By Riaz Sharrif
HOW IT ALL WENT WRONG
“ A week later , at around 8 AM in the morning , we were all in a particular patch of the forest of Kuch Bihar ... an area which was known to the locals for harboring both Chital Deer and Hunting Leopards ( Which is actually quite normal , especially considering that Hunting Leopards practically live on Chital Deer ) . Our Shikar party consisted of 64 people .
There were our 50 beaters , who had surrounded the entire forest by setting up a circular perimeter around it ( encompassing a five mile radius) . Stationed alongside the beaters for their protection , were our five gunners ... who were armed with Indian Ordinance Factories .315 caliber bolt action rifles , loaded with 244 grain soft nosed cartridges. Then there were five coolies . And of course... There was myself , Loha Singh and our two clients .
The previous day , our coolies had toiled all day to erect two macchans in the very center of the forest ... for our clients to safely shoot from . Today, our clients climbed up on the two macchans and were ready for the beat to begin . I gestured to Loha Singh to fire a shot into the air ... which would alert the beaters to commence the beat . Loha Singh fired a shot from his Indian Ordinance Factories .315 caliber bolt action rifle into the air . And that was that . The beat had begun . From all around the forests , the beaters slowly began to converge towards us , beating.
Loha Singh and I remained on the ground , while our clients stayed on their Macchans . Time passed and we could all hear the growls , screeches and calls of all manner of fauna ... as they were slowly being driven towards us , by the beaters .
We saw a large group of Chital Deer making their way towards us . I hurriedly shouted to our clients , “ Sahib ! Mem Sahib ! The Chital Deer are drawing close ! Get yourselves ready ! “
As all of the Chital Deer got within range ...our female client took careful aim at a large Chital Stag and fired off the 9.3x74 mm R caliber rifle barrel of her Combination Gun . The 286 grain soft nosed bullet struck the animal ... right behind the right shoulder of the Chital Stag . It went less than 30 yards , before fall to the ground and expiring . I myself decided that I would bag a delicious Chital Stag for the pot ( and share half the venison with old Loha ) . I waited for most of the Chital Deer to pass through our area , before catching sight of a fine Chital Stag drawing closer to us . Snapping up my shotgun ( which was loaded with LG cartridges in both the barrels ) to my shoulder ... I took aim at the fine animal and let off my left barrel at him , at a range of less than ten paces . The concentrated charge of eight LG slugs caught the Chital Stag , right in the chest and downed him on the spot . Loha and I smiled triumphantly at the prospects of our dinner . However , this was no time for rejoicing. We knew that if the Herbivores had passed through our location ... then that meant that the Carnivora were obviously bound to be somewhere , close by .
I hurriedly broke open the breech of my shotgun and watched the expended Eley Alphamax LG cartridge casing get popped out from the chamber of my left barrel by the automatic ejectors ... before falling to the ground . I then replenished the left barrel’s chamber with a live Eley Alphamax LG cartridge and closed my shotgun .
True to their nature ... a male Hunting Leopard, his mate and three Hunting Leopard Cubs were , in fact drawing closer to our location . One of our coolies had managed to spot them , from the top of a tree ... with the aid of binoculars .
Loha and I crouched behind a rock in order to keep ourselves hidden from the view of the Hunting Leopards . I shouted to the clients , “ Sahib ! Mem Sahib! The Chita Baagh are coming ! Aim for the huge one ! That is the male ! “ .
It took about another 15 minutes , before the Hunting Leopards were within shooting range of our clients ( 50 yards ) . Our male client raised his 10.75x68 mm Mauser caliber bolt action rifle to his shoulder and took careful aim at the male Hunting Leopard . He squeezed the trigger . The gun shot rang out and we heard the male Hunting Leopard roar in pain . We also saw him somersault onto the ground , struggle back to his feet and disappear back into the long forest grass . The female Hunting Leopard and the cubs hurriedly rushed past our location , but the male Hunting Leopard had retreated into the direction from which he was coming .
