The One That Got Away (From Me)

[Wyatt Smith]

What a good story. It’s hard to imagine (for me living in America) the fear a man eater would put into the local population.
How large of an area would a man eater like this cover?

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Mr. Habib, what a great story of the that notorius tiger! Having read thoroughly the accounts of Jim Corbett's experiences, I truly enjoyed reading yours! Thanks for your work and contributions to your fellow man in pursuit of those man-eaters. I wish you well, and do encourage you to continue writing.

Why, thank you, Adam,

 

[ofbiro]

A good and well written story Hunter Habib.
Two questions about your guns and ammunition:
-what was the cause of the 12 bore misfire? Faulty ammunition or gun failure?
-with all the experience you have gathered with firearms and dangerous felines, would you still carry a 32 ACP while waiting for a heavy and dangerous beast?

 

[Hunter-Habib]

What an excellent story, very well told. I have enjoyed all your posts, and I wish you the best of luck with the book project.

Why, thank you, Stephen.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

What a good story. It’s hard to imagine (for me living in America) the fear a man eater would put into the local population.
How large of an area would a man eater like this cover?

Why, thank you, Wyatt. The Royal Bengal tigers of the Sundarbans are exceptionally adept swimmers and can pretty much traverse the entirety of the Sundarban mangrove forests with complete impunityI.

n 2021, we sedated 5 Royal Bengal tigers with M99 animal tranquilizers and placed GPS tracking collars on all of them in order to follow their natural movements all across the Sundarbans. I was already long retired from being the DFO of the Sundarbans (having completed serving my second term there in 1989), but I was still invited to oversee the research project as a guest consultant. The results were quite starting.

A Royal Bengal tiger tranquilized and released in the Khulna forest range was completely capable of swimming to the part of the Sundarbans which fell inside West Bengal, India. And they could do this within 5 1/2 days.

But man eating Royal Bengal tigers are largely territorial attackers. They seldom change locations once they find an area where human beings are easily available and huntable. I have always speculated that the man eater of this particular incident in 1986-7 had originally been injured by the bear-trap in Rai Mangal island. And he had travelled all the way to Talpatti, in search of human flesh.

The reason here is quite obvious. Since I was supervising the construction of Coupe Office #55 at the time, there were a large number (104) of local woodcutters whom I had appointed for the construction of the Coupe Office. For a man eating Royal Bengal tiger, the entire scene was practically an invitation to a buffet dinner.

 

[PARA45]

Thank you for sharing another wonderful story. Man, what a treat it would be to be sitting around a fire listening to you tell those stories. Again, thank you I enjoyed it very much!

 

[Hunter-Habib]

A good and well written story Hunter Habib.
Two questions about your guns and ammunition:
-what was the cause of the 12 bore misfire? Faulty ammunition or gun failure?
-with all the experience you have gathered with firearms and dangerous felines, would you still carry a 32 ACP while waiting for a heavy and dangerous beast?

Why, thank you, Ofbiro.

To answer your questions:
1) I have exclusively used plastic cased Eley Alphamax 12 gauge shotgun shells for 5 decades from 1969 (when they first commenced production) all the way up until 2019 (when Eley completely discontinued their Alphamax line of shotgun shells altogether). In these 50 years, I've never had a single misfire. Even now, I still have one 25 piece box of Eley Alphamax 1 1/4 oz 8 pellet LG shells left (which I had purchased in 1987). All of them reliably go off every single time. Chronographed velocity is 1116 fps, which is still pretty close to the original advertised velocity of 1120 fps.

On the other hand, I frequently used to notice that the right barrel of Pachabdi's old shotgun had a faulty firing pin. I recall that we once went hunting together for golden snipe at the Buri Goalini forest range in a river bank near Pachabdi's family home (in 1993). The left barrel was going off properly, but the right barrel sometimes just wouldn't fire. When we examined the firing chamber of the right barrel, we observed that the primers of the shotgun shells were always being struck extremely lightly without sufficient force. It must be remembered that this shotgun was donated to Pachabdi and was thus, not in a very enviable condition.

