Leopard Hunting In The Syedabaad Tea Estate : How I Got Started

[ryan80]

Thank you very much Captain. Your humility is amazing to me. I did many foolish things as a 16 year old, however, none approached the bravery you showed. A suspect gun, under powered cartridges, no leopard hunting experience for yourself yet, a 22 for backup, in the dark with 1 flashlight, 15 feet away for a proven man-killing leopard. I am quite thankful I have never been in such a situation myself as I am very sure my heart would have been beating so hard I would have fallen out of the tree!

 

[gesch]

Dear Brian / Gesch . It pleases me to know that my very first attempt at writing is not too bad ! Believe me , l was a stupid young man back in those days and l often wonder how l got away with shooting 69 of those leopards unscathed , considering how many risks l took . My daughter-in-law is from Michigan . She tells me that the Kodiak bears in America are some of the most fierce American game in existence . Do you have any Kodiak bears where you live ?
Your new friend ,
Newaz

Thanks again for your article. Simply fascinating experiences....In regards to your question about the Kodak bear I have no experience. I believe Velo Dog on this site has considerable experience with these massive beasts. In the state of Wisconsin where I live we have the black bear in ever increasing numbers. They live mostly in the northern portion of our State and are huntable over baits and with hounds through a lottery system to regulate the numbers taken. I have never hunted one myself but many of my friends have taken bears. Thanks again for your contributions to our site. Your friend, Brian

 

[Captain Nwz]

Thank you very much Captain. Your humility is amazing to me. I did many foolish things as a 16 year old, however, none approached the bravery you showed. A suspect gun, under powered cartridges, no leopard hunting experience for yourself yet, a 22 for backup, in the dark with 1 flashlight, 15 feet away for a proven man-killing leopard. I am quite thankful I have never been in such a situation myself as I am very sure my heart would have been beating so hard I would have fallen out of the tree!

Ryan80 , please. Just call me Kareem or Newaz. Modest gentlemen such as yourself often tend to underestimate your own courage. I am certain that in times of need , you would find yourself perfectly brave enough to do the deed. I myself was not brave at all. Just young and stupid ...and reckless.

 

[jeff]

Thank you for sharing how got stared as a leopard hunter, liked the pictures. Thanks

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I unfortunately lost my parents at a very early age in an automobile accident and l was raised by by my aunt , Samia . She was married to a Catholic Christian Anglo Indian gentleman by the name of Joshua Decosta . Joshua ( or " Uncle Josh" as l called him ) owned land in the Tea Estate in Syedabaad in India.
Now , l suspect that many people may be wondering exactly how big the Tea Estates of India and Bangladesh are . Here are some photographs taken from the internet of the Syedabaad Tea Estate , which was my home until 1972.
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The Tea Estate was MASSIVE . Infact , a new visitor could ( and often did ) get lost in the estate without a guide or a member of staff to assist them . We had over 400 tea garden workers under Uncle Josh's employment and he was a well respected man .
I really liked Uncle Josh and Aunt Samia . They raised me and loved me like their own child and if l ever wanted anything as a child ; be it toys or books or trips to the cinema or visits to expensive restaurants ; they never denied me anything . They made sure that l got a full education in one of the best schools in Shiliguri and gave me weekly pocket money . They even contributed financially for my university degree when l decided to pursue a degree in engineering. They loved me like a son and l owe my life to them . I had seen so little of my own father that Uncle Josh was the closest thing to a father whom l had . And he was truly everything a father figure should be in a boy’s life. Despite him being a Catholic , and Aunt Samia and l being Muslims , he never asked either of us to convert to Christianity . He loved Aunt Samia more than life itself and he was always there for me .

The tea garden was right next to the hills and were overflowing with wildlife .We had Barking Deer , Wild Boars , hares and Mouse Deer in abundance, which would come into the Tea Estate regularly . We had various kinds of Indian game birds : Chukar , gray partridge, pigeons , quails , doves , TT birds , grouse , pea fowl and we even had cranes near the streams . A shikari could have the time of his life in the Tea Estate without ever needing to venture outside for hunting ( l am serious ) . And that is exactly what l did.

