The Day We Realized That Wild Boars Are Dangerous, The Hard Way

[Major Khan]

Australia has a major problem with the feral pigs too. Personally I’ve had two charge me when I’ve been hunting them. One boar i shot as he ran over an earth dam bank charged me when I ran over the bank.
Mind you where I shot him with a 243 using 90 grain Bullets as he ran away from me would bring out the worst in anyone

Doctor , l know exactly how you feel.
Imagine how l felt when Kawshik and my client showed up , to the shikar outfitters with a .243 Winchester calibre Savage Model 110 and said that he wanted to secure a royal Bengal tiger ?

By some miracle , not only did he succeed , but he also managed to do it with one cartridge.

 

[mark-hunter]

Local boars, can reach more then 300 pounds, but not too frequently.

But when I did reasearch, it s clear on wikipedia!
It looks like same species, and different sub-species!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_boar

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

Poton
Brilliantly written , old friend .
Tobin did nothing Islamophobic even in the slightest . Abdullah was one of those people who would really be a nuisance in today's era of political correctness , probably an even bigger nuisance than he was all those years ago . On a related subject :
On average how many cartridges were you needing per boar during that cull ?
When you were relating this incident to us later that week , l remember you complaining about the small powder charges in those spherical ball cartridges and how they badly affected the velocity.
Given the poor penetration of a 65 millimeter cartridge loaded with a one ounce lead spherical ball , l would assume that you had to shoot at least a few of them more than once .
The few boars which l had shot with lethal ball cartridges were laid low rather swiftly . Neither Karim nor l , fortunately ever had to contend with more than twenty of these beasts at a time .

 

[Opposite Pole]

Oh , yes. I do see a great deal of similarities . Our local varieties , however have more hair along the spinal column . Do your European varieties ever reach up to 300 pounds weight ?

They can get bigger than that. Also in the winter the older animals tend to have longer hair on the top of the spine, they can stand them up somewhat making them look taller.

 

[Major Khan]

Poton
Brilliantly written , old friend .
Tobin did nothing Islamophobic even in the slightest . Abdullah was one of those people who would really be a nuisance in today's era of political correctness , probably an even bigger nuisance than he was all those years ago . On a related subject :
On average how many cartridges were you needing per boar during that cull ?
When you were relating this incident to us later that week , l remember you complaining about the small powder charges in those spherical ball cartridges and how they badly affected the velocity.
Given the poor penetration of a 65 millimeter cartridge loaded with a one ounce lead spherical ball , l would assume that you had to shoot at least a few of them more than once .
The few boars which l had shot with lethal ball cartridges were laid low rather swiftly . Neither Karim nor l , fortunately ever had to contend with more than twenty of these beasts at a time .

Only you will know what a pain such people are , Kawshik . I felt like burning that beard clean off him .
It was sometimes taking me 1 Eley Grand Prix spherical ball cartridge and sometimes up to 3 on that day to do the job on a boar . Sometimes , if you hit them behind the ear , they were dropping to the shot . Other times , you would have 1 spherical ball penetrate a lung , while the other lung remained intact , so l had to give them a 2nd shot . Sometimes , the spherical ball would penetrate into the chest cavity , but still not reach the heart , so l had to give it 2 more cartridges. The same applies for shots taken at the area behind the shoulder. The penetration of a 1 ounce spherical ball of lead propelled by 10mm brass's worth of propellant powder is fairly poor .

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the Lethal Ball cartridges . That's what l exclusively used since 1965 . They could flatten a boar with one well aimed shot at the vital organs .

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Finding the few surviving boars was fairly straightforward enough. Those blood trails were relatively easy ro follow . Once , we found them , we opened fire on them . Tobin used his FN .423 Mauser . I used my Belgian 12 calibre shot gun. Loha Singh used his IOF .315 calibre bolt rifle . There were 6 survivors and we killed them all easily.
All in all , we killed 63 wild boars that day among 7 shooters ( 6 , not counting Ponual , who only commenced shooting when the line broke).
Below , l have provided a photograph taken by myself , of just a small number of all the boars shot that day .
View attachment 317160

