The Old Shikari Interview With Kawshik Rahman For 2021

This is an great story.
Did you shoot him?
Or did the Leopard scratch the client?
I ever heard about tigers attack elephant or the machan (on top of the elephant).
But I never heard it from leopards.
Bull Hunter , my Shikar partner , Karim Chowdhury shot it in the face with an SG cartridge from his Ishapore Arms Factory 12 bore side by side shot-gun . This stopped the charge , but the leopard was still alive ( having lost one eye ). My client quickly killed it with a third shot from his magnum .375 bore Double barrel rifle ( the first two shots from my client were what had caused it to charge in the first place )
 
An hard Story.
Was the leo dead with that 3. shoot?
And: Was somebody injured?
 
An hard Story.
Was the leo dead with that 3. shoot?
And: Was somebody injured?
We were on three elephant macchans .
The client was carrying a double barrel rifle made by Westley Richards in magnum .375 bore . The beaters had managed to get a leopard springing out of the foliage. Our client shot it twice , wounding it. Our client tried to reload his rifle , but the automatic safety mechanism had activated again , causing him to fumble with it . The wounded leopard tried to spring up the elephant macchan . My Shikar partner , Karim stopped the charge by shooting it in the face with his shot-gun. The client , by now had turned off the safety mechanism in his rifle and shot the leopard a third time , and that killed it. No one was injured , but it almost reached our client.
 
Thank you.

You had a great memory sir,
Did you have that details, all your adventure in the brain?
(They are a lifetime away.)
Or make you notes after the hunts?

Pictures?
Did you have your own camera with you?
Or from the clients?
Did you collect them or are they all destroyed by the antis, after 1972?
 
Thank you.

You had a great memory sir,
Did you have that details, all your adventure in the brain?
(They are a lifetime away.)
Or make you notes after the hunts?

Pictures?
Did you have your own camera with you?
Or from the clients?
Did you collect them or are they all destroyed by the antis, after 1972?
The trick to remembering anything is to tie it with a very important memory in your mind . Also , l look at my photographs to refresh my memory.
I had a personal camera with me and l was very fond of recording my Shikars as often as possible . Clients would also take photographs and we would request them to post us a copy for keeping . Sundar Raj Shikar also provided cameras for renting to take photographs of the Shikars. This is why l have so many photographs , fortunately.
I have preserved all of my photographs taken , as they are more valuable to me than gold . Many of the people dear to me whom l have written about in my articles here are long dead , and for me now , they exist only in these photographs .
received_551989612237068.jpeg

For instance , this is a photograph which no one other than me ever possesses. This is the photograph of the last Royal Bengal tiger ( a man eater ) which l had ever killed. Most forum members here will look at the tiger. However , in the photograph , l care more about the man. That was my late father .
 
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PHOTOS:
What kind / branch / firm of camera did you use?
Did you use an separeted photographer for your shikari (like in modern days)?

And:
Did you film (8 or 16 mm) also?
 
HUNTING:
Thank you for the infos (leo and tiger), sir.

What was with hunting bears?
The methods (baiting, stalking, or...?)
What kind of bears did you have in your region?
Some writers says, that bears are mutch more dangerous as leos... Ist this correct in your option?
 
PHOTOS:
What kind / branch / firm of camera did you use?
Did you use an separeted photographer for your shikari (like in modern days)?

And:
Did you film (8 or 16 mm) also?
I used a Kodak 35 millimeter fim camera.
For large profile Shikars , we had professional camera men.
A client did film a Nilgai Shikar once . I suspect the footage may still be with him or his family.
 
HUNTING:
Thank you for the infos (leo and tiger), sir.

What was with hunting bears?
The methods (baiting, stalking, or...?)
What kind of bears did you have in your region?
Some writers says, that bears are mutch more dangerous as leos... Ist this correct in your option?
We had Asian sloth bears . These were stalked . In my career , we only baited eight bears .
Bears are no where as dangerous as leopards , especially wounded leopards. While aggressive , bears are predictable I their attacks. Leopards are far more unpredictable , especially when they get wounded and retreat into thick vegetation.
 
What did you do with the game animals after the hunts?
Are there people witch eats bears and leos?
Grilled or biltong?
Or feeding the dogs?
(The Candian and the African locals - still in that days - eat this animals.)
 
What did you do with the game animals after the hunts?
Are there people witch eats bears and leos?
Grilled or biltong?
Or feeding the dogs?
(The Candian and the African locals - still in that days - eat this animals.)
We ate everything except leopards and tigers. The non Muslim Shikaris in our group also ate the boars we shot. We would remove the skins , tusks and horns for trophies for our clients . Heads of boars and heads of Gaurs were often made into wall hanging souvenirs . Royal Bengal tiger skins , leopard skins and bear skins were often made into carpet rugs , of an expensive coat for a lady , such as the client’s wife , mistress or daughter .
We ate bears ( l personally find loin of bear to be delicious , if broiled over char coal fire with salt , pepper , shallot and a brushing of butter ).
We grilled many of the meats , and also made some into dried , salted meats. Different game animals require different cooking preparations. Take the Nilgai for instance . It’s flesh is coarse and stringy. Therefore , it’s short loin must be hung in cool conditions for up to three weeks to develop good flavor for the palate. However , their liver and kidneys can be eaten on the very day it is hunted. Gaur meat would usually be eaten fresh , but the rump and rib area ( similar to the area used to cut beef rib eye steaks from )needs to be hung for at least 28 days in cool conditions to develop good flavor and tenderize.
Dogs were always well fed with our left overs .
I should like to add a small note here :
The reason no body ever ate leopards or Royal Bengal tigers was because these animals were potential man eaters , and it is taboo in our culture to eat any animal that specifically targets man for eating.
 
