The A To Z Of Hunting The Indian Leopard

[mark-hunter]

Great story, @Captain Nwz!
thank you for your time and wonderful writing!

 

[Captain Nwz]

Fascinating! The experience you have is remarkable, and I would guess only a few living men have more.

Wyatt Smith , l do have a friend who shot ten rogue Indian elephants in the 1960s and 1970s . He is quite an interesting fellow . Someday , maybe l can make him aware of this forum . He would love nothing more than to talk about hunting rogue Indian elephants with you fine gentlemen . Thank you for enjoying my little guide.

 

[Captain Nwz]

Do the man eating leopards, also regularly come to dead (or alive) animal bait?

mark-hunter
Always remember this. If a leopard has eaten more than seven to eight people , it will begin to actually ignore other animals in favor of the flesh of man. However , if the leopard has eaten less than seven humans , then it will still be tempted by the flesh of other animals . I would always make it a point to hunt down and kill any man eating leopards the moment their presence in the Syedabaad Tea Estate would come to my knowledge. Therefore , l would never actually let any of them stay alive long enough to kill seven people .

 

[Captain Nwz]

Incredible!!! Please keep posting!

Shakka , thank you . I hope that you will enjoy the remainder of it.

 

[Captain Nwz]

Did you know Kawshik and or Poton during the years you were hunting these Leopards?

Shootist43 , definitely. Kawshik's parents were family friends of Uncle Josh . They would often come to visit us in the Syedabaad Tea Estate and we would often go to visit their family home in Darjeeling. Darjeeling is infact quite near the Syedabaad Tea Estate . We would grill beef steaks in Kawshik's roof top or in the lawn of the Tea Estate . Kawshik's mother used to make some of the best beef steaks l have ever eaten . In their family , the ribeye used to be the favored cut of beef for grilling as a steak. I always preferred fillet mignon steaks more . Even though fillet mignon steaks would cost more than a ribeye steak in those days , Kawshik's mother used to always keep a dry aged beef fillet mignon steak for me whenever Aunt Samia , Uncle Josh and I would go to visit them in Darjeeling . She was a very kind lady. All of Kawshik's family members were / are very good people.
I met Poton in 1965 in a Christmas party at Kawshik's family home . Poton's girlfriend , Kawshik's girlfriend and my girlfriend ( who eventually became my lovely wife ) were all very friendly with each other. I never hunted leopards with either Poton or Kawshik , because the IOF 12 Bore DBBL which l used to use in the Syedabaad Tea Estate was actually licensed in Uncle Josh's name , so l never took it out of the Syedabaad Tea Estate without Uncle Josh being near me .
I would however , often take my BRNO .22 LR bolt action rifle ( which was licensed in my name ) and go to Darjeeling or Nagpur to hunt small game with Poton and / or Kawshik , like pigeons , hares , cranes on water , mouse deer or pea fowl . Occasionally , l even shot a crocodile or two with the .22 LR bolt action BRNO rifle after baiting them . It would work alright , if the bullet managed to reach the brain by striking the soft part in the back of the crocodile's head.

 

[mark-hunter]

@Captain Nwz,
Have you ever seen or shot a leopard in daylight? Even by chance encounter?

 

[gesch]

Captain Nwz, Thank you for a well written and organized treatment of Indian Leopard Hunting. It was fascinating. I never thought that I would have any interest in hunting big cats but your article and those by our friends Major Kahn and Sargent Rahman have me rethinking that position! Other members of this forum have experience with African Leopard Hunting. I especially enjoyed the report by Johnny Blue. I would appreciate if our African Leopard hunters would compare and contrast the two Leopard hunting experiences. Are the Leopard populations still strong in your country? Thanks again for an informative report.

 

[Captain Nwz]

@Captain Nwz,
Have you ever seen or shot a leopard in daylight? Even by chance encounter?

mark - hunter
I have only shot eighteen leopards in the day light . They were all by chance encounter.

 

[Captain Nwz]

Captain Nwz, Thank you for a well written and organized treatment of Indian Leopard Hunting. It was fascinating. I never thought that I would have any interest in hunting big cats but your article and those by our friends Major Kahn and Sargent Rahman have me rethinking that position! Other members of this forum have experience with African Leopard Hunting. I especially enjoyed the report by Johnny Blue. I would appreciate if our African Leopard hunters would compare and contrast the two Leopard hunting experiences. Are the Leopard populations still strong in your country? Thanks again for an informative report.

Gesch , thank you for liking it. Leopards mostly populate the areas around the Sundarban and Bandarban mangrove forests in Bangladesh . However , it is illegal to kill any , unless if they are declared man eaters by the authorities of the area which the leopard is menacing.

 

[Captain Nwz]

Nice to read your methodology of hunting forest leopard. Very interesting and educational.
Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

Ridgewalker , thank you for liking it. I am glad that you all found it educational.

