On the 11th , we were all off looking for a suitable gaur for our client to shoot in the forests near the edge of the Maharashtra state. Our party consisted of Tobin , myself , Ponual , our Shawtaal tracker ( Mintu ) and 4 coolies . Tobin and l carried our normal armaments . Ponual carried our client's Birmingham Small Arms .458 Winchester magnum calibre Mauser action bolt rifle , loaded with 500 grain Winchester solid metal covered cartridges and a leather satchel containing extra cartridges for our client.
We were following the tracks of a large male Gaur for 2 hours when we came across a large pile of gaur dung . Mintu took off his jootey ( an Indian cheaply made sandal of sorts ) and dipped his toes into the gaur dung to gauge it's warmness . He told us that the dung was still warm and so the Gaur could not have gotten far . This gave us all the encouragement that we needed and we eagerly went forward.
Our client now held his .458 Winchester magnum calibre bolt rifle in his own hands after taking it from Ponual.
True enough , 20 minutes later , we saw him . Funnily enough , he was in the edge of the forest near the road where we had parked Tobin's jeep . What this meant was that we had all gone around in a complete circle while tracking the gaur . He was a large , imposing looking specimen silently feeding on the grass in the forest floor . Just by looking at him , Tobin and l both knew that he weighed more than 2000 pounds . He was not aware of us . So , Tobin whispered to the client to quietly follow him . Tobin and the client crept up to the gaur until they were 25 yards away from the gaur and his broadside was exposed to them . I stayed behind them with Mintu , Ponual and the coolies . Tobin whispered to the client " Take out both the lungs and you're bringing that beeve home . " The client raised the .458 Winchester magnum calibre rifle to his shoulder , took off the safety catch and took aim , with Tobin right next to him . He fired . That gunshot is solely responsible for whatever happened next . Even though it all happened in a few seconds , to me everything flashes before my eyes as if it was going on , in slow motion.
The blast of gas from the muzzle brake combined with the flash and the horrifying sound ( it was louder than any other .458 Winchester magnum calibre rifle which we had ever heard discharge . ) completely disoriented Tobin . He was blind and deaf at the same moment !
To make matters worse , the gaur was perfectly hit , but instead turned to the direction of his tormentor and charged . The client took to his heels and just fled , leaving Tobin blind , deaf , screaming and defenseless . Fearing for my friend's life , l rushed to pull Tobin out of harm's way . Unfortunately , that brutish gaur got to Tobin before l did. It RAMMED Tobin hard in the stomach with it's horns and Tobin went flying a few feet back . I hurriedly snapped up my " Old Belgian " and fired both barrels behind the gaur's shoulder as it was turning . The brute ran off into the thickets , coughing blood from it's nose and mouth . I knew that l had hit both the lungs of the creature . I turned back and saw that our coolies had disappeared . Vanished , just like that . Only Mintu and Ponual had remained . I ran to my friend , Tobin with tears running down my eyes fearing for the worst . I was always a selfish and apathetic human being with no altruism or redeeming qualities in me . However , the few people in my life who actually meant something to me , were people whom l genuinely cared about . And old Tobin was 1 of them . Bear in mind that l was the sort of person who used human corpses as bait for man eating panthers and royal Bengal tigers without any hesitation whatsoever. I was THAT desensitized to blood and carnage . However , seeing my friend with a large bloody hole in his stomach , coughing mouthfuls of blood and using his hands in an attempt to stop his intestines and internal organs from poking out left permanent mental scars on me for many years and l would see nightmares of that day for many years. Mintu , Ponual and l managed to make an improvised bandage from Ponual's T shirt to bind around Tobin's stomach and we carried my friend out of the forest , desperately . Ponual had Tobin's FN .423 Mauser slung across his shoulders . I know that ethics demanded that l follow up the wounded gaur and recover it. However , l did not give a damn about ethics . I gave a damn about Tobin and getting him to the nearest hospital . We began to go towards where Tobin's jeep was parked near the edge of the forest and on the road . As we reached however , we realized to our terror that the jeep was gone . Tobin had left the jeep keys inside the ignition box and the client had gotten into the jeep and made off in a state of panic , leaving us stranded there .
In Despair , we laid Tobin on the ground while Ponual went forward along the road to see if he could signal truck driver to stop and help us. What a day , it was. No client , no car , no coolies. And here is my best friend bleeding and screaming in pain with a large hole in his stomach. Tobin begged me for some water . However , even though l wanted to give my friend my entire canteen full of cold water , which was slung on my waist , l did not give him any .
( I hope that none of my dear readers on this site ever find themselves in such a situation . However , if you are ever near some one who has been injured in the lungs or stomach , do not , under any circumstances , let them have any water . You will be doing more harm to them than good . )
Finally and Fortunately , Ponual was able to stop a truck passing along the road . The truck driver helped to drive Mintu, Ponual , Tobin and l to the nearest hospital . He lost a great deal of blood and the Doctors had an extremely difficult time stabilizing him. I used the hospital's telephone to give Mr . Shukla and Tobin's wife a telephone call and notify them of the grim news. I stayed in the hospital that night , seeing my friend struggle with his own mortality.
The next day , in order to keep my own mind distracted , l set off into the forest with Mintu to go find the wounded gaur if possible . We found him dead near a pond , roughly 70 yards away from where l had shot him . He had already begun to rot and a a great deal of flies and maggots were crawling over him. Bird droppings were all over him and pieces of his flesh had been torn away by wild dogs and jackals .
I used my camera to take a photograph of the dead brute to show it to Tobin ( l still held on to the hope that he might survive this ordeal . ) Below , l have provided the photograph of that nefarious brute which brought our shikar party to much grief.
In the next and final part of this article , l will detail the aftermath of this incident and some reflections.
