Has someone here on AH who hunted Tiger in Vietnam?

[Major Khan]

I may be very mistaken . However , l heard that shot guns were allowed to be owned in Vietnam.

 

[grand veneur]

Shot guns can be bought in some countries in southeast asia , and also in Japan where hunters have little opportunity to buy an bolt action rifle.

That limits the hunting opportunities very much , as far as this exists. Often it's just about drive-hunting on wild boars.

 

[Major Khan]

Shot guns can be bought in some countries in southeast asia , and also in Japan where hunters have little opportunity to buy an bolt action rifle.

That limits the hunting opportunities very much , as far as this exists. Often it's just about drive-hunting on wild boars.

Thank you so much for helping me understand , Kurpfalzjager . Japanese Miroku shot guns are among some of the best imported over under shot guns in Bangladesh.

 

[jacques smith]

No pictures cause we were too busy hauling ass. Killing the tiger gave away my small teams position. For whatever reason the kitty let me slide right past him and tried to get the next man. It was a matter of a couple of feet. Maybe i didnt smell like food
Strange but true story from a strange but true place

 

[steve white]

My uncle Paul Henderson was on guard duty of the perimeter in a camp in Vietnam. He saw movement and challenged it in English, French, and a local dialect (with the help of friends).. Everyone agreed since it had not responded ,they would shoot at the next movement. They did, with a 50 cal., and when going out to inspect later, found a very mutilated tiger!

 

[spike.t]

Was scrolling through YouTube and coincidentally found this video....

 

[Kouprey]

I worked with a guy who was in Vietnam, and encountered a female tiger that had been killed by a booby trap. Her kittens were near death, and he shot them to put them out of their misery. Forty years later the story brought tears to his eyes.

I have an unusual book in my library that has a chapter on tiger hunting in Vietnam with a hunter named F.J. DeFosse during the 1940's. "Look to the Wilderness" by W. Douglas Burden. The book was gifted to me by my Uncle, who got it as part of a "get free books if you subscribe to Outdoor Life" promotion during the 1960's. Burden hunted all over the world under the guise of collecting specimens, but what little I can learn about his life he seems more like a rich playboy who had a lot of money and time on his hands. But, if his hunts are described accurately he was a tough dude and the writing is a very good description of the habitats and animals. And he was an unusual writer in that he admitted his inexperience and frequent mistakes. You can find a few used copies on Amazon and it has long been out of print.

Jeff

I also have Douglas Burden's book - great mix of hunting in Asia in the 1920s - from Argali to Water Buffalo to Komodo Dragons... I think Burden was one of the first to hunt these lizards - for a Diorama in the Natural History Museum in NY. I found a few photos.

 

[Kouprey]

I worked with a guy who was in Vietnam, and encountered a female tiger that had been killed by a booby trap. Her kittens were near death, and he shot them to put them out of their misery. Forty years later the story brought tears to his eyes.

I have an unusual book in my library that has a chapter on tiger hunting in Vietnam with a hunter named F.J. DeFosse during the 1940's. "Look to the Wilderness" by W. Douglas Burden. The book was gifted to me by my Uncle, who got it as part of a "get free books if you subscribe to Outdoor Life" promotion during the 1960's. Burden hunted all over the world under the guise of collecting specimens, but what little I can learn about his life he seems more like a rich playboy who had a lot of money and time on his hands. But, if his hunts are described accurately he was a tough dude and the writing is a very good description of the habitats and animals. And he was an unusual writer in that he admitted his inexperience and frequent mistakes. You can find a few used copies on Amazon and it has long been out of print.

Jeff

Dear Jeff!
I'm glad that you mentioned Defosse - he was one of the great french hunting guides of Indochina (and there weren't many - Albert Plas and A. Pietri come to mind). Defosse had his own safari company and guided many clients together with his son Louis for Banteng, Tiger and Gaur.
There's not so much material about them, but beside the book by Douglas-Burden i would recommend:
"Tiger Trails in Southern Asia" and "The Long Trek" by Richard L. Sutton (hunted in Indochina with Defosse several times).
"Trailing the Tiger" by Mary Hastings Bradley - she and her husband hunted around the world in the 1920s, she finally bagged a tiger with Defosse in Annam. They also hunted with Carl Akeley in the Congo and Mary's husband Herbert shot the huge mountain gorilla for the American Natural History Museum (but that's off topic here).
I'll add some pics - the guy with the Banteng is Defosse.

