Baagh Shikar: The Art Of Hunting The Royal Bengal Tiger

[mark-hunter]

Then, as more of these stalwart lads were transferred to an African post, they thought they’d try the same with lions!

This evolved to a new sport, so called lion riding, with rifles.
Famous story of 280 Ross and mr Grey.

This is from Chuck Hawks but you can find this story with any reputable author researching 280 ross.

The case of a refined English gent named Grey will provide an excellent example. Grey and two companions were hunting driven lion from horse back in the African Savannas, early in the last century. Grey was armed with a .280 Ross rifle. The agreement was that if the beaters put up a lion, the riders were to merge together before an attempt was made to take it. The beaters did put up two lions, and Grey's companions were a considerable distance away.

Grey foolishly decided to take the male lion himself with his .280. He rode close and fired a shot into it, wounding but not disabling the beast. Understandably, the lion took exception to this unprovoked assault and charged, knocking Grey to the ground and biting and clawing him to teach him some manners, before bounding off into the long grass.

Although terribly mutilated, Grey did not die straight away. He managed to communicate to his companions that his fate was entirely due to his own stupid actions and not the fault of the beaters. He died several days later in a hospital. The wounded lion was tracked and dispatched by Grey's companions. Such incidents only added to the shady reputation of the .280 Ross as unreliable cartridge in an unreliable rifle.

 

[Flbt]

ROYAL BENGAL TIGERS & THE LAW
During the British colonial era (prior to 1947), there were no legal regulations against the wanton butchery of these magnificent creatures. It was considered rather fashionable amongst British military officers and the Nawabs and Maharajas to hunt multiple Royal Bengal tigers for sport during a single hunt.

During the East Pakistani era (1948-1970), Royal Bengal tigers were considered to be vermin. They were recognized only as livestock killers and man eaters. The situation was such that a hunter was legally prohibited from hunting Axis deer in the Sundarban mangrove forests without a written permit from the Sundarban Department of Forests, but no legal regulations existed for hunting Royal Bengal tigers. On the contrary, the Sundarban Department of Forests used to issue generous financial rewards to those who managed to exterminate man eating and livestock killing Royal Bengal tigers.

After the country became Independent in 1971, the new government passed the Wildlife Conservation Act in 1973. This act offered complete legal protection to Royal Bengal tigers and made it a criminally punishable offense to kill one. A Royal Bengal tiger could only be legally killed if it had become a man eater and the Ministry of Forests had issued a Death-Order for the animal in question. This would be done if the Chief Conservator of Forests of Bangladesh (speaking on behalf of theSundarban Department of Forests) had proven to the Ministry of Forests that ALL NON LETHAL ATTEMPTS TO CONTEND WITH THE MAN EATER HAD CULMINATED IN UNSUCCESSFUL RESULTS.

Between 1973 and 2022, the Ministry of Forests has only issued Death-Orders for 4 man eating Royal Bengal tigers. 3 were shot by myself in 1981, 1988 and 1989. One was killed by the late Pachabdi Gazi via gun-trap in 1987. The man eater of Atharobeki (which I shot in 1989) was the last Royal Bengal tiger for which the Ministry of Forests had issued a Death-Order. The reason for this is quite unfortunate.

Prior to me reluctantly agreeing to go after the man eater of Atharobeki, 2 military officers by the name of Brigadier General Mahmudul Hassan & Major Poton Khan (a former forum member here & then branch supervisor of Bengal Ordinance Factories) had made an attempt to go after the problem animal with their sepoys. What ended up happening, was downright ugly. When they went to the Sundarbans to hunt down the Man Eater of Atharobeki, they massacred 5 Royal Bengal tigers… none of whom were the man eater in question- 1 male tiger, 3 tigresses (1 of whom was pregnant) & 1 sub-grown cub. The news eventually got leaked to the media (because of the Major's "Boasts") and the ignorant anti hunting masses publicly rioted outside the Ministry of Forests until Chief Conservator of Forests Noor Uz Zaman publicly declared never to issue another ”Kill-Order” ever again after the Man Eater of Atharobeki would be dispatched. Then, I had to step in and (through sheer luck) managed to successfully hunt down the man eater on the existing “Kill Order”.

In theory, the government still possesses the discretion to issue a Death-Order for a man eating Royal Bengal tiger but they are unlikely to do so due to pressure from neighbouring & European foreign countries. Without delving into any political subject matter, the reason for this is because these countries tends to view our part of the world as a neocolonial possession of theirs … and in the eyes of the urban people living in these “Developed Countries”, animal lives are given a higher priority than the human lives in our part of the world.

View attachment 560024
The Shah Of Iran With A Royal Bengal Tiger & Royal Bengal Tigress, Shot From The Deck Of A Launch (1968)

Loved the write up.

I remember a documentary on the honey gathers in the Sunterban and how the tiger were a problem.
And how they tried to use mask on the back of there heads
And that the tiger would take men off boats