The Day We Realized That Wild Boars Are Dangerous, The Hard Way

[Major Khan]

On vote from the site member , @Shootist43 , l have decided to write a reminiscence of a day , which was rather trying on one's nerves. Tonight , l will write the story about how my shikar party was almost overrun by a very large group of wild boars .
This is not technically a story about hunting in the conventional sense as we know it , but a story about large scale culling of crop damaging wild boars . I believe some may find it of interest . If not , then my readers may skip this story and read one of my future articles which will deal with more traditional hunting . Our story begins in August of 1964 .
The owner of Allwyn Cooper Limited , Mr. Vidya C Shukla had a friend living in the state of Kooch Bihar who ran an extremely large farm near the forests . The farmer was experiencing a problem with with some wild boars which had overrun the farm area and were damaging the crops , thereby causing a great deal of loss. What was worse , was that they had injured at least half a dozen workers at the farm and even killed 1 worker , by goring him with their tusks . Knowing that Mr. Shukla had professional shikarees at his disposal , the unfortunate farmer appealed to Mr. Shukla to send some men there to get rid of the wild boars . Our employer obliged and arrangements were made . Being the shikaree of Allwyn Cooper Limited , who specialized in guiding shikars for wild boar , it came as no surprise that Tobin Stakkatz was the man assigned to lead this culling operation . Tobin being my best friend , l readily agreed to partake in the culling , when Tobin enlisted my help . We needed 4 more more shooters for the operation. Since none of the other full time professional shikarees of Allwyn Cooper Limited , were willing to leave their clients ( who were known to dole out handsome tips ) to leave Nagpur and travel all the way to Kooch Bihar to cull some crop damaging boars , we needed to enlist the help of some choota shikarees ( part time shikarees ) . These were not professional shikarees , but rather local shikarees occasionally hired by Allwyn Cooper Limited , whenever we needed their services ( If anyone asks me to expand on what kind of services , which we would recruit these part time shikarees for , then l will happily expand on that. ) . Each of these shikarees would be paid 100 rupees for partaking in a particular task .
Thus , in 1 day , the 6 shooters for the culling operation were chosen :
Tobin Stakkatz , Poton Khan and 4 choota shikarees .

Below , l have provided a photograph taken by Ponual of us all going into the woods , to cull the wild boars.

In the next part of this 3 part article , l will detail how the preparations for the culling were made and what actually happened.

 

[Major Khan]

Preparations were made for the culling operation . Tobin carried his .423 Mauser bolt rifle made in Belgium by FN which held 4 cartridges in the magazine . This weapon fired a 347 grain metal covered bullet .
Below , l have provided a photograph which l had taken of Tobin , with his .423 Mauser slung on his back .

I was to use my Belgian double barreled 12 calibre shot gun , a " Mercury " with 3 inch chambers , extractors and 28 inch long barrels . The left barrel was fully choked , while the right was modified choke . Below , l have provided a very recent photograph taken by myself last month , of my beloved old gun ( after a successful bird shoot ) which still continues to serve me well after 60 years , testament that if properly maintained , some things will last one forever .

This was to be loaded with Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges , with were 2.5 inches in length and loaded with a 1 ounce 16 calibre spherical lead ball .
Below is a photograph taken from the internet of an Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridge , for reference.

Despite being a comparatively " low charge " cartridge ( on account of the 10 mm brass length , as opposed to 16 mm on most modern shot gun cartridges , even at that time . ) , these spherical ball cartridges were ( to their credit) always adequate enough for all of my needs , with a velocity of above 1000 feet per second and l was very pleased with their performance ( although some animals required much more critical shot placement than others ) .

The 4 choota shikarees were armed with IOF ( Indian Ordinance Factories ) .315 calibre bolt rifles . These were built on cheap copies of Lee Enfield actions and held 5 cartridges in the detachable magazines . They fired a 244 grain soft nose bullet at a velocity of 2000 feet per second . These were some of the worst rifles in existence and were plagued with reliability problems of various kinds . However , they were very popular among local hunters , as they were the only new rifles available on the market .
Below , l have provided a photograph taken from the internet of an IOF .315 calibre bolt rifle , for reference.

