The Art Of Hunting The Mighty Gaur : A Comprehensive Guide

The Grey Forest Ghost

The gaur is 1 of the 2 wild bovines prevalent throughout south east Asia ( well ...3 if you count Neelgai , but l personally consider Neelgai to be an antelope and not a bovine . ) . The other wild bovine commonly found in the Indian subcontinent is the water buffalo . Now , l believe that l speak for ALL Indian professional shikarees when l say this , but l do not think that ANY professional shikaree ever considers an Indian water buffalo to be a dangerous game species .

I mean seriously... unless you are extremely stupid and are repeatedly provoking a water buffalo to attack you , a charge is nigh unlikely . I often shot water buffalo for their beef , but l always treated it like cheetal deer shooting . There was practically no danger involved whatsoever. A gaur however , is a completely different story....

Nicknamed by the professional shikarees of West Bengal , as “ Jongol er Chaii Bhoot “ ( Grey Forest Ghost . ) , a Western gentleman will probably understand from the get go , that any animal nick named “ Grey Forest Ghost “ can only mean a great deal of trouble . Calling these brutes trouble would be an understatement. A very big understatement. I will explain more about why the gaur is nicknamed “ Grey Forest Ghost “ in my next post .

These brutes can weigh around the ambit of 1800 to 2000 pounds ( With 2032 pounds being a fairly common weight for a fully mature male ) . Their horns are shorter and more curved than that of a water buffalo. However , this is precisely what makes the gaur far more fiendish than that of his water buffalo counterpart .
To make matters worse , these brutes can , and often will charge people without any provocation whatsoever . Not just shikarees or people in the shikar party , but even ordinary villagers as well. More on this subject matter shall be detailed in the next post . A gaur feeds on grass predominantly ( as do most bovines , to the best of my knowledge. ) and therefore they inhibit the forests of many areas in the Indian subcontinent , feeding on the lush green Indian forest floor.

Here is a photograph taken from the internet of a large male gaur.
View attachment 328006

Wow the size!!!
 

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