2) Knowing what I do now, if I had to choose between losing my job or having to face a man eating Royal Bengal tiger with a .32 ACP pistol... then, I would rather lose my job. Even back then, I knew fully well that the .32 ACP caliber is certifiably useless if it comes down to me having to use that in order to contend with the man eater. It was just to act as a last ditch resort, in case my 12 gauge Sikender shotgun and the 7x57mm Mauser Churchill rifle failed to stop the Royal Bengal tiger.

As a matter of fact, even though I did successfully kill the first 2 man eaters with that 12 gauge (using Eley Alphamax LG shells) and the final man eater with the 7x57mm Mauser (using a Winchester Super X 175Gr soft nose cartridge)... I personally wouldn't opt for any of those firearms today if I were forced to contend with another man eating Royal Bengal tiger. Even though I had killed each of the 3 man eaters with a single shot, the kills could hardly be labelled as "Clean". The man eaters shot with the 12 gauge were alive for more than 7 hours & 4 hours, respectively. The man eater shot with the 7x57mm Mauser was alive for more than 3 hours after I shot him.

At that time, I attempted to make the best use of what armaments was available to me. I was also quite young and rash. When I prepared myself to hunt the first man eater in 1981, I was actually quite certain that the LG buckshot cartridge would be able to completely stop him in his tracks. When I purchased my 7x57mm Mauser rifle in 1989 primarily for the purposes of hunting the final man eater... I had placed an almost suicidal amount of confidence in the caliber's ability to kill a Royal Bengal tiger (due to reading of Jim Corbett's success against Royal Bengal tigers while using a John Rigby & Co. 7x57mm Mauser). I ended up eating humble pie.

If I had to go after a man eating Royal Bengal tiger again and I could basically select any firearm that I prefer... then, I would personally opt for a Kreighoff boxlock ejector double rifle in .500/416 Nitro Express (loaded with 400Gr Nosler Partition factory loads). It would be equipped with 26" barrels, wide V back-sights, uncovered ivory bead fore-sight, double triggers & a non-automatic safety.

If I were limited to the firearms which I currently have available to me, then I would personally opt for my son-in-law's Remington Model 700 Custom in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum (loaded with Federal Power-Shok 300Gr cup & core soft nose factory loads). But only after having a competent gunsmith retrofit an M16 extractor to the Remington Model 700 action.

Oh, and by the way... I see that my editor has made a mistake. My .32 ACP semi automatic pistol is not a Webley & Scott Model 1908. It's a Webley & Scott Model 1921.

I had purchased it in 1970, with the intention of self defense during my anti poacher patrol duties.

 

[Inline6]

Thank you for sharing!

I hope you are able to fulfill your desire to write a book. I would be happy to purchase one.

 

[John Wasmuth]

As always, outstanding telling of that adventure. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Thank you for sharing!

I hope you are able to fulfill your desire to write a book. I would be happy to purchase one.

Why, thank you, Inline6.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Thank you for sharing another wonderful story. Man, what a treat it would be to be sitting around a fire listening to you tell those stories. Again, thank you I enjoyed it very much!

Believe me, they’d be pretty unimpressive and I’d bore you too quickly. But I’d love to get to share a safari camp with you someday and go hunting together with you, PARA45. When will you next go to Africa on Safari ? I’ll be off to Tanzania this coming season for a wild lion hunt.

 

[PARA45]

Believe me, they’d be pretty unimpressive and I’d bore you too quickly. But I’d love to get to share a safari camp with you someday and go hunting together with you, PARA45. When will you next go to Africa on Safari ? I’ll be off to Tanzania this coming season for a wild lion hunt.

Thank you sir, and I doubt that they would be boring at all. Unfortunately, not this year, God whiling next year and hopefully back to the Eastern Cape.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

As always, outstanding telling of that adventure. Thank you for sharing.

Why, thank you, John.

 

[ofbiro]

Maaaaany thanks for a kind and complete answer, Hunter Habib.
However, I sincerely wish that forestry authorities invest a bit of money to issue to brave officer more suitable firearms. In case of contacts with dacoits, the combined firepower of a Webley and of a shotgun would had been insufficient against Sten guns or self loading rifles.

 

[ofbiro]

Sorry for the multiple "a".