Alongside the 6 shooters , we each had 6 coolies ( 1 per shooter ) . The work of the coolie was to carry a large sack of cartridges and stay right behind the shooter at all times . Every time the shooter needed to reload his weapon , the coolie would pass fresh cartridges from behind .
Alongside this , however , it was imperative that each shooter kept some spare cartridges on their own person , in case they somehow got separated from their coolie .
Tobin had a leather bandolier slung across his shoulders , containing 35 cartridges of .423 Mauser .
I had a goat skin waist belt ( of local manufacture ) which held 24 cartridges of 12 calibre Eley Grand Prix spherical ball.
The choota shikarees each kept 2 extra magazines on their person ( each of which held 5 cartridges of .315 calibre )

As my ammunition carrier , l chose my trustworthy servant , Ponual as l knew that he was a real man of metal , who would not leave my side no matter how horrible the situation got . I also took an IOF .315 calibre bolt rifle out of the locker of Allwyn Cooper Limited , to arm Ponual , in case of an emergency . ( I had taught Ponual how to fire a gun in 1961 , after my first royal Bengal tiger shikar ) .

Thus , all preparations were set and we all took the train to Kooch Bihar next week .
In the next part of this article , l will detail the actual culling itself and how it all went horribly awry.

 

[tigris115]

Imagine if it was 30-50 of them coming for your children.

 

[Major Khan]

As we all went into the farm , we were awestruck by the number of wild boars there . There were at least 5 dozen of the brutes there . I feel that a little side note is in order here . The Indian bush boar weighs up to 300 pounds and have curved tusks that look like Sikh Kirpan daggers . They are extremely aggressive and will often charge without provocation . They have a tendency to attack the legs of human beings with their sharp tusks and frequently they may sever the femoral artery in a human being's leg , often with fatal consequences . A human being has 10 pints of blood in their body and if the femoral artery in either leg is severed , they will bleed to death in 5 minutes or less .
I know that saying that there were roughly 5 dozen boars in that area , may be treated with skepticism by many . However , make no mistake . Wild boars and blue bulls ( Neelgai ) were responsible for the greatest amount of crop damage in India ( they still are , but more on that later ) and their numbers were rancid in those days . Infact , whenever Tobin , Kawshik or l were guiding clients for shikar of wild boars in those days , we often did not even need trackers to find these brutes as they were so common in number. However , let us now get back to the story at hand .

Tobin , who spoke Hindi extremely fluently , laid out out the plan of action .
We were all to to form a single line , making sure that 1 shooter was standing right next to the other . Behind each shooter , would be their ammunition carrier , ready to provide the shooter with fresh cartridges whenever a re load was required . This would ensure that no shooter got in front of , or behind of the other shooters ( thus , reducing the risks of any of us accidentally shooting a member of our own party . ) If any of my readers has any difficulty understanding the lay out , then l can happily draw a simple diagram to explain to them better .

Under no circumstances , whatsoever were we to break the line , come what may . We had to hold the line at all costs .
We all readied our weapons . I kept 2 spare cartridges between my fingers for a swifter re load . We took aim at the sounder of boars .

The firing commenced . We were taking boars down left and right . Tobin's .423 Mauser , which l previously had mentioned , as having a dismal performance on gaurs , was absolutely devastating on the boars . Those 346 grain metal covered bullets were taking them end to end . My Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges were not doing badly either . I was opting for my favored head shots to take the boars down . I made it a point not to use the cartridges in my waist belt , but to rather use the cartridges which Ponual kept supplying me with . This was a precaution , because , god forbid , if Ponual was to move away from me , during any point of the shooting , l would still have 24 cartridges in reserve , on my person .

Our choota shikarees were also faring well with their IOF .315 calibre bolt rifles .As inferior as the IOF bullets were in terms of quality , a 244 grain soft nose lead bullet properly placed , can still yield a great deal of damage to a wild boar.
However , the smoothest of days can turn into a nightmare , for 1 small mistake . When we had seen those 5 dozen wild boar , we immediately ( and avariciously ) assumed that those 5 dozen boars were the only ones in the area . What we did not know , was that there were a few more , which had gotten behind us . One such brute had charged at a coolie from behind and wounded him in the back of the legs with it's tusks. As a result , the other shooters and coolies had turned around instinctively . Our expertly formed line had broken and panic overtook everyone . Things suddenly went to Hell . Tobin desperately shouted " Yaha rukko ! " ( Hold the line ! ) . However , it was of no use . We were surrounded by the brutes and any firing discipline was immediately thrown out of of the window , as the men started blindly firing left and right .
Our coolies had panicked and every single one of them were desperately trying to escape the farm . With them gone , we essentially lost our fresh ammunition source . Ponual , the brave lad that he was , unslung the IOF .315 calibre bolt rifle from his shoulder and began shooting at the boars as well .