The meat was donated to the Christian and Hindoo neighborhoods in Kooch Bihar ( essentially any community that ate pork ) , while the shikarees kept the tusks . I collected quite a few of the tusks and l later used the ivory of 1 of the tusks to make a makeshift back sight for my shot gun , to aid in my aiming whenever l was using spherical ball cartridges.
However , when we returned to Nagpur the next day by train , a new problem had presented itself . Abdullah had been going around , telling all the employees of Allwyn Cooper Limited , that Tobin was a racist who did not pay Abdullah for the cull , because Abdullah was a Muslim .
This was nothing , but garbage . Abdullah had done something which had endangered our lives . We had instructed him and all the other choota shikarees repeatedly , not to fire at the boars if we were standing between them and the boars . He turned a deaf ear to our orders and fired anyway . I was extremely fortunate that the bullet had hit my canteen and not my stomach.
Even though l am a Muslim myself , l have always been disgusted by the acts of some of my fellow Muslims who like to use Islamophobia as a tactical tool to pursue their own agendas . I find it very cheap and most undignified .
When asked about what had happened , l merely told Mr. Shukla this , " Sir , l work with Tobin 4 weeks of the month and am great personal friends with him since the last 3 years . I am a Muslim and if Tobin had any prejudice against people of our faith , then l think that l would be the first to notice it , as l spend the greatest amount of my time with him than any other employee here . "
Fortunately , Mr. Shukla fired Abdullah instead of paying heed to his " crocodile tears " . Of course , Mr. Shukla had his own interests in mind . Tobin was a far more competent shikaree and a greater asset to Allwyn Cooper Limited than Abdullah . However , l am glad that my friend did not undergo any trouble for that lying excuse of a shikaree , Abdullah
.
We then had our fellow professional shikarees later spend the last working day of the week , testing all of the batches of our IOF .315 calibre 244 grain soft nose lead rifle bullets on targets of varying hardness , to try to replicate why that .315 calibre lead bullet had deflected off the boar's tusks and hit Pavan . After breaking open some of the cartridges , we found our answer . Many of the .315 calibre cartridges , loaded by IOF did not have a sufficient amount of powder inside the cartridge case to propel the 244 grain bullet at the advertised 2000 feet per second velocity ( which is a very pitiful velocity any way ) . After that day onwards , we began to train our professional shikarees how to hand load their own cartridges with a sufficient amount of propellant powder , to ensure consistent velocities .

After the ridiculous 1972 hunting ban , the number of wild boars and blue bulls Rose and became rancid . In the late 2010s , the governments of Kooch Bihar and Uttar Pradesh allowed the culling of crop damaging wild boars and blue bulls again . However , the Indian government consisting predominantly of those sick vegetarian bastards decided to do something petty . The cullers are not allowed to consume any of the meat from the boars or the blue bulls. Process this thought for a moment . These people are so petty in their lunatic agendas , that even when they need those animals gone , they will not let anyone enjoy their meat .
I hope that this account proved enjoyable . My next article will detail the 7th man eating royal Bengal tiger which l had killed ; a killer of 16 innocent people .

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Finding the few surviving boars was fairly straightforward enough. Those blood trails were relatively easy ro follow . Once , we found them , we opened fire on them . Tobin used his FN .423 Mauser . I used my Belgian 12 calibre shot gun. Loha Singh used his IOF .315 calibre bolt rifle . There were 6 survivors and we killed them all easily.
All in all , we killed 63 wild boars that day among 7 shooters ( 6 , not counting Ponual , who only commenced shooting when the line broke).
Below , l have provided a photograph taken by myself , of just a small number of all the boars shot that day .
View attachment 317160