I LOVED hunting ever since l was a child and l spent a good chunk of my free time throughout the week hunting in the Tea Estate. I hunted the various kinds of deer and birds for the pot . Boars l hunted , because they were a massive threat to the tea plants and frequently attacked our employees , ramming at them with their huge curved tusks. Our employees had a good number of Christians , Hindus and Buddhists among them , and so l would always donate the fresh pork to them , or leave some for Uncle Josh and our Christian family friends . Since it was all on private land , we had no bag limits on how much we could legally hunt . Nevertheless , Uncle Josh and Aunt Samia raised me to always stay within my limitations and never to wantonly shoot animals indiscriminately . I could shoot whatever l liked , as long as l made sure that l never killed too many of any species at a single time ( except wild boars which would cause massive damage to tea plants ). For instance , l would shoot two Barking Deer on average every week , but seldom more .


At the age of 14 , Uncle Josh bought me a bolt action rifle made by BRNO , chambered in .22 Long Rifle ( from here onwards , l will refer to it as .22 LR which my lovely daughter-in-law teaches me is the correct abbreviation) for my birthday . As my good chums , Kawshik and Poton ( who are very well respected members of this forum ) have repeatedly stated in their writings , imported firearms were extremely difficult to come by in India at that time , even before they were banned by law in 1972 . The only imported firearms available in India , were the ones which were already brought into the country prior to 1947 . Uncle Josh had bought me that Brno rifle brand new from Isbanbul , Turkey when he had gone there on a business trip . And for a 14 year old boy , it was the birthday gift of all birthday gifts . That little rifle was beautiful. It had a removable magazine which held six cartridges. It was accurate too and Uncle Josh had gotten me a rifle license , which made the rifle mine to legally carry wherever l wanted . I used it to shoot hares , pigeons and cranes ( on water ) .

Uncle Josh himself owned an Indian Ordinance Factories 12 bore double barreled side by side shotgun , known to us Indians as “ IOF 12 Bore DBBL “ . It had 2 3/4 inch chambers , extractors and 32 inch barrels ( full choke- both barrels ) . These were horrible weapons , built too light for large charge cartridges and barrels were known to bulge easily even with standard 2 3/4 inch cartridges . The sear springs were prone to breaking and firing the left barrel first , often resulted in the right barrel going off simultaneously as well . However , Uncle Josh made do with this shotgun . He was predominantly a wing shooter and did not care too much for shooting deer or boars . Imagine how much a man must care about his wife’s nephew that he will make do with a cheap Indian shotgun , but he will get the boy a fine imported rifle from Europe. That was the kind of man whom Uncle Josh was .


This shotgun was licensed in Uncle Josh’s name , but l actually used it far more than he did . I took care never to carry the shotgun outside the Tea Estate , because l was not the licensed owner of the gun and l could get into serious trouble with the law if I ever did so ( unless Uncle Josh was with me ) . I did almost all of my hunting in the Tea Garden Estate with that shotgun . However , l was fortunate enough to never have to use Indian cartridges , which were the cheapest , most unreliable swill ever to be produced by any factory in existence . In fact , calling the damned things produced by the Indian Ordinance Factories “ ammunition “ is an insult to ammunition manufacturers world wide .

One advantage of living in the Syedabaad Tea Estate was that l never had to make do with Indian ammunition. The Tea Estate was literally on the edge of the border with East Pakistan ( now known as Bangladesh) and we could reach there in seven hours by car . New Imported firearms and ammunition were available in East Pakistan . The choices back then were quite limited , but something is better than nothing and at least it was all imported and reliable . There were .22 LR calibre bolt action rifles and 12 bore over under shotguns made by two or three different European brands available for sale in the arms shops of East Pakistan . The only imported ammunition available was from “ Eley “ , a British Brand .
.22 LR ammunition from Eley used to cost 50 Poisha back in those days for 50 cartridges and for six Ana , one could purchase a shotgun cartridge . For only one Taka , a person could purchase a hundred cartridges of .22 LR and three 12 bore cartridges . Ah , if only ammunition prices today were the same as they were sixty years ago . Needless to say , we were very well supplied with Eley .22 LR cartridges for my BRNO rifle and Eley 12 bore cartridges for Uncle Josh's IOF 12 Bore DBBL .

