Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1875 — Tiger-Hunting in Central India. [ARTICLE]

Tiger-Hunting in Central India.

A single tiger will kill iui ox about every five days, if not disturbed, eating, if very hungry, both hind-quarters the first night. He will not go farther than he can help after this meal, but will return again next eight to the carcass, which, in the meantime, he open stores away under a bank or covers with leaves, etc. This time he will finish all but the head; next night he will clean the bones; and then for a ■couple or days he will not take the trouble to hunt for a meal, though he will strike down another quarry if it comes near him. Should he have been fired* at, however, when thu6 returning to his kill, he will frequently abandon such measures of economy, and kill a fresh bullock whenever he is hungry. A tigress and grown cubs are also far more destructive, finishing a bullock in a night, and, like the daughter of a horse-leech, always crying for more. Tltoyoung tigers seem to rejoice in the exercise of their growing strength, springing up against trees and scratching the bark as high as they can reach by way of gymnastics, and if they get among a herd of cattle striking down as many as they can get hold of. The tiger very seldom kills his prey by the •“ sledge-hammer stroke” of his fore-paw, so often talked about, the usual way being to seize with the teeth the nape of the neck, and at the same time use the paws to hold the victim, and give a purchase for the wrench that dislocates the neck. Tigers that prey on cattle are generally perfectly well known to the cowherds ami ■other who resort to their neighborhood They seldom molest men, and are often driven away from their prey, after killing it, by the unarmed herdsmen. Frequent- - ly they are known by particular names; and they really seem in many cases to live among the villagers and their herds much like a semi-domesticated animal, though, from a mutual consent to avoid direct interviews as much as possible, they are chiefly known by their tracks in the river-beds, and by their depredations on the cattle.- They do not, of course, confine their attacks to the cattle of a single -village, usually having a whole circle of them where they are on visiting terms, and among which they distribute their favors with great impartiality. Generally there is at least one native in every circle of villages whose profession is that of shiJcari, or hunter, and who is always on the outlook to shoot the village tiger. When he hears of a bullock having been killed he proceeds to the spot and, erecting a platform of leafy boughs in the nearest tree, watches by night for the return of the tiger who, though he may kill and lap the blood during the day, never feeds before sunset. Generally he does not get a shot, the tiger being extremely suspicious when approaching his “kill ” and the .shikaris being usually such bunglars at their work as to disturb bim by the noise of their preparations. Often he misses when he does shoot, the jungle-king being somewhat trying to the nerves; and if he kills one tiger in the course of the year lie considers himself lucky. His weapon is a long matchlock, which lie loads with six “ fingers” of powder and two bullets. These fly a little apart, and if they hit are usually the death of the tiger. His method of shooting is sometimes imitated by lazy European sportsmen. Another way of hunting ordinary tigers is to beat them out of their mid-day*re-treat with a strong gang of beaters, supplied with drums, fireworks, etc., the guns themselves being posted at likely spots ahead. This plan is often successful when the operations are directed by some one who knows the ground. Frequently, however, the tiger is not found at all, and moreover he very commonly manages to escape at the sides or break back through the beat without coming up to the guns at all. It has also the disadvantage of exposing the beaters to much danger; and there are few who shoot in this fashion who have not had more than one beater killed before them. To stalk in on a tiger in his retreat on foot is generally impracticable, as a man commands so little of a view in thick cover that he rarelj- sees the tiger in time for a shot. In some places, however, where tigers lie in rocky places inaccessible to elephants this is the only way to do: and a very certain one it then is, there being generally little cover and plenty of commanding elevations whence to see and shoot The best way of hunting the tiger is undoubtedly that usually adopted in Central India—namely: to bring in the aid of the trained elephant and follow and shoot him in his mid-day retreat Anyone who thinks he has only got to mount himself on the back of an elephant and go to a jungle where he has heard of tigers, to make sure of killing one, will find himself very much mistaken on trying. A number of sportsmen with a large line of elephants may kill tigers if they simply beat through likely covers for a long-enough time; and many tigers are thus killed, or by driving the jungle with beaters, without the possession of any skill in woodcraft whatever. But no sort of hunting requires more careful arrangements, greater knowledge of the habits of the animal, perseverance and good shooting than the pursuit of the tiger by a single sportsman with a single elephant.

At the outset of one’s experience in forest life it is impossible to avoid the belief that the tiger of story is about to show himself at every step one takes in thick jungle; and it is not tiiLevery effort to meet with him has been used in vain that one realizes how very little danger from tigers attends a mere rambler in the jungles. During ten years of pretty constant roaming about on foot in the most tigerish localities of the central provinces I have only once come across a tiger when I was not out shooting, and only twice more when I was not actually searching for tigers to shbot. In truth, excepting in the very haunts of a known man-eater, there is no danger whatever in traversing any part of the jungles of this, or 1 believe any other, part of India. Some people affect to despise the practice of using elephants in following tigers and talk a good deal about shooting them on foot. As regards danger to the sportsman nine-tenths of the tigers mid to be shot ob foot are really killed from trees or rocks, where the sportsman is quite secure. The only danger, then, is to the unfortunate beaters, if used; and when this is not the case the sport generally resolves itself into an undignified sneaking about the outskirts erf' the covers, in the hope of getting an occasional pot-shot from a se-„ cure position. In this method of hunting many more tigers are wounded than are finally secured, the only danger lying in following up a wounded animal, which is usually avoided; and thus an innocuous animal is often converted into a scourge of the country-side. A very few sportsmen do for a short period of their lives make a practice of hunting and shooting tigers really on foot, but drey are seldom very successful, and sooner or later get killed, -or have such narrow escapes as to cure them of such silly folly tor the remainder of their days. A man. on foot has no change whatever in thick jungle with a tiger that is bent on killing him. He can-

not see a yard before him, and (is himself conspicuous to every sense ol (he brute, who can completely hide in a place that looks scarcely enough to conceal a rat and can move at will through the thickest cover without the slightest sound or stir. At the same time the sportsman who, as a rule, uses an elephant in thick cover will find quite enough opportunities, in special cases, of testing his nerve on foqt, particularly if he marks down and tracks his Own game instead of employing shikaris to do so. Even on the elephant all is not perfect safety, instances being not rare of elephants being completely pulled down by tigers, while accidents from the running away of the elephant in tree-jungle arc still more common. Much df the excitement of the sport depends on the sportsman’s method of attacking the tiger. Some men box a tiger up in a corner and push in at all hazards, getting repeatedly charged, while others keep at a distance, circling round and offering doors of escape to the tiger, and never get a charge at all. As a rule, when on an elephant in tair ground, the object should be to get the tiger to charge, instead of letting him sneak away, as the hunt is then ended in a short and exciting encounter, while if let away it may be hours before lie is found again, if he ever is at all. —“ Highbinds of Central India," by Capt. James Forsyth. tV