The meat was donated to the Christian and Hindoo neighborhoods in Kooch Bihar ( essentially any community that ate pork ) , while the shikarees kept the tusks . I collected quite a few of the tusks and l later used the ivory of 1 of the tusks to make a makeshift back sight for my shot gun , to aid in my aiming whenever l was using spherical ball cartridges.
However , when we returned to Nagpur the next day by train , a new problem had presented itself . Abdullah had been going around , telling all the employees of Allwyn Cooper Limited , that Tobin was a racist who did not pay Abdullah for the cull , because Abdullah was a Muslim .
This was nothing , but garbage . Abdullah had done something which had endangered our lives . We had instructed him and all the other choota shikarees repeatedly , not to fire at the boars if we were standing between them and the boars . He turned a deaf ear to our orders and fired anyway . I was extremely fortunate that the bullet had hit my canteen and not my stomach.
Even though l am a Muslim myself , l have always been disgusted by the acts of some of my fellow Muslims who like to use Islamophobia as a tactical tool to pursue their own agendas . I find it very cheap and most undignified .
When asked about what had happened , l merely told Mr. Shukla this , " Sir , l work with Tobin 4 weeks of the month and am great personal friends with him since the last 3 years . I am a Muslim and if Tobin had any prejudice against people of our faith , then l think that l would be the first to notice it , as l spend the greatest amount of my time with him than any other employee here . "
Fortunately , Mr. Shukla fired Abdullah instead of paying heed to his " crocodile tears " . Of course , Mr. Shukla had his own interests in mind . Tobin was a far more competent shikaree and a greater asset to Allwyn Cooper Limited than Abdullah . However , l am glad that my friend did not undergo any trouble for that lying excuse of a shikaree , Abdullah
.
We then had our fellow professional shikarees later spend the last working day of the week , testing all of the batches of our IOF .315 calibre 244 grain soft nose lead rifle bullets on targets of varying hardness , to try to replicate why that .315 calibre lead bullet had deflected off the boar's tusks and hit Pavan . After breaking open some of the cartridges , we found our answer . Many of the .315 calibre cartridges , loaded by IOF did not have a sufficient amount of powder inside the cartridge case to propel the 244 grain bullet at the advertised 2000 feet per second velocity ( which is a very pitiful velocity any way ) . After that day onwards , we began to train our professional shikarees how to hand load their own cartridges with a sufficient amount of propellant powder , to ensure consistent velocities .

After the ridiculous 1972 hunting ban , the number of wild boars and blue bulls Rose and became rancid . In the late 2010s , the governments of Kooch Bihar and Uttar Pradesh allowed the culling of crop damaging wild boars and blue bulls again . However , the Indian government consisting predominantly of those sick vegetarian bastards decided to do something petty . The cullers are not allowed to consume any of the meat from the boars or the blue bulls. Process this thought for a moment . These people are so petty in their lunatic agendas , that even when they need those animals gone , they will not let anyone enjoy their meat .
I hope that this account proved enjoyable . My next article will detail the 7th man eating royal Bengal tiger which l had killed ; a killer of 16 innocent people .

Major Khan
We have the same problem with our government, the party we call the GREENIES is the worst. If they had their way all hunting would be banned, not only here in Australia but worldwide.
Reading your account of the cull got me thinking of the good times here in Australia.
Two friends and myself went out to cull pigs in western New South Wales. We took 200 rounds each for a 5 day hunt ( a total of 600 rounds). This only lasted 3 days before we ran out.
On particular mob we got had me using my favorite pig rifle of all time. A sporterised SMLE No1 Mk111. This was modified by having a short length of chain welded to the magazine and then attached to the king screw sling swivel. By doing this you could reek havoc on the mob with 10 shots, drop the magazine leting it swing and drive a loaded 10 Shot mag back to keep shooting. That barrel ran bloody hot at times.
Like you major I have some very good Muslim friends. I find them to be beautiful people not to mention the wonderful food. They also have a wonderful sense of humor about thier own religion. One joke I won't forget being told by my friend when all this islamafobia was just starting was, " what do you call a muslin with an AK47 " a few people replied a terrorist, to which he replied you might but we call him Ar-med. That just made everyone laugh..
Cheers my learned friend
Bob

 

[1dirthawker]

Our coolies had run for dear life and had vanished faster than Harry Hoodini in a magic trick .

Major Khan,

that description made me laugh! i must admit, your story of shooting boars kept my full attention. well done! Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences.