Back in those days , five varieties of 12 Bore shotgun cartridges were kept in stock by the arms shops of East Pakistan :
Eley Alphamax # 4 and Eley Alphamax # 6 shotgun cartridges , Eley Grand Prix #4 and Eley Grand Prix # 6 shotgun cartridges and Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges . The Eley Alphamax cartridges were all 2 3/4 inches long . The Eley Grand Prix cartridges were all 2 1/2 inches long .

Even though Uncle Josh's IOF 12 Bore DBBL had 2 3/4 inch chambers , we always used Eley Grand Prix 2 1/2 inch cartridges in the shotgun . This was because we were afraid that using 2 3/4 inch cartridges with their larger charges would damage the gun . With that cheap Indian Ordinance Factories 12 Bore DBBL , one simply could not take a chance .
Uncle Josh would always purchase plenty of Eley Grand Prix # 4 and # 6 cartridges and spherical ball cartridges for us to use. I would use the #6 for game birds and # 4 for cranes . I would use the spherical ball cartridges for Barking Deer and wild boars .
Here is an original Eley spherical ball cartridge case which l still have in my possession , from 57 years back . At the end of this article , you will all know why l held on to that cartridge case for 57 years and what it signifies to me . All Eley shotgun cartridges back in those days used to be made from paper .
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I lived a very adventurous and privileged life style as a young man and l have no regrets about the life which l have lived .

Uncle Josh had an old tribal Garo servant named Wani , who was 53 years old when l first came to live in the Tea Estate . Wani was my care taker when l was a child and he was a most friendly and kind elderly man . He used to be a Sepai in the British army during the Colonial era and Uncle Josh and Aunt Samia had given him the responsibility to watch over me when l was a child .

When l grew up to become a young man , Wani often accompanied me on my hunting excursions in the Tea Estate .
The memories still flash before my eyes .
Walking through the Tea Estate , with Uncle Josh's IOF 12 Bore DBBL slung across my shoulders and old Wani walking behind me carrying my BRNO .22 LR bolt action rifle , slung across his shoulders while he carried the other bits and pieces of my shikar equipment .
Imagine coming back from school to your home , changing your clothes , picking up your and your uncle's guns and heading off to hunt in your own property ? It was heaven for me .

Our employees all treated me with the greatest respect and life was very peaceful . That Tea Estate was my little world . However , we had one very big problem . As l mentioned previously , the Tea Estate was right next to the hills and Barking Deer would virtually always come into the Tea Estate from the hills .
And from the hills , the huge Hunting Leopards would come into the Tea Estate to go after the Barking Deer . It will be very difficult for modern sportsmen to believe how many leopards there used to be in Shiliguri , during those days . There were literally hundreds of Hunting Leopards crawling all over the area and they were a huge menace to human life . These beasts ended up liking human flesh far more than Barking Deer venison and several of our employees were routinely getting killed by these feline foes . As a result , many of our terrified Tea Estate workers had quit working for us , out of fear for their lives .
However , as the next post will show , one fine day in 1963 , l decided to take matters into my own hands .

Captain Nwz
That IOF 12 bore and infant cartridges sound woeful. It sound like you would be better off throwing the cartridge at the game. Anything binder than a roe deer would be better clubbed to death with that abomination of a shotgun.
The Brno 22 no1 is a highly regarded rifle in Australia.
Welcome to the forum l look forward to reading your stories.
Cheers mate
Bob Nelson

 

[Sam Kunal]