Just when you would think that nothing could possibly get worse , the unthinkable happened . An IOF .315 calibre bullet had actually somehow deflected off the tusk of a boar and hit one of the shikarees in his right arm .
It was a ghastly experience , it was .

I was now using the cartridges from my waist belt . Head shots be damned , l was taking every available shot that presented itself : Head shots , lung shots , heart shots , quartering away shots .
While l had practiced how to turn my open shot gun upside down , to quickly drop out the empty cartridges , that was probably the one day that l wished that l had automatic ejectors in my shot gun .

Tobin was firing at as many of the boars as possible , while reloading his .423 Mauser after every 4 shots with the cartridges from his leather bandolier .
Our ears had actually gone temporarily deaf from the massive amount of shooting we had to carry out . By the time , the boars reduced to less than a dozen in number , we had them on the run .
Tobin turned towards the choota shikarees and shouted " Guli nahi chalao ! " ( Hold your fire ! ) . He then turn to me and said " Poton , let's finish them off ! " . Tobin and l ran after the remaining boar shooting at them and we managed to kill 5 more . We would probably have killed all the remaining boars , right on the spot . However , suddenly a gun shot rang out and the tin water canteen which l had slung on my waist belt , exploded . One of the shikarees had fired from behind me , intending to hit a boar and instead hit my canteen . Tobin suddenly stopped firing and turned around . He realized what had happened . He was red with anger . He shouted " Kon Guli chalaya ?!" ( Which of you opened fire ? ) . All fingers were pointed at a young Muslim shikaree named Abdullah . Indeed , with smoke coming out of the barrel of his IOF .315 calibre bolt rifle , it was evident who had fired the shot . Tobin angrily approached Abdullah and said " Eh salay , teri 100 Rupees gaya ." ( You son of a bitch , say good bye to your 100 Rupees pay ).

We looked around and surveyed the situation . Carcasses of boars lay everywhere and the ground was red with blood . Our coolies had run for dear life and had vanished faster than Harry Hoodini in a magic trick . We looked at the shikaree who had been injured by the deflected .315 calibre bullet in the arm. He was a Brahman Hindoo in his late 30s named Pavan . Paunal was helping Pavan up and used took out the first aid kit from his sack , to retrieve a bottle of ethanol and some gauze . As he was binding Pavan's injured arm , Tobin looked at the blood tracks leading out of the farm in the direction which the last few remaining boars had gone . He then turned to me and said " The survivors are hit . We've got to go after them and finish the job " . I then ( in a misguided attempt to dissuade Tobin from following those wounded boars ) said " Is that really necessary ? I am sure that they are probably being mauled to death by a pack of wild dogs or hyena by now " .
However , Tobin was from reassured and was rather horrified by visualizing what l had just said . He told me " You know , if you ever said that in the States , no one would ever wanna go hunting with you ever again " . I sighed , knowing that my friend was adamant to follow those wounded brutes and put them out of their suffering . Naturally , good friends never abandon the other during such trying times . I replied " I am going with you , then " . Tobin smiled and replied " Of course , you are. You've got a God damn spine. " . He then turned to the 3 uninjured choota shikarees and asked how many of them were willing to go into the bush to finish off the boars . Only 1 , a middle aged Hindoo shikaree named Loha Singh agreed to join us .
Under his breath , l could hear Tobin mutter " Your lily livered , cowardly sons of bitches " .
We instructed Ponual to get Pavan to the nearest local doctor , and we went into the forest to look for those wounded boars . It was Tobin , Loha Singh and l .
Before we left , l took all the remaining Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridges left in Ponual's sack , and re filled my cartridge belt .

In the next and final part of this article , l will provide a photograph of the carnage of that day , along with the details of how he finished off those remaining boars and the aftermath of the incident.

 

[Shootist43]

I have a feeling this is about to get interesting.

 

[Major Khan]

Finding the few surviving boars was fairly straightforward enough. Those blood trails were relatively easy ro follow . Once , we found them , we opened fire on them . Tobin used his FN .423 Mauser . I used my Belgian 12 calibre shot gun. Loha Singh used his IOF .315 calibre bolt rifle . There were 6 survivors and we killed them all easily.
All in all , we killed 63 wild boars that day among 7 shooters ( 6 , not counting Ponual , who only commenced shooting when the line broke).
Below , l have provided a photograph taken by myself , of just a small number of all the boars shot that day .

