The Urban Man Eater

[Major Khan]

Once again you give us a wonderful hunting story of times past. Many of us wish we could of spent time with you in the forests of India when such animals could be hunted. Thanks for sharing.
Bruce

Bruce , it would have been my privilege to guide a gentleman such as yourself . It has always been my dream to shoot an African lion and blue wildebeest with a .416 Remington magnum calibre rifle.

 

[Shakka]

Major Khan, I look forward to reading your stories the same way as I treasured the stories of my uncles about WW2.

Truly a privilege to read your words.

 

[Newboomer]

WOW!! Following a wounded panther in the dark with only a flashlight. Incredible. Great reaction to the charge and I guess you were lucky his momentum didn't knock you down. Now I want to hear about the boat sinking croc, please.

 

[Major Khan]

WOW!! Following a wounded panther in the dark with only a flashlight. Incredible. Great reaction to the charge and I guess you were lucky his momentum didn't knock you down. Now I want to hear about the boat sinking croc, please.

Consider it done , NewBoomer . I just have a few groceries to purchase for Christmas and l will write it after 2 days . Thank you so much for your appreciation.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Absolutely intense! What a thrill that must have been! I’m envious of the excitement!

 

[Major Khan]

Absolutely intense! What a thrill that must have been! I’m envious of the excitement!

Believe me , when l say this , Ridge Walker . There was no sport which l enjoyed more than panther shooting . If l was still young , l would still be very active at it without a doubt.

 

[mark-hunter]

Nothing l write can be more exciting than seeing “ Luke , l am your father “ . I love the original Star Wars series very much , Mark Hunter.
I hope that you enjoy the rest of this story.

Dear major Khan, your stories are wonderful and excellent. Thank you very much for your time ti share them with us!

 

[crudeoildude]

Stephan WHO gives a shit which one it is shut up and learn something Major kahn I appologise for his insolence,PLEASE keep the storys coming I enjoy them a great deal thank you

 

[Major Khan]

Stephan WHO gives a shit which one it is shut up and learn something Major kahn I appologise for his insolence,PLEASE keep the storys coming I enjoy them a great deal thank you

Thank you so much for your appreciation , Crudeoildude . It is indeed my fault for taking the wrong reference photograph from the internet to use in the first post . I had just googled " panther " and l copied the 1st photograph which l could see .
In my shikar articles , l always wait until the last part of the article to post the actual photograph of the man eater , so that my readers can have a more suspenseful feeling while reading the story . I am really honored that you have enjoyed this story so much . I will write another , involving a crocodile shikar 2 days later.

 

[crudeoildude]

Major Kahn is there still the need to pursue maneaters as there was in by gone days or have they been crowded out by urbanization?are there still Skakirs} thank you

 

[Major Khan]

Major Kahn is there still the need to pursue maneaters as there was in by gone days or have they been crowded out by urbanization?are there still Skakirs} thank you

In India , with the uprising of those vegan lunatics , there is no legal hunting at all any more since 1972 .
Even though man eating royal Bengal tigers and panthers are prevalent , the government ( in pursuit of their sick vegetarian agendas ) will not let them be hunted .
In Bangladesh , where we live , hunting deer , boars , water fowl and upland birds is fortunately legal in forested area with police permission and 1 can hunt over private land at their own discretion . It was when l found out that India had banned hunting that l decided to move to Bangladesh permanently , crudeoildude.
Man eating royal Bengal tigers and panthers are still very much a problem in South East Asia. In Bangladesh , man eating panthers and royal Bengal tigers are still occasionally a problem in villages near forested area and they are either shot by forest department officers or volunteer shikarees . Kawshik shot 1 such man eating panther in 1995 , before he fully retired from hunting dangerous game .
1 example is my good friend , Captain Kareem Hossain Newaz who killed his 81st man eating panther a couple of years ago. If he hears of any panthers causing problems in local areas even now , he will happily hunt it down and shoot it . He is very active even at the age of 72 .
He is so well known among our shooting circles , that in 1985 , he featured in a local news paper which praised him considerably for putting an end to these menaces.

At the time , he had killed his 73rd man eating panther

 

[Daggaboy375]

Thank you for your reply Stephen.

DB375

 

[Mort Hill]

Consider it done , Shootist43. It will be my next article . You have my word . It was not very big or mention worthy . Only 13 large feet .

The banter with which you fine gentlemen talk of dangerous game like they were common house vermin is spell binding. I have had the unfortunate pleasure of pursuing a leopard I wounded into the night woods in Africa. I have never been so nervous, no, flat scared in my life. I commend all of you not only on your skill as hunters, but on your bravery! And yes, waiting on the next recounting of your incredible life.

 

[Major Khan]

The banter with which you fine gentlemen talk of dangerous game like they were common house vermin is spell binding. I have had the unfortunate pleasure of pursuing a leopard I wounded into the night woods in Africa. I have never been so nervous, no, flat scared in my life. I commend all of you not only on your skill as hunters, but on your bravery! And yes, waiting on the next recounting of your incredible life.

I am certain that you are a modest man who is merely humbling his own accomplishments , Mort Hill. What calibre rifle did you use to dispatch your leopard ? Do you gentlemen use baits or beats in Africa to draw out leopards ?

 

[Ridgewalker]

Poton, I may be speaking out of place since I have never hunted Africa for leopard, but have read quite a lot, talked to PHes about it and read reports here on AH. My conclusion is by far most leopard are taken over bait.
One of our members got to be on I believe one of the last dog hunts for leopard in Zimbabwe. After the dogs had cornered the leopard, he broke the dog line and attacked the PH. While he was mauling the PH, the hunter luckily moved in and killed the leopard. Very cool move! I hope he doesn’t mind, but as I recall that was the report by Philip Glass one of our well traveled Texas hunters.