Best regards: Kouprey

 

[Kouprey]

I also found a few photos of soldiers and tigers during the Vietnam War.
Makes me a little sad... I mean, you see the proud smiling faces of the young boys and wonder if they ever made it back home to the States...

The latest (and probably last) book about tiger hunting in Vietnam is "I killed for a Living" by Etienne Oggeri. He was a professional hunter for tiger and gaur (guided trophy hunter Berry Brooks, among others) in the 1950s and 1960s shortly before the madness began. It's a good read and still available at Safari Press or Amazon.

 

[mark-hunter]

What is the animal, antelope or bovine, bewteen tigers in post number 48?

 

[Kouprey]

What is the animal, antelope or bovine, bewteen tigers in post number 48?

Hi Mark!
It's a banteng cow, probably shot for meat, the hunter is the french guide Francis Defosse. The banteng bulls are a lot larger and very beautiful colored. Not so big as gaur but also quite aggressive when wounded.
The banteng of Indochina were bright red, those from Java were more darker coloured. Banteng were also brought to Australia, i think you can still hunt them there.
Best regards: Kouprey

 

[mark-hunter]

Amazing number of species in Asia. It is a shame, that most of countries are closed to hunting.

Thank you, Kouprey, for explanation!

 

[Kouprey]

Mark, you are absolutely right - it WAS a game paradise.

The game fields of old Indochina (today Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand) and other places in Southern Asia were only rivaled by the East African plains. There were great jungles and open, park-like forests with a huge amount of wild game.

Game animals were elephant, tiger, leopard, gaur, banteng, water buffalo, kouprey, serau, wild boar, tapir, clouded leopard, wild dogs (dhole), two species of bear (himalayan bear and malayan bear), two species of rhinos (java rhino and sumatran rhino), crocodiles, deer-species like sambar, eld‘s deer, schomburgk‘s deer, muntjac.
Bird hunting and fishing was also very good. Many hunters shot peacock for food, a delicacy.

One example: on a „Big Game Licence“ (40 piastres for french, 80 piastres for foreigners) in the year 1937 one hunter was permitted to shoot 2 male elephants, 1 rhinoceros, 5 gaurs, 6 Banteng, 4 water buffaloes - all the other game was unlimited. Imagine that!!

Then came one war after another.

But surprisingly, in the 1990s several completely new species were found in Vietnam, the saola (a goatlike antelope with oryx horns), the giant muntjac, mouses, monkeys and horns of a highly mysterious creature called "Linh Duong" or pseudonovibos spiralis. Nobody has seen it yet, only the horns sometimes appear on markets.

I wonder how much game is left today...

 

[Major Khan]

Mark, you are absolutely right - it WAS a game paradise.

The game fields of old Indochina (today Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand) and other places in Southern Asia were only rivaled by the East African plains. There were great jungles and open, park-like forests with a huge amount of wild game.

Game animals were elephant, tiger, leopard, gaur, banteng, water buffalo, kouprey, serau, wild boar, tapir, clouded leopard, wild dogs (dhole), two species of bear (himalayan bear and malayan bear), two species of rhinos (java rhino and sumatran rhino), crocodiles, deer-species like sambar, eld‘s deer, schomburgk‘s deer, muntjac.
Bird hunting and fishing was also very good. Many hunters shot peacock for food, a delicacy.

One example: on a „Big Game Licence“ (40 piastres for french, 80 piastres for foreigners) in the year 1937 one hunter was permitted to shoot 2 male elephants, 1 rhinoceros, 5 gaurs, 6 Banteng, 4 water buffaloes - all the other game was unlimited. Imagine that!!

Then came one war after another.

But surprisingly, in the 1990s several completely new species were found in Vietnam, the saola (a goatlike antelope with oryx horns), the giant muntjac, mouses, monkeys and horns of a highly mysterious creature called "Linh Duong" or pseudonovibos spiralis. Nobody has seen it yet, only the horns sometimes appear on markets.

I wonder how much game is left today...