What was/is the different between the "gaur" and the "normal buffalo"?
Many people sayed, that the gaur was the dangeraust animal in the Indian forest.
Is that correct?
What kind of hunting methods did you use for them?
 
What was/is the different between the "gaur" and the "normal buffalo"?
Many people sayed, that the gaur was the dangeraust animal in the Indian forest.
Is that correct?
What kind of hunting methods did you use for them?
Gaurs have smaller and more curved horns than an Indian water buffalo , which is precisely what makes them so dangerous. A small Gaur can weigh up to 1500 pounds and a large one can weigh up to 2000 pounds. They are known in India , as Chai bhoot ( grey ghosts ) because of the way they can creep through forests . They are incredibly aggressive. All the Gaur l have ever killed , was killed with my Ishapore Arms Factory 12 bore side by side shot-gun . I killed one once with a one ounce Eley Alphamax rifled slug cartridge ( left over by a previous client ) by shooting it in the soft part behind the shoulder. I killed three by shooting them in the same region with a 12 bore Kynoch lethal ball cartridge while l still had a stock of such cartridges. The rest were killed by shooting them in the neck region at very close distance with SG cartridges ( of which we had plenty ) , some times repeatedly .
Gaurs are some of the some aggressive animals on earth.
 
CULTURAL QUESTION:
What did you do with the hunted gaurs, sir?
Did you eat them?
Because, you wrote it before, some people think, that they are gods? The hindu people, correct? What did they say - or do - then somebody eat a god?
(I must search now more infos in google, about that religion.)
 
CULTURAL QUESTION:
What did you do with the hunted gaurs, sir?
Did you eat them?
Because, you wrote it before, some people think, that they are gods? The hindu people, correct? What did they say - or do - then somebody eat a god?
(I must search now more infos in google, about that religion.)
I am Muslim and we ate Gaurs. At the time , Gaurs were thought of differently from cows and so many Hindus even ate them.
 
BIRD HUNTING
Can you write some words about bird hunting?
What kind of birds?
What methods? pp.

SPORT SHOOTING
I read here that you are now many hours in the gym, now in your new land Bangladash.
You are (now) also trainer, pp.
Did you do that in the old days ins India also?
Was it a big sport in the country?
 
BIRD HUNTING
Can you write some words about bird hunting?
What kind of birds?
What methods? pp.

SPORT SHOOTING
I read here that you are now many hours in the gym, now in your new land Bangladash.
You are (now) also trainer, pp.
Did you do that in the old days ins India also?
Was it a big sport in the country?
Birds available were Chukar , quail , pigeon , grouse , doves , Horel , ducks , geese and cranes.
Generally a shot-gun was used . For normal birds , l would use number 6 cartridges , for doves l would use number 8 , for ducks and geese l would use BB and for cranes , l would use AAA .
My shotgun was a 12 bore side by side shot-gun made by the Ishapore Arms Factory ( also known as Indian Ordinance Factories ) . Clients would use a variety of bores : 12 bore , 16 bore , 20 bore , 28 bore .
I should also add that for pigeons , if you use decoys , you can also shoot them with a .22 Long Rifle calibre rifle , which some clients did , for the extra challenge.

I am a shooting instructor in Bangladesh Shooting Federation since 1979 . I was not a shooting instructor in India. I did it in Bangladesh , because l love teaching children to shoot and l have no children of my own. It also allows me to stay up to date with new arms and ammunition which students bring.
 
You wrote that you have only some kind of wepons in Banglades, witch are allowed now.
(12 gauge, 315, pp. And mostly from one inlanded firm.)
And that maby in some years also .45 ACP can get importat.
Is that correct?
Why?

And in the old days in India:
Are there pistols and revolvers allowed?
Did you use them?
For hunting? For sport-shooting?

Maybe you had read it here in the forum:
It is an en vogue in these days - mostly in the USA - to hunt with bow, cross-bow, old muskets (black powder), evan spear and knifes and...
Did you do that in India also?
What are your experience with that?
 
In India ,
no new imported fire arms were available to civilians after India became independent . Many people however still had old British fire arms from the colonial period . In 1972 , Indira Gandhi's renegade government confiscated every existing imported fire arm from civilians and had them reduced to scrap metal .
The locally available fire arms were all made by the Indian Ordinance Factories in Ishapore . They were
: A ) 12 bore side by side shot-gun with 70 millimeter chambers and with fully choked 32 inch long barrels .
B) .315 bore bolt operation rifle , built on Lee Enfield type mechanism ( or action ) with five cartridges in magazine
c) .32 bore revolver .
Today , the side by side shot-gun is no longer manufactured and has been replaced with a pump operation shot-gun of 12 bore with no choke. The .32 bore revolver has been replaced by a .32 bore auto loading pistol .
These were and still are , most inferior arms and very unreliable.

In Bangladesh ,
We have access to all imported fire arms fortunately .
Our fire arms laws are such : A civilian can own up to six fire arms without needing special permission .You can own any fire arm legally except pistols in 9 millimeter Parabellum cartridge and rifles in .303 bore cartridge. However , in terms of local availability , the following fire arms and cartridges for these fire arms are available .
: Pistols and revolvers in the following calibres - .22 Long Rifle , magnum .22 , .25 Automatic Colt Pistol, .32 Automatic Colt Pistol and .32 Smith and Wesson .
Bolt Operation and auto loading rifles in .22 Long Rifle .
Bolt Operation rifles in magnum .22 ( currently only the SPA model from the Austrian firm , ISSC is being imported )
12 bore shot-guns in over under , pump operation and auto loading configuration . Cartridges of all lengths from 70 millimeter to 89 millimeter are imported.
As are all shot sizes.
 

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