My Second Man Eating Royal Bengal Tiger

[93marlin]

Well done story!
PM sent

 

[leslie hetrick]

cats kill a few here,, but bears kill more. not to long ago a women and child were killed by a polar bear and it was killed very soon after. polar bears are very aggisive and will hunt humans if they are hungry, the locals carry firearms when out and about. the winchester md 12 is a 2-3/4 " chamber and the double barrel is a beretta silver hawk 16 ga. i had a few run in,s with black bear, but didn,t have to shoot any, they kill a few here that go over 500 lbs.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Great story.....

A friend recently aquiered a 12g Westley Richards Explora (Paradox), it came out of a shipment of arms from India BTW. It shoots 730 grain hollow point bullets at some 1350fps..

I think they were popular for tiger hunting back in the day..?

Yes, Pondoro. The 12 gauge Paradox (loaded with the 730-750Gr soft lead bullet) used to be an absolutely devastating combo against Royal Bengal tigers.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Excellent reading. Please post more really enjoyable and a great learning process from your experience. Thank you.

Namashkaar, my friend. Haven’t heard from you in a while. Were you later able to find good optics for your Winchester Model 70 ?

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Habib...I think a double rifle in 450/400 3" (or 3 1/4) loaded with Woodleigh 400 grain softpoint would be great too.. I has less recoil than the 500/416 and is fast to handle..

Fantastic cat Sir..!

Very good choice, Pondoro. My predecessor, Yousif Salauddin Ahmad (the author of “With The Wild Animals Of Bengal”) used to own a lovely best grade W.J Jeffery boxlock ejector in .450/400 Nitro Express (3 1/4”) With which he shot 9 man eating Royal Bengal tigers between 1928 and 1948 while working for the British Imperial Forest Service. He used to prefer the I.C.I Kynoch soft nosed loading.

He is the first Chief Conservator Of Forests for Pakistan and is the first Asian man whom the British had made Inspector General Of Forests during the British Colonial era.

 

[Wheels]

Thank you for sharing your memories and taking us back to a time that no longer exists.

If you were to hunt this tiger again and you were limited to the 12 bore and the 7x57, would you still use the shotgun over the rifle?

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Thank you for sharing your memories and taking us back to a time that no longer exists.

If you were to hunt this tiger again and you were limited to the 12 bore and the 7x57, would you still use the shotgun over the rifle?

Thanks, Wheels

After the ‘88 incident, I finally learnt my lesson after decided that there’s a good reason why buckshot is called “Buckshot” and not “Tigershot”. That’s why I eventually bought my 7mm Mauser (with which I shot the last man eater in ‘89). But even he lived for no less than 3 hours after I shot him.

In my opinion, the best medicine for a fully grown male Sundarban tiger would have to be a .500/416 Nitro Express double rifle (as made by Kreighoff) with 26” barrels and a non automatic safety. Regulated for Nosler’s 400Gr Partition soft point factory load.

Between the 12 gauge and the 7x57mm Mauser, I‘ll take 7x57mm Mauser anyday.

A small snippet from the chapter about the tiger hunt in ‘89:

”I instructed my boatman to stealthily drive the speedboat towards the edge of the riverbank and moor it against the riverbank in such a way, so that the speedboat would be 70-80 yards away from where the man eater was crouched. As he did so, I flipped off the safety catch on my 7x57mm Mauser and sat down on the deck of the speedboat. As the speedboat got moored against the edge of the riverbank, I raised the rifle to my shoulder. Right at that moment, something went wrong.

My boatman had turned off the motor of our speedboat, and all suddenly went quiet. The man eater immediately became alerted by the sudden silence. He turned and spotted the speedboat. By seeing us, the tiger attempted to dash off into the depths of the forest. As he turned to run off, his broadside was exposed towards me and I seized my only chance. Hurriedly lining up the rifle’s front sight and rear sight, I made a desperate shot at the at the animal’s ribcage behind his shoulder. Upon receiving the shot, the animal leapt up in pain and fell tumbling down onto the green forest floor. He stood back up again, but it was clear that the 175 grain Winchester Super x soft nosed bullet had hammered him very badly. I had previously shot 2 man eating Royal Bengal tigers with a shotgun and L.G cartridges, but never did I ever observe either of them to react so visibly to their gunshot wound. Clearly, a 7x57mm Mauser caliber rifle superseded a 12 bore shotgun for hunting the great cats any day.

The tiger was now slowly growing at us while retreating into the depths of the forest. His entire broadside was wet with warm blood, copious amounts of which were dripping onto the ground. The man eater was violently coughing blood, while I cycled the bolt of my 7x57mm Mauser in order to extract the expended cartridge case and get the next cartridge from the magazine into the rifle’s breech. But before I could raise the rifle to my shoulder and give the man eater a finishing shot, the resilient tiger bounded off into the depths of the forest. I regretted not giving him a second shot sooner, as it would have allowed me to drop the man eater then and there… killing him outright.”

 

[Wheels]

Taking on a tiger with buckshot takes a tremendous amount of courage. My hats off to you!

 

[degoins]

Wonderful stories!!

 

[Art Lambart II]

Great story, please post more.

 

[uplander01]

I feel like it's nearly a responsibility to share your experiences with the hunting community. I know if I had enough material I would. How many of us here have been inspired because of reading?? Many I would guess. You're an interesting fellow Hunter-Habib, I'm sure I'm not alone in that sentiment.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Wonderful stories!!

Thanks, degoins.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Great story, please post more.

Thanks, Art.

 

[Brian]

Very good! Thank you for posting it. Brian

 

[R.M.C.]

