How A Normal Day With The Garo Elephant Poachers Turned Into A Nightmare

[kevin masters]

Excellent story mr. Rahman! Thank you for sharing you'r wealth of information!!
That crocodile looked HUGE!!!

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

Excellent story mr. Rahman! Thank you for sharing you'r wealth of information!!
That crocodile looked HUGE!!!

Kevin Masters
Thank you so much for your appreciation.
Unfortunately , for locals , these beasts can get up to twenty feet or larger in length . This one was comparitively small

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

It was November . The season for foreign client Shikaris was over and would not resume until April. However , it was the time when Local Shikaris would go hunting quails and that is exactly what my former partner , the late Karim Chowdhury and l were doing in the Tripani forests . We had our Ishapore Arms 12 bore side by side shot-guns loaded with number 6 cartridges. However , back in those days , one would be lucky to merely go into the forests for shooting quails and to run into only quails. You might be comfortably shooting quails , when you suddenly run into an aggressive boar with imposing tusks , an ill tempered leopard , a bear , a Gaur or even a Royal Bengal tiger. That is why we always , each carried six SG cartridges with us. It is better to err on the side of caution .

We had a chokra ( servant boy ) from Karim’s household with us who carried a large bag for us to keep the quail birds which we had shot. Quite a sizable amount were shot . On the way back home, we encountered Rhidoy. Rhidoy was a young Garo tribesman who used to work as one of our trackers ( alongside Jedediah ) during Shikar season for us. Rhidoy was carrying quite a donkey’s load , over his shoulder. Curious , as to what our loyal tracker was carrying , he asked him politely. He showed us his possessions. It was four large ram daos and four pick axes. If my dear readers are curious as to what a ram dao is , let me elaborate. A ram dao was a large heavy butchering knife locally made in India and Bangladesh . These are invariably made from the steel of the leaf springs of old vehicles or steel from rail line tracks. Their blades were very flat and could be sharpened effortlessly on any common stone to get sharp as a razor ( although they would also lose sharpness relatively quickly ) . He asked Rhidoy where he was going , and the young man nonchalantly replied that he and his friends were going to poach an elephant. Deciding that there could be worse ways to spend a day , Karim and l decided to send the Chokra home to our mothers with the quail birds. We would be accompanying Rhidoy today to see how he and his kind would poach elephants .
Now , l must give a comment or two about the Garo tribesmen poaching elephants. Karim and l never poached any animals ourselves. Even though , l would like to tell my forum members that this was for ethical reasons, l would be lying if l said so. The concept of ethics would not permeate into my mind until many years later. No. We were terrified of losing our Shikari Licenses if word of such activities had reached the Nilgiri Wild Life Association. However , when the Garo tribesmen would poach elephants , Karim and l would look the other way. This was because we wanted to maintain a good relationship with these people. We were dependent upon them for their unrivalled tracking skills . In fact , l dare say that over 70 % of our successful Shikars were possible , only because of the persistence of our loyal Garo trackers.
And thus , we followed Rhidoy , as he made his way towards another part of the forest.
This seemingly mundane day would end up becoming far more macabre.

Friend Kawshik Rahman.
This sounds like it isn't going to end well my friend
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

We kept following Rhidoy until he had reached the area of the forest which was near a shallow part of the Buri Ganga River . Rhidoy had a dozen fellow Garo tribesmen there who were waiting for them. Half of them carried Jinjalls . These were crudely built , locally made matchlock muzzle loading muskets with smooth bore barrels up to five feet in length. They would take a moulded round lead bullets of between two and three ounces in weight and were used by the Garo poachers for taking all of their illegal quarry. Rhidoy proudly presented his comrades with the four ram daos and pick axes which he had brought. Some of the tribesmen held ropes . Some held large buckets. The tribesmen discussed their plan of action. They were going to kill an Indian bull elephant.
I would like to add to my dear readers here that a major difference exists between the Indian species and the African species of elephant. I am told by my learned young forum member and friend , Hoss Delgado that , in Africa , both the male and female elephant can have tusks . In India , however , the female invariably lacks tusks and it is only some bull elephants which carry tusks. Therefore , it was the bull elephants which were subject to the Garo tribesmen's poaching activities.
A herd of elephants could be seen on the other side of the river. Any professional Shikari or person who has seen plenty of elephants with their own eyes , will know that elephant herds typically comprise of mostly females and immature elephants. These were no good to the poachers. However , a few bull elephants with tusks were in the water of the Buri Ganga river , refreshing themselves .
View attachment 309389

