At Darjeeling Circuit house , l had left DB and decided to take the jeep and return to Kushtia forest to assist Karim , our loyal trackers and BB . On the way , however , l saw my friend triumphantly walking with our client , BB and the trackers . Even more fortunate was that they had the leopard corpse with them. The next part of the story was not witnessed by me , but was told to me by Karim and BB . I see no reason not to believe them and l relate it below. The Garo trackers went to the water hole and tried to find a trail of blood . The blood trail was extremely difficult to follow on account of the pointed black tip bullet being used which did not cause a large enough hole.
However , Jeddiah could work wonders. Any hunter today , would be blessed by Divine Providence to have a tracker as proficient as Jeddiah. He was able to get a trail . Unfortunately , as any professional Shikari will tell you , a wounded leopard always retreats into the bushes and waits for his foes . As Karim and BB Wade's through those bushes , the leopard had decided to pounce. Karim , being that quick witted Shikari with half Turkish blood , running in his veins , immediately fired off two barrels ( one after the other ) at the leopard. ( I do not know what distances the shots were made at , but it must have been very close . I will mention down why l think so . ) The Leopard was Injured , and stunned. BB lost no time. He fired his .3006 rifle at the heart of the leopard . The 220 grain Remington firm soft nose bullet was excellent . It finished the leopard. However , one can never be too careful with these beasts and Rishi cut it's throat with a Ram Dao.
The corpse of this beast and the effect of each of the bullets on it can be seen in the upcoming book " A hobby called Hunting " by my young friend and fellow forum member, Hoss Delgado. However , l shall describe the affair here. The .3006 black tip pointed bullet had gone cleanly through the beast's neck without damaging any arteries , veins or even it's spine . It had gone through flesh alone.
Karim's two SG shots had left 13 out of 18 pellets embedded in the rock hard muscles of the leopard and skull of the leopard without penetrating into any vital regions. BB's 220 grain .3006 soft nose bullet had done great damage to the heart of the creature . When we recovered the bullet , it looked like an open umbrella after expanding in diameter. It would be unfair to my friendly forum members , not to show any photographs at all. So let me show you one .
The leopard skin lying on the balcony wall of Darjeeling Circuit House. The Shikar arms are laid on the skin. From up to down : Two William Wellington Greener 12 bore single barrel under lever shot-guns with adjustable chokes and two .3006 rifles. The rifle in the bottom is made by the firm , Springfield. However , l am hopeful that one of my fellow knowledgeable forum members will be able to identify the rifle above it. It looks very much like a Lee Enfield mechanism with the removable magazine.
The epilogue will follow