 

[Captain Nwz]

You should write a book Captain

Environ , l wrote an article in our local newspaper in 1985 . Perhaps , l can provide an English translation here one day ?

 

[Captain Nwz]

Thanks for this very informative article.

cls, thank you for appreciating it.

 

[Captain Nwz]

Another great story! Learned a lot by reading this.

Die Jager , thank you for liking it.

 

[Shootist43]

Ok Captain, from now on I will refer to you as Kareem. Please do talk to your friend that killed the rogue elephants about joining and contributing to AH. He too will be welcomed with open arms. I'm already looking forward to your next article.

 

[mark-hunter]

Gesch , thank you for liking it. Leopards mostly populate the areas around the Sundarban and Bandarban mangrove forests in Bangladesh . However , it is illegal to kill any , unless if they are declared man eaters by the authorities of the area which the leopard is menacing.

Can foreign citizen, tourist, if visiting Bangladesh (in convenient time) hunt leopard which is declared as man eater?

 

[Tra3]

Fascinating! Thank you for posting.

What would you do with the skins of the animals?

how did the workers at the tea gardens treat you when they came to learn you were hunting the dangerous cats to keep them safe?

Finally, can you tell about how you learned not to even whisper when the big cats are within 45 paces?

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Wyatt Smith , l do have a friend who shot ten rogue Indian elephants in the 1960s and 1970s . He is quite an interesting fellow . Someday , maybe l can make him aware of this forum . He would love nothing more than to talk about hunting rogue Indian elephants with you fine gentlemen . Thank you for enjoying my little guide.

I think everyone would enjoy that.

 

[Captain Nwz]

Can foreign citizen, tourist, if visiting Bangladesh (in convenient time) hunt leopard which is declared as man eater?

mark-hunter , yes they can . However , not by themselves. They must be accompanied by local shikaris at all times .

 

[Captain Nwz]

Fascinating! Thank you for posting.

What would you do with the skins of the animals?

how did the workers at the tea gardens treat you when they came to learn you were hunting the dangerous cats to keep them safe?

Finally, can you tell about how you learned not to even whisper when the big cats are within 45 paces?

Tra3 , thank you for liking it. I would sell most of the leopard skins . However , l also kept a few as decorations around the house .
The employees of the Syedabaad Tea Estate always treated me with respect ever since l was a child as l lived there ( I was the nephew of the owner's wife , after all ) .Even before l began hunting leopards in the Syedabaad Tea Estate , they were all familiar with me , because it was a common sight for them to see me running around the Tea Estate with my IOF 12 Bore DBBL and my BRNO .22 LR bolt action rifle , hunting Barking Deer , Mouse Deer , Boars , hares and birds multiple times of the week. However , once l began to hunt down the leopards which were attacking our workers , l could feel as if they suddenly stopped treating me like a little child and more like an adult . They were very good people. They felt confident in my ability to use a gun to keep them safe.
In regard to the hearing ability of leopards , l made enough mistakes in my life while hunting them to know their hearing ability. I often had other people present with me when l was hunting the leopards at night , like my Garo servant , Wani or Davis , who was an American gentleman who often visited the Tea Estate and hunted leopards with me in his free time . By the time , l had killed more than thirty leopards , l noticed that at distances of fifty paces or more , if we were in a tree and the leopard was nearby , we could whisper without the leopard getting alarmed. If the leopard was nearer to us than fifty paces , then it would often get spooked and leave the area without trying to eat the bait , if we so much as whispered with each other. Out of curiosity , l once measured the distance from our macchan to the place where the leopard was eating the bait when l had shot and killed it .

 

[mark-hunter]

mark-hunter , yes they can . However , not by themselves. They must be accompanied by local shikaris at all times .

Dear @Captain Nwz,

Maybe you are not aware of the potential, but hunting in tropical far east was very unknown subject or majority of forum members here, myself included.

Then Khawsik and major Khan joined in, followed by you. And you opened one completely new perspective on this forum.

All your posts are well accepted, and very welcomed.

And Bangladesh is suddenly becoming famous.

I am sure that there is potential in Bangladesh to start some commercial hunting, for visiting hunters.

I can suggest to start one thread, on this topic.

- Importation laws for hunting firearms.
- visa requirements for visiting hunters
- How to find a PH, or local shikaris.
- Hunting seasons, game species available, etc.
- Hunting on private properties, or on govt properties.
- Export of trophies, etc
- General instructions how to arrange for hunt.
- all relevant info

From my perspective I can see a great potential in Bangladesh as hunting destination, obviously being the last bearer of old Indian hunting tradition, based on all writings by you and Kawshik and major Khan.

But of all this we all know not too much.

Looking forward to your forthcoming input!