How is hunting of man eaters done in India now

[gverma]

Hi All
Every once in a while we do learn that man eater lepord attacked in some village.

I do know that based on spl permit man eaters are allowed to be hunted.

The question is who has the skills to do this in India? I am sure hunting is not just pulling the trigger and what one may learn from Jim Cobberts books this activity requires many skills.

We do not have these skills in India (atleast not anymore)

So how is this task completed? Do we invite hunters from out of India to take care of those pests?

Regards
Gaurav

[shooter]

Dear gverma,
there are hunters within india who are invited for the hunt.

AFAIK no hunter from outside has been invited. one ex-member here has shot a few tigers and elephants on govt. Invite. our current member prashantsingh has been out on one such hunt.
There is a list of hunters maintained by the state dept. who are called for their service.
For e.g. Mr. rawat has accounted for 38 leopards.
Please use the search functon for more info.

[ckkalyan]

Over to prashantsingh - the leopard specialist!

Dear gverma,
there are hunters within india who are invited for the hunt.

AFAIK no hunter from outside has been invited. one ex-member here has shot a few tigers and elephants on govt. Invite. our current member prashantsingh has been out on one such hunt.
There is a list of hunters maintained by the state dept. who are called for their service.
For e.g. Mr. rawat has accounted for 38 leopards.
Please use the search functon for more info.

[Sylar]

Well mostly it is done by the forest officials themselves . . My father is a forest officer and once when a tiger in lakhimpur (UP) region started hunting cattle in the neighbouring villages and killed a farmer . . initially they tried to tranquellize the tiger but when they failed to do so and a villager got killed in the process . . they carried out the hunt and killed the tiger

[essdee1972]

Small question here: In the absence of legal hunting, how do the hunters (forest officials or invited ones) get their practice? Ok, forest officials (as well as wildlife photographers and enthusiasts, for instance) would probably have tracking / shadowing experience. But the judgement of the (quite probable) snap shot, where does that come from? I remember, a few years back, a "maneating" tigress "hunted" by police "sharpshooters" - 6-7 odd guys fired a huge amount of lead into the poor beast, hit rate was less than 10%.
Also, many (if not all) maneaters being "dealt with" in India now are only accidental killers (mothers with cubs, stepped-on-tiger's-tail cases, males defeated recently in territorial battles with other alpha males and hence really p***ed off with life, etc.). Political hue and cry is what turns them into "maneaters". Even in the case mentioned by Sylar above, the tiger had only killed a farmer - he was basically a cattle lifter. The other kill during the tranquilisation process was probably due to the villager being in the path of the escaping tiger, and as Corbett says "being swiped out of the way by a running tiger usually has quite permanent results". What was a villager doing in a tranquilising operation, anyway? Rubbernecking???

[Rajat]

Small question here: In the absence of legal hunting, how do the hunters (forest officials or invited ones) get their practice? Ok, forest officials (as well as wildlife photographers and enthusiasts, for instance) would probably have tracking / shadowing experience. But the judgement of the (quite probable) snap shot, where does that come from?

Hmm..

I wonder

[prashantsingh]

Small question here: In the absence of legal hunting, how do the hunters (forest officials or invited ones) get their practice?

There are three "Registered Hunters" I know personally . Two of them belong to erstwhile royal families who had hunted with their father's when hunting was legal in India. They are both in their mid 50's.
There is a younger hunter who has experience of hunting abroad.

But
The most famous amongst them , the man who has shot the highest number of maneaters in the country is a "school teacher" from a very humble background.
The story goes that this gentleman was posted in a far out place. A maneater had killed and eaten 4 of his school kids. Repeated requests to the Adm. fell on deaf ears. He was so upset with the whole thing that he applied for a gun licence. Bought a 12 bore gun (Indian Ord) and(after the leopard had killed another couple of kids)managed to shoot the maneater.
There was no looking back thereafter and now he does all his hunting with a .315 rifle.


As far as practice is concerned. You can get all the practice at a shooting range........ as long as you know where to shoot (shot placement).

[essdee1972]

Thanks, Prashantsingh! The school teacher is really inspiring. Although I must say the local admin must have been quite supporting to give a license to a school teacher!

Since you have been in similar situations, I wanted to know if the difference in stress levels between range practice, shooting a few concentric circles, and real maneater hunting, facing an animal which can kill you with a swipe, makes any difference. Adrenalin, fight-or-flight, etc. Also the movement of the target.

Cheers!
EssDee

[Risala]

The man with the .315....Lakhpat Singh Rawat ----last month shot his 32nd Leopard...though I wonder whether they are all man eaters.....since in our neck off the woods panic sets in pretty easily.

http://lakhapat.blogspot.in/2012/03/pho ... _4847.html

[fazalshoeb]

I was wondering how to take the permission from the goverment in india to shoot the man eaters will they give permission to any one who has a license weapon or he needs to be a experienced license hunter. any sugesstions.



fazal

[Hammerhead]

The most famous amongst them , the man who has shot the highest number of maneaters in the country is a "school teacher" from a very humble background.

There was no looking back thereafter and now he does all his hunting with a .315 rifle.

I believe it's this guy ..........

[Nitro Express]

That is Nawab Shafat Ali Khan.

Check the link below -

http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6152

Nitro Express