Karim and l were mere spectators of what happened next . The Jinjall wielding Garo poachers quietly observed the actions of the two or three bull elephants in the water. Most of them were now lazily making their way towards the herd which was quietly moving away. However , one of the bull elephants was lagging behind the others . The poachers lit the fuses on their matchlock guns and got them ready for firing. They anxiously waited as the elephant began to make it's way towards the herd. Poachers began to cautiously approach the Bull Elephant and then one of them fired his Jinjall at the fore leg of the beast. There was a tremendous noise as the smoke of barodh ( Black gun powder ) hung in the air . We heard a sickening snap sound and a loud falling noise , with the splash of water . The fore leg of the bull elephant had broken , and any person who has hunted elephants before , will know that an elephant ( on account of it's great weight ) will not be able to move if it has a broken fore leg. Such an injury would not stop a Gaur as it could still escape with a broken fore leg. But if the fore leg of an elephant is broken by a bullet , then it cannot move and is quite easy to dispatch. About half a dozen poachers them approached the poor elephant , cautious to avoid it's trunk. At distances of five yards or less , they began discharging their Jinjalls at the poor creature's head from the side . Those two ounce moulded lead bullets , driven by half an ounce of locally made black powder were no good for shooting an elephant from the front in it's head. However , they could reach the brain of the elephant if they were fired at the side of the head where the bone is thin at close distances. The creature was dead. Karim and l were both grudgingly amazed and nauseatingly sickened by the tactic which the poachers had used. It was highly effective , but extremely cruel and inhumane. They had exploited the natural biological weakness of the elephant and it's inability to move on three legs , to cripple it before closing in and finishing it off.
Fifteen minutes later , the Garo tribesmen were busy working to remove the tusks from the dead bull elephant while others were using their ram daos to try and remove all the meat that they could carry from the corpse of the elephant. All this was occurring in an area of the river where the water reached up to one's knees. All of a sudden , from out of the blue , a crocodile got ahold of one of the tribesmen and dragged the wretched young man into the water by the leg. Karim and l were white with fear , as the Garo tribesmen realized what was happening . Panic had broken out.

My dear friend Kawshik Rahman
I could see this going to he'll in a hand basket.
I feel for the elephant but one has got to do what is necessary at the time.
I best read on to find out about the poor boy
Your friend Bob Nelson

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

In my career as a professional Shikari , l have killed a reasonable variety of dangerous animals : Leopards , Gaur , Royal Bengal tiger , bear , boars and wild dogs . I have always respected every animal that l have ever fired my gun at . This even includes man eating leopards and Royal Bengal tigers. I always strived to give them a quick , clean death. However , there is one creature in this world which l have no respect for . It is the crocodile. Mother used to consider them devil lizards and even though l am not superstitious , l am inclined to agree with her. Normally , when one is attacked by a leopard or a Royal Bengal tiger , the beast tried to bite and claw you to your death. If one is attacked by a wild dog , it will attempt to bite you to death. If one is attacked by a Gaur , it will attempt to engage you with it's horns or trample you to death . If one is attacked by an Indian bear , it will charge at you and attempt to bit you and place it's fore paws on top of you. These attacks are instinctive and not very meticulously planned out ( barring a wounded leopard of course ) . However , it is the crocodile which is the most malicious and devious in it's way of killing. A crocodile will grab it's wretched victim in it's jaws and attempt to pull them down into the water and drown them. It is only after drowning them , that they will take the lifeless corpse to a hole and eat it. I have no respect for the crocodile and have dispatched them by any means at my disposal whenever l had to , without worrying about ethics . I apologise to my fellow forum members for my unethical view in this one aspect . However , l unashamedly admit that l find crocodiles very macabre , even at this age of 77 years.

The Garo tribesmen , Karim and l were over taken by panic as the terrified Garo victim was getting dragged by the crocodile. I gripped my shot-gun to fire . However , Karim stopped me forcefully. And l am glad that he did.
As my learned forum member and fellow professional Shikari from Africa, IvW wisely points out , a shot-gun is a foul weapon to have , if an animal gets ahold of your comrade. Bear in mind. An SG cartridge has nine pellets . If you fire at the animal , your chances of not hitting your comrade are nigh unlikely . However , these Garo tribesmen were as brave as lions and they took care of each other like brothers. They immediately began to hack away at the head of the beast with their ram daos . While it did not kill it , this was enough to make them release the wretched young man.
Karim and l seized our chance . " Shoro ! " We yelled ( move away ) . We opened fire at the head of the creature at a distance of ten feet. Those SG pellets treated with wax , definitely hit the head of the creature. However , it was disturbing that a we could actually see a large number of SG pellets deflecting on it's head. We got even closer . We were firing and we were reloading. We were firing and we were reloading . Finally , the beast moved no more . This was fortunate too. As l mentioned previously , we were not expecting to hunt any dangerous animals today and so each of us only had six SG cartridges with us . By the time the beast stopped moving , l had expended all my ammunition and Karim only had one SG cartridge left.
View attachment 309390
The devil lizard which nearly brought us much grief.
Thank you to Karim's son , Rassell for providing me with this photo by using electronic mail.
We turned to tend to the young Garo tribesman who was badly bitten in the leg by the beast.
The Epilogue will follow

My dear friend Rahman
That is a truly awesome beast, you don't by chance remember the size of it. It looks to be about 16 feet.
That young man is a very lucky man indeed.
Your friend
Bob Nelson