Maneater Shot dead in Faizabad

[Sakobav]

I am not sure whether this was reported on IFG. Read about it on Nitroexpress. The hunter was Nawab Shafat Ali Khan of Hyderabad, his rifle was 458 calibre Winchester Magnum rifle. May be Hyderabad folks know this gent.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Manea ... st/427708/

http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat ... Post130143

Cheers

[Sujay]

The manner in which the last victim was taken left a comical as well as tragic legacy..

On roars of a tiger, rifles fell from hand, hunters on elephants run away leaving the guide ( Raghu Raj in the Indian Express link posted by ngrewal) to be eaten by the man eater. Incidentally, the forest officers kept telling the parents of the victim that he was never in their team. The lid was blown off by an eye witness who watched the whole episode from a tube well room......more here:--

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/17/stories ... 470300.htm

[The Doc]

The confusion continues, there might be more man eaters out there , or did they hunt the wrong one down ???

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/one-m ... ed/428263/

[BJL]

Sure do hope they got the right tiger. Not like there are plenty of tigers to spare.

[snIPer]

Actually the did hunt the wrong one first and the second one they got is supposedly the real man eater.

[HydNawab]

Had the pleasure of meeting Nawab Shafaat Ali Khan today.He narrated the full story of how he had to track the animal for 40 days.The UP govt., had killed someother tiger before and then it was declared by chief conservator of forest that the maneater was dead. Then again on 3rd Jan 2009, there was another killing.So he was called by the UP govt and appointed operation incharge.

He also mentioned that this tigeress was very unusual since it used to travel 10-15 kms after finishing its kill. It was officially declared by the UP govt that 5 people were killed when infact 19 people were killed and more than 35 people were injured.He shot it with a Winchester 458 Mag rifle and was shot 3 times.None penetrated the tigeress' body. The final shot was at 20 yards in between the eyes.

The forest department had old .315, 7mm and single barrel shotguns and were not equipped to hunt the maneater. The first day he was greeted by over 50 people who kept following him.So he asked the CCF to just give him 4 men and one mahut and an elephant.

He was kind enough to sign a picture of his kill for me.WIll upload the picture tomorrow.Also are pictures of the half eaten men and women which the tigeress had killed.He finally killed the maneater on 24/02/2009 and signed the picture saying that he am signing the picture and the date mentioned in the picture is of the day he finally shot the maneater.

It was indeed a pleasure speaking with him today and share his experience on the same with me.

Ashar

[rcdoma]

Lucky you!!!

Great shooting! Hope he was sitting in a tree stand or something, out of reach of the tiger. He needs to ask GOI permission to import some fresh ammo at max power .

[HydNawab]

He was sitting on a 20 feet high platform with his tracker Kamaal.The bait was what we a call a 'panda' in India. The wild dogs killed it and we fighting for the flesh when they suddenly stopped barking.I guess this was when he realized that the tigeress was near by.As narrated by him, the tigress was very vigilant and was sitting 10 yards from the bait.Once the light was put upon it, the tigress about to leap towards the light.This is when he took the first shot between the neck and shoulder, the second shot was on the shoulder and the finishing shot between the eyes.By this time, the tigress was right under the tree.

[Sakobav]

Thanks for the update HydNawab

Best

[penpusher]

HydNawab,

He shot it with a Winchester 458 Mag rifle and was shot 3 times.None penetrated the tigeress' body

Can you please elaborate on this.I am sure you mean something else.If the bullets did not penetrate how did the animal die?

Congratulations to the hunter for a job well done.

PS-Another maneater has been shot in Assam.

[dev]

Animal died of the blast and the sheer audacity of the hunter upsetting its dinner must have given it a stroke.

Dev

[Olly]

[HydNawab]

The animal died with the final shot in the head.The xray revealed that the bullet had gone through the upper nose and cracked the back portion of the skull and had stopped there.The fired two shots had just injured the animal and it covered a distance of 25 yards with the first two shots.When the tiger was under the tree, the tracker dropped the light but he had a large maglite on hand.He also mentioned that they were on the verge of the platform and the maneater was about to leap again, he took the shot.He repeatedly mentioned that he was surprised when 2 bullets with 5000 pounds of force couldnt stop the animal completely even though one bullet was on the shoulder and another was between the neck and the shoulder.When he examined the animal, he found lots of LG shots on the animal.

[penpusher]

The animal died with the final shot in the head.The xray revealed that the bullet had gone through the upper nose and cracked the back portion of the skull and had stopped there.The fired two shots had just injured the animal and it covered a distance of 25 yards with the first two shots.When the tiger was under the tree, the tracker dropped the light but he had a large maglite on hand.He also mentioned that they were on the verge of the platform and the maneater was about to leap again, he took the shot.He repeatedly mentioned that he was surprised when 2 bullets with 5000 pounds of force couldnt stop the animal completely even though one bullet was on the shoulder and another was between the neck and the shoulder.When he examined the animal, he found lots of LG shots on the animal.

With adrenaline pumping even though it may have been shot fatally an animal can still keep on going.Not without reason that they say,it is the dead ones that kill you.What load was he using?

Too often do we go by the caliber and not even consider the load's used.Not unusual considering hunting has been banned for almost 20 years and getting quality ammo is next to impossible in India.People with rifles built for Dangerous Game are holding them on licenses for self defense.

[dev]

That charge would have turned most men's blood to water. The nawab must be having nerves of steel.
Great job by all accounts.

Dev