I immediately looked left and right , worried about where the rogue might be . Finally , my eyes locked with a massive pair of bloodshot red eyes staring at me from behind the coconut trees . It was the rogue . He had ambushed us by standing perfectly still amidst all of the coconut trees and had somehow managed to blend perfectly in with the foliage . By reading this part , I am certain that many will question exactly how difficult it might be , to spot a huge elephant . Those who have actually had to hunt elephants will know that it is actually quite difficult to do so in thick cover . Asiatic elephants have a surprisingly stealthy ability to quietly move through forests and get behind their quarry , should they wish .
The rogue was about 30 yards away from us , when he decided to charge . He loudly blew his trunk and had his ears cocked back . Lahiri nervously got behind me and I hurriedly raised my .458 WM to my shoulder , flicking off the safety catch . I lined up my sights , intent on making a frontal brain shot . During the war in 1971 , the Bangladeshi soldiers stationed in the Maulvi Bazaar forests often needed to shoot Asiatic elephants to source fresh meat for supplementing camp rations . This was often done by shooting the animals to death , with jeep mounted .50 calibre Browning M2 HMG ( Heavy Machine Gun ) units . Since I used to aid in the butchering process , I knew the anatomy of Asiatic elephants rather well . An elephant bull’s skull was roughly twice as thick as an elephant cow skull . The skulls are much thicker at the front than at the sides . The bone structure of the skull is honeycomb like with pockets of fluid . The brain is roughly the size of a football and located back in the head . Attempting to visual the rogue’s brain , I fired .
The elephant’s head recoiled slightly , as if someone had pelted him with a rock . But he came on , unfazed . Cycling the bolt , I gave him another frontal brain shot while he closed about 20 yards distance . Again , the elephant’s only reaction to the shot was a slight flinch . Lahiri now started screaming at me in terror , that I had loaded my .458 WM with soft nosed rounds by mistake . He took to his heels and began to run , yelling at me to do the same . But I still had one last round in the magazine and decided to switch tactics . Cycling the bolt frantically , I took aim once again . The rogue was less than 12 yards away . What I did next was not my proudest moment , but to quote Major Poton Khan Sir “ Self preservation is a man’s first duty “ .
I fired at the right knee of the elephant bull and I could hear a loud snapping noise . The elephant’s leg bone broke and gave away , as the elephant loudly crashed onto the ground . He was dazed and confused ; struggling to regain his footing . But to no avail . A Royal Bengal tiger with one broken leg , can still attack the hunters . However , an elephant ( on account of it’s great weight ) will not be able to move . I reloaded the magazine of my .458 WM with three more rounds and cautiously approached the immobilized rogue ; taking care to avoid his trunk . The confused elephant was painfully moving his massive head from left to right . He was far too preoccupied to even look at me , although he certainly noticed me . Raising my .458 WM to my shoulder , I took aim at the point behind the rogue elephant’s left ear and fired . The elephant dropped dead ; the 500 grain .458 calibre round nosed steel jacketed solid bullet having penetrated into his brain .
Later that day , an autopsy was conducted on the rogue elephant . The reason for his aggression was soon discovered . About a dozen large maggots were found squirming around , inside his brain . My three Winchester 500 grain round nosed steel jacketed bullets were also recovered from the elephant’s head . The first two ( used for attempting the frontal brain shots ) were badly deformed . The steel jacket had ruptured and the nose had flattened . The lead core was found squished out of the back of the bullet base . The third bullet ( used for making the fatal side brain shot ) was still reasonably intact , but had buckled slightly . The construction of those 500 grain Winchester round nosed steel jacketed “ solid “ bullets clearly left quite a bit to be desired . The rogue had reasonably heavy tusks . About a hundred pounds per side . To this date ,the tusks may be seen in the head office of the Maulvi Bazaar Forest Guards .
We decided to gift the meat of the rogue elephant to all of the Upojati trackers employed by the Maulvi Bazaar Forest Department , because we knew that the Upojatis consider elephant meat to be a rare delicacy . They were incredibly grateful to receive so much fresh meat , as a reward for their services . The Upojati tribes ( used to ) have a very particular method for cooking elephant foot . First , a hole was made in fairly hard ground and a fire was built in this hole . The fire was kept burning , until the temperature was high enough to warrant removing the fire . The entire foot (skin included ) was now wrapped in banana leaves and placed in the hole . The whole setup was covered in earth and a fire was kept burning on top , for three days . I was fortunate enough to try the finished product with some paratha flat breads and I must admit that it did not taste bad . Especially after being washed down with a cold Budweiser beer .
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The author ( seated , right ) and the villagers preparing to transport the rogue’s corpse to the head office of the Maulvi Bazaar Forest Guards for assessment . September 20 , 1977
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