SHIKAR ADVENTURES - by Shammi Kapoor

[HSharief]

when this was posted the last time, I went to his site and invited him to visit/join IFG. I wonder if he did

[shooter]

Johnny walker was a fond shikari.
was a fine shot. Came to Jaipur once for Leopard shikar.
despite best efforts wasnt able to bag one. (during that trip.)

shammi still has the tiger skin at his place.

this article is also one of the first (if not the first) indian articles on shikaar on the internet. (unless yahoo missed the others- in the pre google days.)

[prashantsingh]

I remember seeing a snap of Ashok Kumar and his brothers (Kishore and Anoop) with a tiger in an old filmy magazine. The tiger was not a big one though.
Hunting a tiger was always the highest point in a Shikari's life. There were Shikaris who shot hundreds of tigers (and a particular Maharaja who had tents made out of tiger skins) but I would consider that as nothing more than wanton killings.
The tigers on the left (1st and 2nd shoot) are beautiful and so is the Sambhar on the extreme right.
After saying so I would also like to comment on what Shammi Kapoor has said "I shot my first tiger in 1958 in Bhopal". I would hardly consider this shoot as his first "Tiger Hunt" simply because he never got the Trophy.Loosing a tiger in such a manner is not only unfortunate but sad. An animal as majestic and beautiful as a Tiger , left in the jungle to be eaten by VULTURES is just NOT ACCEPTABLE.
There were many Shikaris who landed up injuring a tiger rather than killing it. Leaving it to either die a painful death or forcing it to alter it's feeding habits. There were few (like our Bollywood star mentioned above) who shot one but did not put in enough effort to retrieve it.

ON THE OTHER HAND. There were some Shikaris who took upon them the moral responsibility to finish such (injured) animals.
I shall now narrate two real life stories of people I have known, which fall into the second category. People who took upon them the dirty job of persuing an injured and ferocious beast , risking their own lives, so as to save the lives of many others. Heros in my eyes. Men who considered Shikar as nothing but an honour killing of a wounded apex predators, who would otherwise have had a pathetic end.

The first story is that of a relative who went on to retire as a senior Forest Officer. As a young D.F.O. posted in Lakhimpur Kheri (in the Terai) one evening , a shikari came running to his Rest House and informed him that he had shot and injured a Tiger. Since it was already dark , they decided to resume the hunt the following morning. They left early the next day and reached the spot (where the tiger was last seen) by dawn. There was little blood , but the tiger (in agony) had left behind enough evidence to be tracked. After slowly following each and every lead -- a broken twig, tufts of hair, pug marks and blood stained leaves/ ground (for almost an hour) they reached a dry Nalla (river bed). They would probably loose the tiger here. As this gentleman bent down to inspect the last visible pug mark and ponder over what to do next, he saw some movement in the thick undergrowth on his right. In seconds , out came the tiger , roaring and charging ; and before he could raise his rifle the beast was on top.The only thing he remembers after that is when he woke up one morning in a hospital (K.G.M.C.) in Lucknow. He was later told that he actually fought a short duel with the tiger in the Nalla (like they show in our Bollywood movies) before collapsing under the tiger's overwhelming might. Throughout the struggle he kept shouting "Fire. Fire" calling out to the Shikaris who were following him. The shikaris were too scared to fire since a few inches either way could hit their friend instead of the tiger. Finally when they were"sure"that the tiger had killed Thakur Saab (as he was fondly called) they opened fire and killed the beast.
When the atopsy was carried out, the Vet. found one bullet (the first shot by the amature hunter) embeded in the Temporomandibular Joint of the Tiger. The tiger's lower jaw had dropped open and he could no longer close it. That was the only reason Thakur Saab survived that day. One bite from those powerful jaws would have crushed his skull into pieces. The only damage the tiger could do was with his claws. This damage was enough to keep him in hospital for 6 months. Even after being discharged from hospital , our man would wake up in the middle of the night , shouting "Fire. Fire.", till someone came and pacified him.
Once completely recovered (physically and mentally) this gentleman went on to shoot many more maneaters and injured big cats. Now in his late 80s he lives in Lucknow and enjoys his evening whiskey.

The other story is that of a tiger (bagged by another old time Shikari) which when shot looked nothing like a tiger but an overgrown Hound. The animal appeared to be suffering from some rare disease . Except for two small hairless patches of skin on the shoulders there was no evident sign of disease. The animal was sent for a post mortem. On examination two slug shots fired from a 12 bore gun were found embedded deep in the shoulder bone. Interestingly the two shots had been fired on two different occassions , which was visable from the level of granulation tissue around each shot. The skin wound had closed completely and appeared like the two patches mentioned earlier.
With a broken shoulder, it was impossible for this tiger to hunt his natural prey. He had turned scavenger, feeding on left overs of other carnivores or probably hunting much smaller game. Prolonged starvation and malnutrtion had resulted in degeneration and wasting of his muscle tissue. A once healthy King of the jungle had now been reduced to the life of a street dog. An animal abused by Men who felt the insolent power of the Gun once it came into their hands.
This story is UNIQUE in itself because of the fact that the tiger , inspite of his injury , NEVER turned MANEATER. An animal which avoided Humans till it's last day.
The Shikari was kind enough to relieve this animal of it's mongrel like existence with a well placed heart and lung shot, from his .405 rifle. What would anyone do with such a poor specimen? They made a shoulder mount out of him and discarded the back skin, in an attempt to restore some dignity to this once Majestic Predator.

[fantumfan2003]

Prashant

Fantastic link and stories. A salute to the second category. Very Brave and Responsible people indeed.
Any chances of getting larger pics from Shammiji's hunting page ?

Thanks

M.

[prashantsingh]

Jim Corbett in the North and Kenneth Anderson in the South were famous Shikaris who did well in documenting their experiences and then marketing them.
Unfortunately most Shikaris (like the two I have mentioned in my post) who spent their entire lives in saving our jungles and it's inmates (including the tribals living within them) were not very good with the pen. They were the people who walked miles in these jungles and knew every tree , every tiger in their area.That dedication and pride to the profession is more difficult to find in this age.
An average Forest Officer today would prefer a desk job (posting) in a town/city rather than in the jungles.
I have also seen some excellant and dedicated officers in the Dept. It is perhaps because of these people that we still have the thousand odd tigers in our jungles.

Talking about Writing Skills.
There are some people who have it in plenty. One of our most famous "Tiger Expert" made a few trips to Ranthambore in the comfort of his 4X4 jeep and went back to write a dozen books on Tigers.

[Baljit]

man oh man i did not know about this , good to know

BALJIT

[shooter]

good write up prashant. lets not talk about this expert (jeep-ranthambore) here.

Ajai Reddy was another professional hunter who wrote a book about tiger hunting. Unfortunately it was published in the wrong century and didnt sell well. I had a first Edition that a colleague borrowed "for a few days" to read to his son. You know the rest.

We remained friends and were in constant touch and i had recieved many invitations.

I wanted to make him a member if IFG but he passed away before that. what a loss. (One of my first posts on this forum was asking people from nagpur if they had heard of him and could give me his contact details).

His website has now shut down and book is out of print. I still have his story as he told me but not in writing. I dont know if that can pass as authentic.

[prashantsingh]

Dear Shooters,
The expert (jeep-ranthambore) is actually Great at his job. I have some of his works and they are Damn Good.He has really studied the animal and has gone through many old texts . His work is more than a (PhD) thesis. He is also a hard core supporter of our Forests and Wildlife.......and that is what is most important.

Why don't you put up Ajai Reddy's story here. It will be a tribute to the great hunter.