The meat was donated to the Christian and Hindoo neighborhoods in Kooch Bihar ( essentially any community that ate pork ) , while the shikarees kept the tusks . I collected quite a few of the tusks and l later used the ivory of 1 of the tusks to make a makeshift back sight for my shot gun , to aid in my aiming whenever l was using spherical ball cartridges.
However , when we returned to Nagpur the next day by train , a new problem had presented itself . Abdullah had been going around , telling all the employees of Allwyn Cooper Limited , that Tobin was a racist who did not pay Abdullah for the cull , because Abdullah was a Muslim .
This was nothing , but garbage . Abdullah had done something which had endangered our lives . We had instructed him and all the other choota shikarees repeatedly , not to fire at the boars if we were standing between them and the boars . He turned a deaf ear to our orders and fired anyway . I was extremely fortunate that the bullet had hit my canteen and not my stomach.
Even though l am a Muslim myself , l have always been disgusted by the acts of some of my fellow Muslims who like to use Islamophobia as a tactical tool to pursue their own agendas . I find it very cheap and most undignified .
When asked about what had happened , l merely told Mr. Shukla this , " Sir , l work with Tobin 4 weeks of the month and am great personal friends with him since the last 3 years . I am a Muslim and if Tobin had any prejudice against people of our faith , then l think that l would be the first to notice it , as l spend the greatest amount of my time with him than any other employee here . "
Fortunately , Mr. Shukla fired Abdullah instead of paying heed to his " crocodile tears " . Of course , Mr. Shukla had his own interests in mind . Tobin was a far more competent shikaree and a greater asset to Allwyn Cooper Limited than Abdullah . However , l am glad that my friend did not undergo any trouble for that lying excuse of a shikaree , Abdullah
.
We then had our fellow professional shikarees later spend the last working day of the week , testing all of the batches of our IOF .315 calibre 244 grain soft nose lead rifle bullets on targets of varying hardness , to try to replicate why that .315 calibre lead bullet had deflected off the boar's tusks and hit Pavan . After breaking open some of the cartridges , we found our answer . Many of the .315 calibre cartridges , loaded by IOF did not have a sufficient amount of powder inside the cartridge case to propel the 244 grain bullet at the advertised 2000 feet per second velocity ( which is a very pitiful velocity any way ) . After that day onwards , we began to train our professional shikarees how to hand load their own cartridges with a sufficient amount of propellant powder , to ensure consistent velocities .

After the ridiculous 1972 hunting ban , the number of wild boars and blue bulls Rose and became rancid . In the late 2010s , the governments of Kooch Bihar and Uttar Pradesh allowed the culling of crop damaging wild boars and blue bulls again . However , the Indian government consisting predominantly of those sick vegetarian bastards decided to do something petty . The cullers are not allowed to consume any of the meat from the boars or the blue bulls. Process this thought for a moment . These people are so petty in their lunatic agendas , that even when they need those animals gone , they will not let anyone enjoy their meat .
I hope that this account proved enjoyable . My next article will detail the 7th man eating royal Bengal tiger which l had killed ; a killer of 16 innocent people .

 

[crs]

It has long been known that wild boar can be dangerous! So can tame boars and sows!

A friend of mine whose is a top notch pistoleer, carries a sidearm wherever he hunts and encourages others to do so. He gave a dinner presentation to my outdoor club a few years back and had film of pistol hunting, including wild boars. One of his hunts in south Texas was fatal to a hunter because he was unarmed when he confronted a big boar when checking game feeders. He was dead when my friend got to him. Another pest that is often around feeders is the rattle snake; whether looking for rats to eat or just sunning under the feeder, they are unwelcome and must be dealt with.

Since I raised hogs and grew up in Texas, I have always been armed when out and about in the country. Either a .357 mag or .44 mag is all that is needed to dispose of poisonous snakes, boars, and other pests and /or threats.

 

[Tra3]

Keep writing! Thank you for entertaining us with your hunt!

 

[Major Khan]

Imagine if it was 30-50 of them coming for your children.

Well , there were 63 of them that day and it was nightmarish

 

[Major Khan]

I have a feeling this is about to get interesting.

I hope that you enjoy the remainder of the story , Shootist43.

 

[Major Khan]

It has long been known that wild boar can be dangerous! So can tame boars and sows!

