to me and it sits on my desk now after those fifty years. It was a type of knife used by Gurkha warriors in Nepal and it was called a kukri.
View attachment 308529
From the Captain to Karim . And from Karim to me. If only knives could talk , l imagine the stories that it could tell.
Friend Kawshik
The like I is an awesome weapon in its own right.
My father saw it in use by the Nepalese army in Korea and told me of its effectiveness and the ritual behind it.
Your friend
Bob
 
Thank you for another thrilling account of a hunt we can now only dream about!!
 

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