 

[Mort Hill]

I am certain that you are a modest man who is merely humbling his own accomplishments , Mort Hill. What calibre rifle did you use to dispatch your leopard ? Do you gentlemen use baits or beats in Africa to draw out leopards ?

While I would love to say That this was true, I am just a hunter who relishes the hunt as a whole, and have some modest accomplishments, and colossal screw ups.

But to answer your questions. I was using a .375 H&H on this particular leopard in Tanzania. Normally hunted over bait, we stumbled on this cat walking down the road as we returned from a successful lion hunt where I had stalked a large male. I thought the leopard was a lioness as I watched it strolling towards me. Light was low, but we saw it was a large leopard. As light was just fading, we confirmed it was a male.

Here is where my mind got the best of me. I knew we could place a bait and get this cat. But I also played over and over in my mind who can say they have collected a lion and leopard in the same 12 hour day. So I took a hasty shot that I thought was good, but wound up with the dark trek into the bush to track the wounded cat.

We found good sign but opted to later back out and return in the morning after a sleepless night. Unfortunately, about mid morning I accidentally found the tree where the leopard had been during the night. He had bled profusely in three different places extending out a large limb. However, the hyenas had also found him and no trace was ever found of the big cat despite looking the remainder of the day.

So you see, I am just a hunter who made a dumb decision. But mycompliments of you and your colleagues is sincere, and my admiration is just as strong.

 

[MAdcox]

@Major Khan fantastic read, thank you for sharing your experiences. You and @Kawshik Rahman have been a major boon to this forum. Your wonderful storytelling of a time and place we have all read about but will never see is greatly appreciated.

 

[Major Khan]

Poton, I may be speaking out of place since I have never hunted Africa for leopard, but have read quite a lot, talked to PHes about it and read reports here on AH. My conclusion is by far most leopard are taken over bait.
One of our members got to be on I believe one of the last dog hunts for leopard in Zimbabwe. After the dogs had cornered the leopard, he broke the dog line and attacked the PH. While he was mauling the PH, the hunter luckily moved in and killed the leopard. Very cool move! I hope he doesn’t mind, but as I recall that was the report by Philip Glass one of our well traveled Texas hunters.

This must have been extremely unnerving , Ridge Walker . With the exception of man eating panthers , most attacks from Panthers are extremely grotesque , but few lead to actual deaths .
The panther , when attacking a human being , will give a short series of bites and scratches with it's claws , before the panther leaps off the hapless victim .
The attack is aggressive , but brief . However , even though most shikarees will survive the attack of a panther , they will look as if someone drove a lawn mower over them.
I have pursued wounded panthers with German Shepherd dogs . However , they were meant more to assist me in pin pointing the location of the wounded panther in the thickets.
I would love to read about the report of this Mr. Glass some day . I find myself ( ever since l joined this beautiful forum ) reading a great deal about Africa game every night after l return home.
Recently , l have become intrigued by the work of a gentle man named Mr. John Coleman who recommends following up wounded African leopards with shot guns loaded with triple A cartridges , which l read in utter disbelief . Triple A cartridges would be the last thing which l would ever think of using , to dispatch a panther .

 

[Major Khan]

While I would love to say That this was true, I am just a hunter who relishes the hunt as a whole, and have some modest accomplishments, and colossal screw ups.

But to answer your questions. I was using a .375 H&H on this particular leopard in Tanzania. Normally hunted over bait, we stumbled on this cat walking down the road as we returned from a successful lion hunt where I had stalked a large male. I thought the leopard was a lioness as I watched it strolling towards me. Light was low, but we saw it was a large leopard. As light was just fading, we confirmed it was a male.

Here is where my mind got the best of me. I knew we could place a bait and get this cat. But I also played over and over in my mind who can say they have collected a lion and leopard in the same 12 hour day. So I took a hasty shot that I thought was good, but wound up with the dark trek into the bush to track the wounded cat.

We found good sign but opted to later back out and return in the morning after a sleepless night. Unfortunately, about mid morning I accidentally found the tree where the leopard had been during the night. He had bled profusely in three different places extending out a large limb. However, the hyenas had also found him and no trace was ever found of the big cat despite looking the remainder of the day.

So you see, I am just a hunter who made a dumb decision. But mycompliments of you and your colleagues is sincere, and my admiration is just as strong.

This was a most fascinating story , Mort Hill . In your .375 Holland & Holland magnum , were you using a good soft nose bullet , like a Winchester Silvertip or Remington Core Lokt ? They were always my personal favorite cartridges for clients to use on Indian panthers .
And you must not judge yourself too harshly . We all make errors . During the very first time l ever attempted to hunt a panther , l made some extremely embarrassing mistakes as well .
I used an Eley Alphamax LG cartridge ( 8 pellets to the cartridge ) to try to kill a panther and l instead ended up accidentally blasting the goat , which l was using as bait , while the panther almost made good his escape . Fortunately , my maternal grandfather was there to assist me and he killed the panther when it charged , by using his .405 Winchester Model 1895 lever rifle . We all learn from our mistakes . We should not be ashamed of our mistake , but rather be proud of the lessons learnt from that mistake.

 

[Major Khan]

@Major Khan fantastic read, thank you for sharing your experiences. You and @Kawshik Rahman have been a major boon to this forum. Your wonderful storytelling of a time and place we have all read about but will never see is greatly appreciated.

MAdcox, a writer is only as good as the appreciation of his readers . With so many exceptional gentlemen like yourself to read my stories , l feel extremely blessed to be a part of this group. Kawshik introducing me to this African Hunting forums was the best thing anyone could ever do for me . It made me feel at home among fellow hunters from all over the world and l learn far more than l contribute .
I will write a story featuring a crocodile on Christmas Eve .