This should interest you , Kouprey. It is from Uttar Pradesh , India in 1968. If you would like to see my whole copy of our professional shikaree's book of regulations in Uttar Pradesh some day , do not hesitate to let me know.

Also , your book is most fascinating. We used to carry so many slain royal Bengal tigers like this. The rule back in the old days was as follows :
For a 400 pound royal Bengal tiger , you use 1 bamboo. For a 500 pound royal Bengal tiger , you use 2 bamboos tied together in order to reduce the chances of the bamboo breaking , due to the great cat's weight.

 

[grand veneur]

Mark, you are absolutely right - it WAS a game paradise.

The game fields of old Indochina (today Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand) and other places in Southern Asia were only rivaled by the East African plains. There were great jungles and open, park-like forests with a huge amount of wild game.

Game animals were elephant, tiger, leopard, gaur, banteng, water buffalo, kouprey, serau, wild boar, tapir, clouded leopard, wild dogs (dhole), two species of bear (himalayan bear and malayan bear), two species of rhinos (java rhino and sumatran rhino), crocodiles, deer-species like sambar, eld‘s deer, schomburgk‘s deer, muntjac.
Bird hunting and fishing was also very good. Many hunters shot peacock for food, a delicacy.

One example: on a „Big Game Licence“ (40 piastres for french, 80 piastres for foreigners) in the year 1937 one hunter was permitted to shoot 2 male elephants, 1 rhinoceros, 5 gaurs, 6 Banteng, 4 water buffaloes - all the other game was unlimited. Imagine that!!

Then came one war after another.

But surprisingly, in the 1990s several completely new species were found in Vietnam, the saola (a goatlike antelope with oryx horns), the giant muntjac, mouses, monkeys and horns of a highly mysterious creature called "Linh Duong" or pseudonovibos spiralis. Nobody has seen it yet, only the horns sometimes appear on markets.

I wonder how much game is left today...

It was certainly very interesting areas to hunt. Unfortunately it is over due on one side to the political situation and the restrictive gun-laws of these countries , and on the other side the increasing destroying of the animal habitat in many regions.

As far as the new animal species are concerned , especially the giant muntjac , it was told in Malaysia at the beginning of the nineties that it had been known to the locals for a long time. However , it's right , all of these animals were zoologically recorded in the early nineties. The Linh Duong seems to be a fake.

That I don't forget it , the last Kouprey was seen in the early eighties.

 

[Jcordell]

Coming a bit late to this topic, but I own several back-issues of "Guns" magazine from the early sixties. In the January 1963 issue there is an article from Col. Charles Askins about hunting in the Vietnam central highlands. If you are curious "Guns" has put all of it's back issues on the internet for free. A link to the 1963 issues.

https://gunsmagazine.com/classic-issues/guns-magazine-1963-classic-editions/

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Jcordell Thanks for posting the link to the old Gun magazine. Just looking at the old adverts and prices was interesting.

 

[mdwest]

I believe the photos in the OP are from the incident where a USMC Force Recon patrol was attacked by a tiger (and suffered a KIA). The hunting down and killing of the tiger is legendary within the USMC Reconnaissance community even today (pics from the incident are in team rooms, new guys are told the story, etc..)..

The incident is also talked about in detail in this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Force-Recon-Diary-Major-Norton/dp/0804108064

 

[Jcordell]

@Jcordell Thanks for posting the link to the old Gun magazine. Just looking at the old adverts and prices was interesting.

Those are something else aren't they.

 

[Bule Jagter]

I've been to Vietnam, Five times in the past five years, and I have plans to visit again this December for my second trip this year, if the country opens to foreign visitors between now and December 2020. I've been spearfishing in Indonesia twice, and I plan to go spearfishing in Vietnam during my next visit. If you think about it, spearfishing is hunting. I'd really like to find a way to get permission to hunt other animals there as well, but I seriously doubt that will happen any time soon, if ever. At least I can hunt with a speargun for some delicious fish.

My girlfriend's cousin is in the Indonesian military. He told me a story about going hunting for wild boar on the island of Papua, Indonesia, during survival training. I asked him if he thought he could arrange for me to go hunting there with him, someday. He said it was possible, but very dangerous. We would need to meet with the local tribe leader and ask for permission, and considering I'm a westerner, we need to be very alert for potential terrorist cell attacks.