A Tribute to our Legendary Hunters and wild life lovers who never come in lime light

[Shivaji.Dasgupta]

The legendary Rogue jumbo Hunter and wildlife photographer Mr. Dinesh Choudhury.

Name: Dinesh Choudhury
Native place: Guwahati Assam
Date of birth: not known
Death: 19/01/2021 aged 76.

He is a famous Elephant expert, Rogue jumbo hunter and on later life wild life photographer. He completed his college from at. Edmunds college shillong Meghalaya. Later on he studied from National Dairy Research institute Bangalore.
He worked for Dairy development department Assam and purabi Dairy.
No. of books and documentaries have been made on his work. Choudhury is the central figure in the book " To the. Elephant Graveyard" by Tarquin Hall.
He used a Winchester .458 Magnam rifle. But later on he was settled with photography only.
His dedication for wildlife conservation is respected by all the wildlife lovers.
His total kills of Rogue jumbos is not mentioned properly but what I find out is it's 12+ ( may be this no will change if I get the correct data) no other animal hunting record is available for him.
images (22).jpeg
images (21).jpeg
images (19).jpeg
The picture of this rifle I got while searching the details about late Mr. Choudhury. I am not sure about this is the same rifle he used or not.
If any member has any more information about Mr. Dinesh Choudhury then kindly share the same.

I had the good fortune to meet him and buy a fishing rod from him. Turned out later that he was related. He has been covered by National Geographic. He did switch to a newer Ruger rifle later, if I recall correctly. He was a very humble man with loads of tales to narrate.

Lucky you Dev. I have tried to get some details about his weapon and his hunting but no specific data available.

Timmy, where your uncle was based. One of my uncle ( passed last year in Covid) was a hunter but only small games. He was Ex IAF and faught in both 65 and 71 wars. He took retirement in 1975 approx and Joined Tata steel. In his spare time he used to go for small games but after 1985/86 he stopped it.

[timmy]

Shivaji, my uncle lived in Texas, USA, and hunted there, plus he went on elk and moose hunts in Wyoming and Colorado. Then, he began going to Alaska for grizzly bear, polar bear, moose, and caribou hunting. His grizzly and polar bears were in Boone and Crockett at one time (early 60s). For some time, he shot a Remington 742 in 30-06, but when he started thinking about going to Alaska, his Colorado guide showed him his 300 Weatherby, and he got one of those.

I need to ask my brother what happened to my uncle's movies. He had movies of shooting both the grizzly and the polar bears. The guide took the movies over my uncle's shoulder in each case. I don't think that very many guides would do that for a dude, but my uncle was both a natural hunter and a natural shot, and could back up his talk with his walk. He also had movies of the polar bear skin being washed in a hole through the ice on the Arctic Ocean.

All of this was many years ago. My aunt (his wife) sold all of his guns when he died, and my brother and I regretted that. My uncle's A5 was the first big gun I'd ever shot, and I would have liked to have had it.

I guess that I have enough junk of my own!

[Shivaji.Dasgupta]

Shivaji, my uncle lived in Texas, USA, and hunted there, plus he went on elk and moose hunts in Wyoming and Colorado. Then, he began going to Alaska for grizzly bear, polar bear, moose, and caribou hunting. His grizzly and polar bears were in Boone and Crockett at one time (early 60s). For some time, he shot a Remington 742 in 30-06, but when he started thinking about going to Alaska, his Colorado guide showed him his 300 Weatherby, and he got one of those.

I need to ask my brother what happened to my uncle's movies. He had movies of shooting both the grizzly and the polar bears. The guide took the movies over my uncle's shoulder in each case. I don't think that very many guides would do that for a dude, but my uncle was both a natural hunter and a natural shot, and could back up his talk with his walk. He also had movies of the polar bear skin being washed in a hole through the ice on the Arctic Ocean.

All of this was many years ago. My aunt (his wife) sold all of his guns when he died, and my brother and I regretted that. My uncle's A5 was the first big gun I'd ever shot, and I would have liked to have had it.

I guess that I have enough junk of my own!

Wow Timmy, there is some similarities, My uncle's First rifle IOF 30-06 , he also used a 12 G DB for shooting. never shot any Big game but porcupine, few Deer, 1 Bear in 1977/78, which was attacking the villagers. Of course wild boars a lot,

I am sure you gotta good exposure with weapons from your young age, as your family members are good hunters and in touch with wild life.