A friend of mine whose is a top notch pistoleer, carries a sidearm wherever he hunts and encourages others to do so. He gave a dinner presentation to my outdoor club a few years back and had film of pistol hunting, including wild boars. One of his hunts in south Texas was fatal to a hunter because he was unarmed when he confronted a big boar when checking game feeders. He was dead when my friend got to him. Another pest that is often around feeders is the rattle snake; whether looking for rats to eat or just sunning under the feeder, they are unwelcome and must be dealt with.

Since I raised hogs and grew up in Texas, I have always been armed when out and about in the country. Either a .357 mag or .44 mag is all that is needed to dispose of poisonous snakes, boars, and other pests and /or threats.

That is a very wise analysis . Back in India at the time , we did not think of boars as being dangerous game . However , this experience made believers out of us .
Your choice in calibre is very wise. I carry a Belgian 12 calibre side by side shot gun , loaded with spherical ball cartridges in each barrel . I have an American friend who uses a revolver as defense against wild boars . The calibre is called .454 Casull. It is quite a large revolver.

 

[Newboomer]

Wow! That sounds like some kind of battle right out of a war zone.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Wow that’s a near miss, and he ruined your water supply. Out of curiosity as to how concentrated these boars were, how big was the farm? 63 is a very impressive number of boar.

 

[Major Khan]

Keep writing! Thank you for entertaining us with your hunt!

Thank you for spending your time to read it.

 

[Major Khan]

Wow! That sounds like some kind of battle right out of a war zone.

It was rather terrifying at the time . I understand that feral boars are also an invasive species in America , in current times ? Do culling programs exist for these brutes , Newboomer ?

 

[Major Khan]

Wow that’s a near miss, and he ruined your water supply. Out of curiosity as to how concentrated these boars were, how big was the farm? 63 is a very impressive number of boar.

An inch more and that bullet would have hit me in the stomach. 63 is indeed a very startling number , Mr. Smith . The entire farm was actually actually 105 acres , so it was fairly large . During our wild boar or blue bull culls , the largest number of wild boars killed in a single event were 76. It must be understood that in those days the number of wild boars in India were rancid . Culling and hunting them kept their population in control .
After the hunting ban of 1972 , their numbers rose again to uncontrollable levels and they are still a rancid problem to farmers today in India. The same applies to the blue bull ( Neelgai ) .

 

[WAB]

It was rather terrifying at the time . I understand that feral boars are also an invasive species in America , in current times ? Do culling programs exist for these brutes , Newboomer ?

We have a real problem with feral hogs. Although they can be dangerous, that is very much the exception not the rule. We shoot them at night with AR’s topped with thermal imaging scopes. Our preferred caliber is 6.5 Grendel. Although they work fine, 7.62 rigs tend to be quite a bit heavier. 5.56 is just too light a round for this purpose. Here in Alabama a good night is 20 to 30 hogs. When 3 or 4 guns open up on a big sounder it’s quite a show!

 

[Major Khan]

We have a real problem with feral hogs. Although they can be dangerous, that is very much the exception not the rule. We shoot them at night with AR’s topped with thermal imaging scopes. Our preferred caliber is 6.5 Grendel. Although they work fine, 7.62 rigs tend to be quite a bit heavier. 5.56 is just too light a round for this purpose. Here in Alabama a good night is 20 to 30 hogs. When 3 or 4 guns open up on a big sounder it’s quite a show!

This is fascinating , Wab . I learn so much from this site in just a few days . When l last shot an AR 15 sporting rifle in America in 2015 , it was of .223 Remington calibre . May l ask how much the average American feral hog weighs ? A large Indian / Bangladeshi bush boar can weigh up to 300 pounds .

 

[WAB]

They can weigh that much although I don’t think we’ve shot one that was that heavy. I would estimate that the adults we shoot typically run 70 to 150 pounds with the odd pig up to 200. There are reports of very large hogs. I suspect that there are honest 400 pounders out there but I am pretty skeptical of the ‘hogzilla’ photos you see posted of pigs claiming to be more than twice that weight.

 

[Shootist43]

Poton, I have taken a number of feral hogs, one of which weighed 430 lbs. But as was said previously the average hog is much smaller. I had one good looking boar mounted that weighed 240 lbs. After one particularly successful weekend hunt my oldest son and I took 1,140 lbs. of primal cut pork to a butcher for processing.