Guns For Follow Ups
As dangerous as all leopards normally are , they are much, much worse when they are wounded . Spooring a wounded leopard is an extremely dangerous task , which no sane Shikari will ever deliberately wish to undertake . When a leopard is wounded by a Shikari’s bullet , it immediately makes a bee line for the thickest part of the shrub , where it will hide . It will then lie in wait for the Shikar party to come to pursue it. Being the vengeful animal that it is , the leopard will then single out each and every member of the Shikar party ( including the Shikari wounded it ) before pouncing ( always launching itself at extremely short range ) upon it’s quarry . It will mangle it’s victim for around 30 seconds ,before pouncing on their next victim and mangling them for around the same amount of time , before moving on to their next victim and so forth .
The only way that this feline buzz saw can be stopped from mangling every single member of the Shikar party , is by shooting it to death .
So what firearms make the best implements for following up wounded leopards ?
It must be remembered that a charging Indian leopard is probably fastest animal alive amongst Indian dangerous game . Their speed ( especially during a charge , which is BOUND to occur while spooring a wounded leopard ) essentially prevents the Shikari from making picked shots . It is here that the Shikari needs to employ a caliber , which ( through sheer power alone ) will be able to break the leopard’s charge , if not kill the fiend outright .
Major Poton Khan believes that no central fire rifle caliber smaller than 9.3 x 74 millimeter Rimmed ( employing a 286 grain bullet ) should be used for spooring a wounded leopard in to thick shrub . I am much inclined to take his advice . The gentleman has had to spoor over three dozen wounded leopards into the thick shrub of Nagpur forests ( which is known for having the thickest shrub in all the 30 states of India . ) during his ten year career career and that too, at night with only the aid of a flashlight.
I personally have had the good fortune to only ever need to spoor five leopards in my entire life . Unlike Major Khan , I had one extremely significant advantageous factor in my favor - Jolpaiguri Tea Estate ( where I have shot all but three Clouded Leopards, one Spotted Leopard and one Hunting Leopard ) does not have any dense shrub at all . None of the tea plants in Jolpaiguri Tea Estate was larger than three feet in height and the terrain was quite flat. This allowed me a great deal of visibility and I could in fact see the leopards from a fair amount of distance . This significantly reduced the prospects of most of these fiends getting the drop on me .
I personally consider the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum which I would use back in the mid 1970s to be the most perfect weapon for spooring wounded leopards .It was a double barrel side by side rifle , built by John Rigby & Co , which was regulated for 300 grain Winchester bullets .It was equipped with double triggers , 24 inch long barrels , automatic ejectors , a manual safety , a beaver tail style fore end , a wide V shaped back sight and an ivory bead fore sight. Never did a finer weapon ever exist . It was ( as far as spooring wounded leopards are concerned ) the most perfect weapon in the hands of such an imperfect Shikari as I . It was handy , came naturally to the shoulder and was instinctive to point , just like the 12 Bore William Wellington Greener Wild Fowl gun which I use now for all of my wing shooting .
Major Poton Khan has used his old side by side shotgun, employing his standard hand loaded spherical ball cartridges to successfully put down every single wounded leopard which he has had to spoor , and in the Major’s skilled hands ... this weapon dropped wounded , charging leopards faster than lightning .
My readers will observe that so far in my article , I have only highlighted the most appropriate calibers for the Shikar of leopards without ever specifying what platform of rifle or shotgun I recommend for the hunting of these fiends . This is because I am largely apathetic to the decades long debate of whether a Double Rifle or a Bolt Action Rifle is more suitable for hunting dangerous game . As far as hunting Indian leopards are concerned , the Shikari may use whichever platform he is comfortable with . This is , unless of course you are spooring a wounded leopard which is almost guaranteed to culminate in a charge .
Since , I have already established above that a wounded leopard charges the Shikar party at extremely close range and has unrivaled speed , let it be understood that a Bolt Action Rifle will not do the Shikari any good for the purposes of spooring wounded leopards , after the first shot has been fired . You will not have enough time to manipulate the bolt and chamber a second cartridge to put the fiend down .
This is where the Double Rifle undoubtedly reigns supreme . This is purely Double Rifle territory.
Major Poton Khan ( with 61 years of personal experience of hunting Indian leopards under his proverbial belt ) highly recommends a Double Rifle with double triggers, manual safety, wide V shaped back sight , ivory bead fore sight and 24 to 26 inch barrels ( depending upon the height and weight of the Shikari ) for the purposes of spooring wounded leopards .
Given that the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum which I would use back in those days , had these exact same features and it served me extremely well , I am much inclined to agree with him .
A small mention worthy note is that I have actually shot and successfully killed a wounded , charging Spotted Leopard with a Bolt Action Rifle once ( my 7 millimeter Remington Magnum ) , employing a 175 grain Remington Core Lokt soft nose factory loaded bullet .It was the final man eating leopard which I had ever shot in my life under the orders of the Bangladesh Forest Department In 1983 .I was fortunate enough to bring it down with a single frontal brain shot when it had charged our Shikar party . However , being brutally honest ... I would much rather have preferred to have the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum from my days in the Jolpaiguri Tea Estate , in my hands for stopping the charge . One cannot always hope to get so miraculously fortunate , all of the time ... especially when enraged, aggressive , charging feline fiends are concerned .
Major Poton Khan’s beloved old shotgun .
The .375 Holland & Holland Magnum built by John Rigby & Co. used by the Author from 1973 to 1974 .
Charging man eating Spotted Leopard killed by the Author with a single frontal brain shot with a 7 millimeter Remington Magnum , employing a 175 grain Remington Core Lokt factory loaded bullet .