[timmy]

I am sure you gotta good exposure with weapons from your young age, as your family members are good hunters and in touch with wild life.

Not really, Shivaji. I did just a little hunting as a kid, mostly rabbits. I didn't have the money for very much ammunition or anything else in those days.

I began to get out hunting as a young adult. I often envy one of my Wife's brothers, whose father-in-law was a very outdoorsy Montanan that taught my brother-in-law how to hunt. Hunting for my Dad was only a very occasional walk into the fields behind the house, and he didn't teach me anything about it, only how to shoot handguns (for which I'm VERY thankful!). My brother-in-law, on the other hand, is quite the elk hunter. Unlike me, he doesn't care too much about guns. They are only a tool to him. He is first and foremost a hunter, and a very good one, not a gun person. My older brother has been on hunts up in Canada with success, but he's a bachelor and always had time and money to do this. I didn't have those opportunities, either.

[Shivaji.Dasgupta]

The Jungle dweller and Hunter whom the British govt. Also admire for his Skills...
Bhim santhal/ Bhim sikari/Bhim Samanthal.

Screenshot_20220728-205433_Chrome.jpg

He was a Famous hunter from Chota Nagpur area ( present Day Ranchi) and British admin used to call him to hunt the Man eating Tigers, leopards, Rouge Jumbos, and Bears
He used to hunt with Poisonous Arrow traps. He was very efficient with setting traps and that earned him the reputation of famous Traper and Hunter.
He also had the knowledge of the Jungles of present Day jharkhand and orissa area.
Few British Govt. Officials were kind enough to Mention him in their books and Dairy writings otherwise these names never come up in light.
There is very less Details available about this Person. Only Two books and few old Govt. Circular still contain his Name.
His Name was Probably Bhim Oraon but his nick name was Bhim shikari or Bhim santhal was most common.
His Native place was not known but it was some village in Knunti area.
His birth details unknown but he was Active in between 1890 to 1920.
He was illiterate but he had a fine knowledge of Different wild animals, Birds and other creatures. He knows the Jungles like his courtyard.
He was a Tribal Hunter and he also Describes his methods to few British offices in details.
He got his arrow Poison from Nux Vomica tree. He powdered the seeds and mix that with lime, kunch seeds ( this is also a seed. earlier the Goldsmith used this seeds to measure gold. Each seed was assumed to be 1 rati to 1.5 rati. Half red and half black shinning outer cover. The plant is a creeper and only available in the months of Apr to Oct. Who so ever lives in rural areas or near jungle may saw this plant) and finally mix with some tree rasin. He applies that on arrow heads and set his trap. It was a bow and arrow trap on the Game tracks and measuring the target Game Height he fix the bow with sticks and a cord was placed across the track on a zigzag pattern. The target Animal was bound to hit that string and get shot by the Poisonous Arrow. His poison was so accurate that within 30 min that Animal was killed due to the poison.
Some times he use multiple Traps for a hunt. To the information available his score was approx 30 leopard. 34 bear ( who started attacking human), 27 Tigers, 9 Elephants. This is the Govt. Records, whatever no. He killed by his own is not counted and in fact no records available.
He used to Get Rs. 10 for A jumbo and Rs. 5 to 8 for Bear, leopards and Tigers. Also Govt. Gives him A set of Dhoti and Chadar and Few kilos of Grains as gift for every successful hunt.
One story about this Person is, he set the traps high on trees to shot a Bear who was prone to climb for honey and was successful to shot down that bear.
His death was not confirmed but only information available.. he was on a hunt with few of other Tribal persons when he was bitten by a cobra. They tried with herbal medication but Bhim shikari died in a short time. As per his last wish and general custom for snake bite, his friends flown his body in a nearby River.

I found this as his hunting technique was unique and with so little resources he was a very successful hunter of that time.

[Shivaji.Dasgupta]

Here I am sharing this story From Shri Awdhesh Kumar ji, b.coz in our childhood also we have heard about Hawoaa, an animal who lured his prey in Jungles and kill them. This was just a tale of Rural Jungles, Tribals sometimes call this creature Runda or Rundo.
Never saw one, though old Folks used to say that they saw this creature.
I found it something strange, Either it was a Deformed creature or a Hybrid but it's way of killing is totally different.

Regards