Hunting The Royal Bengal Tiger : The Essentials

[leslie hetrick]

i,ll bet the officials issueing the DFO would do so very quickly if their children were the meal for a big cat. i watched a film from russia and big tigers trying to into homes to eat the people inside.

 

[Professor Mawla]

i,ll bet the officials issueing the DFO would do so very quickly if their children were the meal for a big cat. i watched a film from russia and big tigers trying to into homes to eat the people inside.

@leslie hetrick
This is quite true . Unfortunately , politicians and common sense do not mix . I personally believe that the Sundarban forest department should be possess the authority to decide whether or not a marauding Royal Bengal tiger should be dealt with , by way of lethal means . Politicians are not qualified for making these kinds of decisions , by sitting in their air conditioned offices and wearing their fancy suits and ties .

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Is it true Professor, that man eating tigers will generally attack in the daytime, while a man eating leopard will only attack at night time? I read this in a Jim Corbett book the other night. I wonder if the Tigers May have changed their habits in the last 100 years.

 

[NewForester]

In the last 48 years of my life , I have shot 11 marauding Royal Bengal tigers . And a few more which were shot prior to 1974 ( when hunting Royal Bengal tigers for sport became formally prohibited in Bangladesh, as per the Wildlife & Conservation Act - 1974 ) . These 11 marauders were shot under the authorization of the Sundarban Forest Department in the People’s Republic Of Bangladesh . I have put together this little guide today , which educates hunters how to contend with marauding Royal Bengal tigers . While I personally consider 11 to be quite a modest and unremarkable bag of Royal Bengal tigers and there are far more experienced gentlemen in the field of tiger hunting than I , I felt that some might find this to be an interesting read nevertheless .

Before we begin , I would like to give the customary prologue that all of the photographs used in this article are my personal photographs ( several of which have featured in my book which was published in 1999 ) . Thus , none of these photographs may be reproduced without my permission as I own exclusive rights to them .

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A marauding Royal Bengal tiger shot by the author ( pictured ) with a .458 Winchester Magnum . 1976

Fascinating, Professor Mawla. Please keep these articles of your experiences coming.

What is the name of your book?

 

[Professor Mawla]

Is it true Professor, that man eating tigers will generally attack in the daytime, while a man eating leopard will only attack at night time? I read this in a Jim Corbett book the other night. I wonder if the Tigers May have changed their habits in the last 100 years.

@Wyatt Smith
This is 100 % true and even applicable today . I am often asked by apprentice Probem Animal Control Officers “ Are you more afraid of hunting Royal Bengal tigers during the daytime , or during nighttime ? “ . My answer is always , without hesitation “ Daytime “ . Upon hearing this , many question my assessment but I do believe that an explanation is in order . Suppose it is daytime , and a group of beaters have a Royal Bengal tiger surrounded for you . You approach the scene ; rifle in hand . The beaters point at the Royal Bengal tiger for you and ask you to shoot it . As soon as you make eye contact with the Royal Bengal tiger , it will ignore everyone else and attack you ( the person armed with the rifle ) right away .

This is strangely not the case , during nighttime . As a young man prior to 1974 ( when Royal Bengal tigers still had not been formally recognized as a legally protected species in Bangladesh ) , I used to spend my entire nights chasing and shooting Royal Bengal tigers in the Sundarban mangrove forests . On some occasions , I would see three Royal Bengal tigers lying down and I would shoot two of them to death at point blank range . The third one ( even after locking eyes with me ) would refrain from attacking me and would simply bound off into the foliage . For some reason , Royal Bengal tigers are far less aggressive during the nighttime than they are during the day .

I must stress one point , however . Even though a marauding Royal Bengal tiger shall invariably attack a human being during the daytime , it shall return to feed on a human corpse for the second time ; at night . As I have mentioned in this article , it takes a marauding Royal Bengal tiger two meals to complete feeding upon an adult human corpse .

 

[gbflyer]

Thank you for the writing. Amazing. Festooning the woods with human entrails has to be something a person doesn’t forget about very quickly.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Thanks Professor!

 

[Bullhunter]

Great article, Prof.
Thank you.