I snatched up my William Wellington Greener Shotgun and went to the spot , where the male Hunting Leopard had been shot . I saw a massive pool of blood and immediately speculated that my client had punctured one of the Hunting Leopard’s lungs . I ran back to where the macchans were and shouted to my male client , “ Sahib ! Your shot must have wounded the huge male Hunting Leopard . Would you like me to spoor it , for you ? “ . My client told me that he wanted to pursue the wounded Hunting Leopard alongside me ... because he was the one who was responsible for wounding it . I nodded , admiring the gentle man’s honorable code of conduct . Despite fearful protests from his young wife ( who naturally cared about his safety ) , he climbed down the macchan with his 10.75x68 mm Mauser caliber bolt rifle and worked the bolt of his rifle ... to extract the empty 10.75x68 mm Mauser caliber cartridge casing . However, he kept working the bolt until the other three live cartridges were also ejected from the rifle’s magazine . Then , he freshly loaded the entire magazine once again with four cartridges. He carried out this practice , because the rifle was built on a Mauser 98 action ... and Mauser 98 actioned rifles must always have their cartridges fed up into the chamber only via the magazine . The Shikari cannot feed a cartridge directly into the chamber of such a rifle , without risking a breakage of the Mauser 98 action’s ejector . I myself , broke open the breech of my William Wellington Greener Shotgun and checked to make sure that both barrels were loaded with Eley Alphamax LG cartridges. As an added precautionary measure ... I kept two extra LG cartridges in between the fingers of my non shooting hand , to aid me in the event that a speedy reload became necessary . I instructed Loha to stay behind with the female client and the coolies at the location of the macchans ( in order to protect them ) ... while my male client and I pressed forward , in search of the wounded male Hunting Leopard.
We went deeper and deeper into the long grass , cautiously following the blood trail of the wounded Hunting Leopard . For ten minutes , we found nothing . It was as if the wounded animal has just vanished into thin air . And then , it happened .
All of a sudden , the huge male Hunting Leopard hurled itself upon us from close range . He had been cunningly and vengefully lying in wait for us , among the long grass . My client snapped his rifle up to his shoulder ... in a desperate attempt to shoot the charging , enraged animal . Unfortunately, the Hunting Leopard had gotten ahold of the rifle’s muzzle between it’s vice like jaws . It aggressively tugged at the rifle . While my client desperately struggled to hold onto his rifle ... his knuckle accidentally struck the release button of the rifle’s magazine floor plate ( which , like all Mauser 98 actioned rifles... was located inside the bow of the trigger guard . This set up is referred to , as “ Oberndorf Style “ . ) . The magazine floor plate sprung open and all four of my client’s 10.75x68 mm Mauser caliber RWS soft nosed cartridges had dropped onto the ground . The rifle was now as useless as a big stick . The enraged Hunting Leopard pounced upon my defenseless client ... who was knocked on to the ground by the animal .
I acted fast ... and on instinct . I could not shoot the Hunting Leopard right away , because my shotgun was loaded with LG cartridges . Each LG cartridge held eight .36 caliber lead slugs and I knew that if I fired at the Hunting Leopard... there was a virtual certainty that one of those eight slugs might end up hitting my client . So , I reversed my William Wellington Greener Shotgun and brought down the butt stock of the weapon hard onto the furious animal’s skull . I clubbed it three more times , before it finally leapt off my client and attempted to make for the long grass once again . I hurriedly let off both barrels of my shotgun at the fleeing Hunting Leopard . The double charge of LG slugs slammed right into the area behind the animal’s shoulder .
It fell to the ground , but quickly struggled back to it’s feet . I wasted no time in breaking open the breech of my shotgun and slamming the two Eley Alphamax LG cartridges ( which I had kept between my fingers , beforehand ) into the chambers ... before closing the breech of the shotgun . The Hunting Leopard charged again . I fired my left barrel at the head of the Hunting Leopard ... at a distance of a mere ten feet . The Hunting Leopard fell to the ground ... only to start struggling back onto it’s feet again . I aimed for the head of the Hunting Leopard once again ... this time in the region right above both the eyes . The moment the Hunting Leopard had gotten back on it’s feet ... I pulled the trigger . Those eight LG slugs punched through the top of the Hunting Leopard’s skull and penetrated right into the defiant animal’s brain . This time ... He was dead for good . I hurriedly turned my attention to my injured client . “
The crouched , dead Hunting Leopard with blood still dripping from it’s mouth .