That's a great read!! Thank you for sharing it and I am of the opinion that you need to publish this and whatever else you can get down on paper. I wouldn't want it to be a forgotten piece of history . Thank you!!
I've had similar experiences with buckshot, (on deer, nothing dangerous) it doesn't penetrate. Definitely handy for shooting at night with little light though. Thanks again!!

 

[Sideshow]

Yes I also enjoyed your story.
And like the rest Im interested in hearing more.
On a personal note my Dad gave me all the Jim Corbet books and used to scare the living daylights out of by reading them at bed time.
I even visited his Jim’s grave when in Kenya he’s in good company with Robert Powell.

I do have a question why did you use those firearms? Where they the only on offer, or the only ones allowed?

Thanks again.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Yes I also enjoyed your story.
And like the rest Im interested in hearing more.
On a personal note my Dad gave me all the Jim Corbet books and used to scare the living daylights out of by reading them at bed time.
I even visited his Jim’s grave when in Kenya he’s in good company with Robert Powell.

I do have a question why did you use those firearms? Where they the only on offer, or the only ones allowed?

Thanks again.

Thanks.

At that time, I was working a government job in a forest department of a third world country which was only 10 years into it's independence. We used what we had.

I bought that Pakistani shotgun from a government warehouse (where all the confiscated firearms of criminals are stored) for the equivalent of 50 Cents (U.S money) in 1975. I was given a choice of buying any shotgun from there. And I really wanted a nice side by side. But when the shotguns lying around in the warehouse were all examined, I learnt that most were either:
A) In very poor condition (being holdovers from the British colonial era prior to 1947)
Or
B) Proofed for black power or 2 1/2" shells
Or
C) Had been locally repaired.

That Pakistani single barrel shotgun was just about the only shotgun there which was practically in mint condition. And was actually capable of handling modern shotgun shells. It was actually a very strong shooting piece. It's fully choked barrel could put all 8 pellets from an Eley Alphamax L.G shell into a 12" circle at 20 yards. But the ejectors of these shotguns are not very well made. Also the firing pin was prone to frequently breaking off and needed replacing.

I bought the Pakistani 7x57mm Mauser Churchill Gun Makers Model Deluxe rifle in 1989, with the intention of using it against the final man eater. I picked that caliber, because 7x57mm Mauser was the only center fire rifle caliber for which fresh ammunition had been imported after 1971. Due to lack of demand, only firearms and ammunition in 12 gauge, .22 caliber (L.R, W.M.R & Hornet) and .32 caliber (S&W Long & A.C.P) were imported. Waterfowl hunting, upland hunting and small game hunting was/is very popular here amongst locals. Relatively few people hunt(ed) big game (predominantly Axis deer, Muntjac deer, wild boar & the odd Sambar, Nilgai or Serow). And those who did/do, mostly prefer(red) shotguns as a general purpose firearm which could be used for both birds and big game (as well as for home defense).

T.C.B (Trading Corporation Bengal) had imported 20,000 rounds of Winchester Super X 175Gr soft point factory loads for the 7x57mm Mauser in 1985. When I bought that 7x57mm Mauser rifle from a local gun store in 1989, the owner could only manage 12 cartridges with it for me at the time. Fortunately, I only needed one shot to bag that final man eater.

I selected the Churchill Gun Makers brand of 7x57mm Mauser, because it was the only available brand of 7x57mm Mauser which was available in gun stores at the time. 50 of them had been imported into the country by East Pakistan Rifle Club in 1967.

I eventually gifted the Pakistani shotgun to the son of one of my old family servants, since he was (and still is) an extremely avid waterfowl hunter. He still works for my family and lives quite near my house. In 1990, I bought a brand new 12 gauge 3" Magnum Beretta Model 626E boxlock ejector side by side shotgun with a single selective trigger and 30" barrels (left barrel is fully choked and right barrel is half choked). And I love that Italian shotgun so much that I never sold it (and I never will, hopefully). I still use it for most of my hunting purposes. I've even taken it to Africa several times over the years for hunting Guinea fowl, sand grouse, rock pigeon, Egyptian geese and Spurwing geese.

I've retained the Pakistani made 7x57mm Mauser, as well. It's an extremely accurate and reliable rifle, built on a 1942 made military surplus Mauser Oberndorf action. And I mainly use it for hunting Sambar, Nilgai & Serow. I've also taken it to Africa several times over the years, for hunting plains game. These days, whenever I go to the U.S (at least once every year)... I always bring back 100 rounds as part of my personal luggage. Since Winchester no longer makes 175Gr ammunition for the 7x57mm Mauser, I use a custom American loading company called "Hendershots". They load good quality ammunition for me, by using Winchester cases and 175Gr Hornady Interlock bullets.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I feel like it's nearly a responsibility to share your experiences with the hunting community. I know if I had enough material I would. How many of us here have been inspired because of reading?? Many I would guess. You're an interesting fellow Hunter-Habib, I'm sure I'm not alone in that sentiment.

Thanks, Uplander. I assure you. I’m very boring.

 

[PARA45]

Wow, what a wonderful story, felt like I was there with you. Keep them coming.

 

[Bapu]

Namashkaar, my friend. Haven’t heard from you in a while. Were you later able to find good optics for your Winchester Model 70 ?

Namaskar ji, yes finally I did get the Leica scope for the 375 and zeroed it for 200 yards with 300grn sp silvertips.
Any plans of writing a book on your hunts?
Was out in the field pursuing our hobbies. That’s why I didn’t show up. Also it’s started to warm up now.