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Maaaaany thanks for a kind and complete answer, Hunter Habib.
However, I sincerely wish that forestry authorities invest a bit of money to issue to brave officer more suitable firearms. In case of contacts with dacoits, the combined firepower of a Webley and of a shotgun would had been insufficient against Sten guns or self loading rifles.

Oh, no, no. The pistol and the shotgun (and also my 7x57mm Mauser) were/are my personally owned firearms (licensed in my own name). The forest guards were always issued with .303 Lee Enfield rifles even back in those days, Ofbiro. After I became the Chief Conservator of Forests in 1993, I had all the forest departments across the nation equip their forest guards with the Belgian FN FAL self loading rifle in 7.62x51mm NATO. I had used this rifle during the war in ‘71 and thus decided that it would be a good weapon to replace the old service .303s.

 

[ofbiro]

Kudos to your courage and marksmanship, Hunter Habib, but I still blame the authorities for not issuing you and your men with suitable firepower.

 

[PerH]

Exellent and fascinating story , bit sad the other fine shotguns like Merkel Model 8 sbs did not go down there to further supplement the gear used.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Kudos to your courage and marksmanship, Hunter Habib, but I still blame the authorities for not issuing you and your men with suitable firepower.

Yes, completely, Ofbiro. If it were up to me, every forest office would be equipped with a Winchester Model 70 Safari Express in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.

As a matter of fact, in 1982 ( a year after I had successfully shot the first man eater), I had written a formal letter to the Ministry of Forests requesting each forest office of every forest department across the nation to be equipped with a BRNO ZKK-602 in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum (in order to properly contend with dangerous problem animals). The BRNO ZKK-602 was still being manufactured at that time and it would have been quite affordable to import a consignment of these rifles for supplying the forest offices. As well as consignments of RWS 300Gr KS soft point cartridges and Remington 300Gr round nosed steel jacketed solid cartridges.

But my request fell on deaf ears.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Exellent and fascinating story , bit sad the other fine shotguns like Merkel Model 8 sbs did not go down there to further supplement the gear used.

Not just sad, Per. It was God damned embarrassing.

If it were up to me, every forest office would be equipped with a Winchester Model 70 Safari Express in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.

As a matter of fact, in 1982 ( a year after I had successfully shot the first man eater), I had written a formal letter to the Ministry of Forests requesting each forest office of every forest department across the nation to be equipped with a BRNO ZKK-602 in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum (in order to properly contend with dangerous problem animals). The BRNO ZKK-602 was still being manufactured at that time and it would have been quite affordable to import a consignment of 20 of these rifles for supplying the forest offices. As well as consignments of RWS 300Gr KS soft point cartridges and Remington 300Gr round nosed steel jacketed solid cartridges.

But my request fell on deaf ears. The cheapskate bureaucratic bastards sitting at the air-conditioned Ministry of Forests offices in Dacca apparently knew far more about firearms and hunting dangerous game than actual hunters. They simply told me “There are already enough guns lying around in the local armories. Why would you possibly want us to spend more money and import more ? Any gun can be used for hunting dangerous animals if you can shoot properly”.

How can you possibly expect a guy to reason with people who display this level of ignorance ?

During the British colonial era, the forest guards of the British Imperial Forest Service were issued muzzle loading muskets until 1920 (in order to prevent them from rebelling against the British). From 1920 onwards, they started getting issued with 12 gauge single barrel and double barrel shotguns.

This practice continued well past the independence from the British in 1947 and into the East Pakistani era. Towards the end of the East Pakistani era (1969), the East Pakistan Department of Forests began to issue their forest guards with .303 British Lee Enfield rifles.

After the war in 1971, the various forest departments all across the new nation were still arming their forest guards with the old East Pakistani Lee Enfield rifles in .303 British. It must be remembered that when I first became the DFO of the Sundarban mangrove forests in 1981, the country was less than 10 years old at the time- A 3rd world country that was economically ravaged by the war of 1971 and countless bloody military coups all throughout the 1970s. The nation’s various forest departments were (in all likelihood) the most poorly funded government bodies at the time.

After I became the Chief Conservator of Forests in 1993, I had all the forest departments across the nation equip their forest guards with the Belgian FN FAL self loading rifle in 7.62x51mm NATO and 147Gr full metal jacket military ball ammunition.