A few incidents come to mind.
INCIDENT 1
During the 1971 Indo-Pak war, I was serving in the East Bengal Regiment as a Staff Sergeant when my unit faced two attacks from an Asian sloth bear (in the Mymensingh-India border) & a Gaur (in the Chittagong Hill Tracts) when we were on night patrol in search of enemy soldiers. By then, the Pakistani garrisons had already been overrun in these areas but our commanding officer was paranoid that the Pakistani forces might attempt to take back the garrisons from Bengali control. We killed both the Asian sloth bear & the Gaur. Although on both incidents, I realized just how poor a weapon a .308 Winchester FN FAL (loaded with 147Gr Indian Ordinance Factories FMJ military ball) really is against four legged dangerous game.
INCIDENT 2
I hunted a Seladang in the hills of Chiengmai, Northern Thailand in 1979. While my guides were butchering the meat, they were attacked by a leopard. I managed to kill the leopard, but not before he gave me a little trouble. I was using a .30-06 Springfield Anschutz Modell 110 on that particular hunt, and the only ammunition I had with me… were solids (Kynoch 220Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ) which are unsuitable for body shots on leopard.
INCIDENT 3 (THIS STORY IS NOT MINE BUT IS FAR TOO GRIPPING NOT TO SHARE)
Those of you who’ve read my autobiography, will recall that I mentioned a hunter (and close personal friend) by the name of Sitesh Daas. He’s the manager of a tea estate along the Sylhet-India border. On a cold foggy morning in the winter of 1991 (back when the border was still unfenced), Sitesh went out into the interior of the tea estate to hunt red jungle fowl (wild chicken). He was armed with his 12 gauge 3” Magnum fully choked Midland Gun Company boxlock non ejector. In one barrel, he had loaded an Eley Magnum 46 gram #1 shell (for hunting red junglefowl). In the other barrel, he had loaded an Eley Alphamax 36 gram LG buckshot shell (for self defense lest he run into a wild boar which are quite abundant in that territory). This decision would end up saving his life.
Due to the fog, Sitesh could not see everything clearly and he accidentally stepped on a sleeping Asian sloth bear. The enraged animal charged at Sitesh, who (in self defense) fired the barrel loaded with the LG shell into the bear’s chest. Range was eight or nine feet maximum. The bear swiped at Sitesh’s face with his huge paw, tearing off a huge chunk of Sitesh’s bottom right face. Sitesh passed out, while the bear went a full mile forward before succumbing to the buckshot wound.
Sitesh was airlifted and given treatment by the tea estate owner at Dacca CMH (Combined Military Hospital). The bear’s claws narrowly missed Sitesh’s right eye by an inch. It took extensive reconstructive facial surgeries but after two whole years… Sitesh was finally able to eat solid food again. Today, he continues to hunt and bless me with his excellent friendship. If he had mistakenly fired the barrel with the #1 birdshot shell in it, instead of the barrel with the LG buckshot shell in it… Then, today Sitesh would not be among the living. The fact that he was armed with a double trigger side by side (which allowed him to instantly choose which shell he wanted to fire) instead of a single barrel, a pump action, a semi automatic or even a double barrel shotun equipped with a single trigger (be it selective or non selective)… is what ended up saving his life.
Here’s the Asian sloth bear from Incident 1.