 

[Major Khan]

Major Khan
We have the same problem with our government, the party we call the GREENIES is the worst. If they had their way all hunting would be banned, not only here in Australia but worldwide.
Reading your account of the cull got me thinking of the good times here in Australia.
Two friends and myself went out to cull pigs in western New South Wales. We took 200 rounds each for a 5 day hunt ( a total of 600 rounds). This only lasted 3 days before we ran out.
On particular mob we got had me using my favorite pig rifle of all time. A sporterised SMLE No1 Mk111. This was modified by having a short length of chain welded to the magazine and then attached to the king screw sling swivel. By doing this you could reek havoc on the mob with 10 shots, drop the magazine leting it swing and drive a loaded 10 Shot mag back to keep shooting. That barrel ran bloody hot at times.
Like you major I have some very good Muslim friends. I find them to be beautiful people not to mention the wonderful food. They also have a wonderful sense of humor about thier own religion. One joke I won't forget being told by my friend when all this islamafobia was just starting was, " what do you call a muslin with an AK47 " a few people replied a terrorist, to which he replied you might but we call him Ar-med. That just made everyone laugh..
Cheers my learned friend
Bob

Thank you so much for your most relatable reply , Bob Nelson 35 Whelan .
Vegetarians , Greenies and these so called " animal rights " activists are the filthiest scum to ever walk this earth . Sitting in their little air conditioned rooms and watching " Discovery " channel , these retards think that they know jack about conservation and ethics .
I am most curious . How much do wild boars weigh in Australia ? In India and Bangladesh , the heaviest specimens can reach up to 300 pounds .
I have very fond memories of the service .303 British calibre Lee Enfield bolt rifles . We Freedom Fighters used vast quantities of them during our Bangladesh liberation war ( However , l preferred the Sten gun , as seen in my avatar ) .
Those Lee Enfield bolt rifles were extremely fast to operate in well trained hands . Our Freedom Fighters could fire them so fast that from a distance , it would almost seem as if they were firing semi automatic rifles . The bullet used back in those days was a spitzer style pointed tip bullet , weighing 174 grains if my memory serves me correctly.
As far as religion is concerned , l have 1 very strong belief - There is only 1 main religion in the world above all others and that religion is humanity .

 

[Major Khan]

Major Khan,

that description made me laugh! i must admit, your story of shooting boars kept my full attention. well done! Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences.

Thank you so much , 1dirthawker. I am pleasantly surprised that someone from modern generations has actually heard of Harry Hoodini . He was my favorite magician of all time . Now , when l look back and think about this incident , l laugh just like you . However , at the time l could not be angrier ! Those cowardly coolies making off , essentially cut off our ammunition supply.

 

[1dirthawker]

Major Khan,

i am a shikari of sorts, i guide brown bear hunters for a couple of weeks every year and have done so for about 20 years now.

However , at the time l could not be angrier ! Those cowardly coolies making off , essentially cut off our ammunition supply.

i however do not have coolies, gun bearers or unfortunately...even a packer. so, i have to carry my own ammo, so i would have to chew out the guy that looks at me in the mirror if he ran off with my ammunition!

the hunting in Africa is in many ways better than the hunting i do. there, the client gets a PH, a tracker or 3, possible gunbearers, etc. then a full kitchen staff, excellent cooking and housekeeping, etc. when you hunt with me, you get one overworked guide

 

[Major Khan]

Major Khan,

i am a shikari of sorts, i guide brown bear hunters for a couple of weeks every year and have done so for about 20 years now.



i however do not have coolies, gun bearers or unfortunately...even a packer. so, i have to carry my own ammo, so i would have to chew out the guy that looks at me in the mirror if he ran off with my ammunition!

the hunting in Africa is in many ways better than the hunting i do. there, the client gets a PH, a tracker or 3, possible gunbearers, etc. then a full kitchen staff, excellent cooking and housekeeping, etc. when you hunt with me, you get one overworked guide

This is very fascinating , 1dirthawker . You have infact made me more curious now ? What species of brown bear do you guide for ? American grizzly bear or Kodiak bears ? And what calibre of rifle do you American gentlemen consider adequate for your largest bears ? I have only guided clients for Asian Sloth Bear shikars ( the only species of Indian bears where l used to operate ) and in my humble opinion , l consider the .338 Winchester magnum calibre to be perfect for Asian Sloth Bear .
And do not think any lesser of yourself for having to guide clients all alone . If anything , it just serves to show how competent you are at guiding clients for bear shikars.
I always used to carry my own cartridges as well. I never had a gun bearer carry my Belgian shot gun and always carried the gun slung on my own back , specifically because l knew that if they panic and flee , then l will be unarmed and defenseless against a large , charging , angry brute . I always admired this about my American clients . While British clients were generally speaking , fond of using gun bearers ... virtually all of my American clients used to prefer to carry their own rifle and cartridges.