The entire night was intense . It was pitch dark with the full moon being our only source of illumination . I sat with Uncle Josh's IOF 12 Bore DBBL , across my lap , loaded with Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges . Wani had the two cell flash light with him and in Wani's hands was my BRNO .22 LR bolt action rifle . At around 11:30 to 11:40 PM , Wani pointed to a shape moving through the bushes and whispered " Chita Baagh aise " ( The leopard is coming ) . My eyes focused on that shape and only that shape alone . I watched the leopard slowly come into full visibility as it moved towards the tree from which the bait was hanging . It stood on it's hind legs and began to feed on the bait . It's back was directly turned towards us . I slowly raised the shotgun to my shoulder as Wani positioned the flash light . I knew that my window of opportunity had opened . Wani knew what he had to do . He instantly switched on the flashlight and the beam fell on the leopard. Even before the leopard had a chance to turn it's head towards the source of the light , l let off my left barrel .
The leopard dropped to the shot . I , however did not get down from the tree just yet. I fired my right barrel and the downed beast's head , but it did not move . I then hurriedly broke open the breech of the shotgun and turned it upside down to shake out the empty cartridges and l put in two more Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges . Wani and l cautiously got down from the tree to look at the villain . He really was dead .
I sent Wani back to the house to get my camera and l took a photograph of my prize . Here he is .
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He weighed only 164 pounds , but to me he looked majestic at the time ( bear in mind that l was only a 16 year old boy at the time . My first bullet had hit him in the back of the neck , right above the shoulder . That one ounce spherical lead ball had successfully broken it's spinal column and killed it on the spot. The second bullet was completely unnecessary but it hit the leopard's shoulder . This bullet did not penetrate properly enough to break the shoulder bone . Here is a picture which Poton was kind enough to provide me . It is an Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridge cross cut .
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Since most forum members here are well versed in the technical aspects of firearms , it is plain as day to see why the Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges had such poor penetration . The ball was of 16 Bore , to allow it to pass through fully choked 12 bore shotguns with ease.
A 16 Bore spherical ball has dismal penetration , and to make matters worse the Eley Grand Prix cartridges were what we call " low brass " cartridges which held low charges of powder . I was incredibly fortunate that the first bullet had found the leopard's spinal column .

When Uncle Josh and Aunt Samia came back to the Syedabaad Tea Estate , our employees proudly told them that young Kareem had successfully slain a leopard .
They were fuming with rage that l had disobeyed them and risked my life . They asked me what had compelled me to disobey them directly. I replied that the Tea Estate was our home and that l could not bear to see another of our Employees become a leopard's supper . This reply moved them both and they calmed down and were soon praising me for killing the leopard so bravely and skillfully . Wani told Uncle Josh proudly " Ei chele purai shingho ! Bokh marar guli diye Chita Baagh marse " ( This boy is a brick ! He killed a hunting leopard with cartridges used for shooting cranes . )
Even though my motivations for killing the leopard were primarily to protect our employees , l would be lying if l said that l did not enjoy it a little .
From that day onwards , l decided that any leopard which ever entered the Tea Estate with malicious intent , would fall to my gun . 68 more leopards taken in the Syedabaad Tea Estate until 1970 are testament that l kept my vow . As l shot more leopards , l learnt to refine my methods in hunting these beasts and l learnt better skills along the way .
I met many colorful characters over the years and each person l ever had the pleasure of meeting , taught me something new . However , now and again, l did make a mistake or two and l ( or one of my comrades ) would always end up paying dearly for my mistake .

I have kept that empty Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridge case with me for all these years , because that cartridge was what had killed my very first leopard on a Friday night of 1963 . It is a little momento of how a 16 year old boy got introduced to his great passion of hunting man eating leopards .
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I hope that this story has entertained at least a few people and if you all have liked it , then l will write a few more over the next few days.
THE END

Nice reminiscence and very nicely presented,Sir.
For others, the used shell is just an empty but for you filled with memories.
However, I have one doubt . Does not the word "Shingho" means lion in English ? If it is and I am sure it does,the good old man was not wrong in describing you as a "LION".

 

[1dirthawker]

Dear Brian / Gesch . It pleases me to know that my very first attempt at writing is not too bad ! Believe me , l was a stupid young man back in those days and l often wonder how l got away with shooting 69 of those leopards unscathed , considering how many risks l took . My daughter-in-law is from Michigan . She tells me that the Kodiak bears in America are some of the most fierce American game in existence . Do you have any Kodiak bears where you live ?
Your new friend ,
Newaz

Captain Nwz,

velo dog does have experience with kodiak bears, as do i. i have hunted/guided for them for more than 20 years off and on. if you have a question, i would try to answer it.

 

[cpr0312]

Don't know how I missed this one a few months ago!

Enjoyed the read and thanks for sharing!

 

[Nyati]

Thank you for a great story Captain, really enjoyed it !

 

[Graham Hunter]

You and my wife!

Having grown up in Texas and left 44 years ago, I’m still told I don’t speak English well!