 

[1dirthawker]

What species of brown bear do you guide for ? American grizzly bear or Kodiak bears ? And what calibre of rifle do you American gentlemen consider adequate for your largest bears ?

We are hunting coastal Brown bears, the Kodiak bear is a coastal brown bear. They are very large specimens because they have for countless ages had nearly unlimited food in the form of very large salmon runs, which enable them to become as large as they are genetically possible to become. Grizzly bears (in Alaska) are actually the same bear, but are a more inland bear. (i think any bear 150 miles from the coast is considered a grizzly, anything closer is a brown bear) because of that they have less access to large quantities of food and are on average always a smaller bear. they are pretty aggressive about hustling a living tho and can be very predatory. the bears i guide for are coastal brown bears and can get very large.

regarding caliber choice, that is a can of worms to open. in my never to be humble opinion... i think a 30 caliber weapon would be a bare minimum, but prefer to see hunters show up with a 338 winchester or larger rifle. the 375 magnums are all very good. i had one hunter shoot a bear with a 458 win at 13 yards, it did a fine job on the bear, a very large one. i have not had a hunter shoot a bear with a 416 magnum of any kind yet, although i suspect it would be even better than the 375's which do a great job and i consider them to be the gold standard of shoot ability and appropriate power.

i did carry an o/u 450-400 one season, and will likely carry it again this coming spring hunt. i would like to shoot a bear with it, but my clients recently have shot so effectively that i have not needed to be involved with killing the bear before it gets to the alders and have not had the opportunity to see how effectively it works. that rifle did a great job on the buffalo in my avatar so suspect it will do a great job on brown bears as well.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Thank you so much for your most relatable reply , Bob Nelson 35 Whelan .
Vegetarians , Greenies and these so called " animal rights " activists are the filthiest scum to ever walk this earth . Sitting in their little air conditioned rooms and watching " Discovery " channel , these retards think that they know jack about conservation and ethics .
I am most curious . How much do wild boars weigh in Australia ? In India and Bangladesh , the heaviest specimens can reach up to 300 pounds .
I have very fond memories of the service .303 British calibre Lee Enfield bolt rifles . We Freedom Fighters used vast quantities of them during our Bangladesh liberation war ( However , l preferred the Sten gun , as seen in my avatar ) .
Those Lee Enfield bolt rifles were extremely fast to operate in well trained hands . Our Freedom Fighters could fire them so fast that from a distance , it would almost seem as if they were firing semi automatic rifles . The bullet used back in those days was a spitzer style pointed tip bullet , weighing 174 grains if my memory serves me correctly.
As far as religion is concerned , l have 1 very strong belief - There is only 1 main religion in the world above all others and that religion is humanity .

Major
Our wild pigs are mainly domestic paid gone wild. We also have a razor back variety that can be mean son's. The we have a cross bred razor back, domestic. These can be temperamental as well.
I have shot them from 10 pounds up to 350 pounds. I have seen a photo of one someone shot here a while back on the cover of our sporting shooter Mag that they say went over the 800 pounds Mark.

 

[flatwater bill]

Awesome write up...............great memories of a great adventure in another world.......thanks so much for posting.......................FWB

 

[Major Khan]

Awesome write up...............great memories of a great adventure in another world.......thanks so much for posting.......................FWB

Thank you so much for enjoying this reminiscence , Bill. I am most grateful.

 

[Sam Kunal]

Wild boars are really serious problem. Even my Late father had a near death experience in his youth , the details of which I mentioned in my article A Close Shave.

 

[VertigoBE]

This was an excellent read, thank you @Major Khan for sharing this story. I always enjoy your writings a lot.

 

[VertigoBE]

I do not remember what the rules are concerning the posting of Youtube videos, but this 17sec clip shows the force of wild boars quite well: