When I was in the 4th year – a good friend of mine, Subin Verma, suggested going on a hunt or a shikar. He had been on hunts before and he knew what he was talking about. It would be my first experience. It was planned as a two day trip – essential condition to accompany him was that one had to be a non-vegetarian as we would have to live off our kill.
Subin had advised us to wear our workshop khakis as there were no jeans in those days (atleast none of us owned any), and canvas shoes (no sophisticated footwear like that of the present day was available). I had a pair of the Bata's “Jungle Boots” as they were called and I found this the most appropriate occasion for using them. The boots were an olive green ankle high contraption which took about 5 minutes to put on. The jungle boots were also a part of the standard issue of our army jawans in those days.
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Subin being awarded a gold medal in Tanzania for killing a man-eating lion (Recent pic of Subin) |
Four of us – including Subin – set out by bus from Ranchi. We were headed to forest area in Sarju Block, Palamau District. We reached our first stop – the house of a forest officer, who was to arrange the gun(s), spotlight, place to stay and a jeep. Phones were rare and he had no info of our coming. The helpful Forest Officer somehow managed to arrange a logging truck. All the other items were available with him. He had a 12 bore gun – they are the ones which used cartridges of different categories, eg., Birdshot, Light Game(LG), Medium Game (MG) etc. etc. He had only three cartridges with him – one Bird Shot and two LG. The Bird Shot has about 200 small pellets in it, the LG has 6 pellets – large enough to kill or injure a reasonably sized game. Am not sure whether same norms are being used today – with so much sophistication in weapons and ammo. So packed with our gear – we set out for the forest guest house where we were going to be accommodated.
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| Jungle Boots - Bata |
After dark we set out in the rickety truck on the bumpy forest roads, connecting the spotlight from the truck's battery. Since there was plenty of room, Subin had the good sense to take along an orderly, who was equipped with a torch and an axe. With the truck bouncing, like a boat in rough sea, on the bumpy terrain and we holding on to its wooden sides – were getting splinters in our hands. It was quite an experience. For a long time the only animals we spotted were rabbits. After about a few hours of being on the jungle paths, referred to as the 'trail' – we spotted a barking deer – that's a small variety of deer, also called Muntjak or Kakad; its almost the size of small dog or a spaniel – its alarm call resembles the bark of a dog, hence the name. Subin took aim and fired.
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| Our rickety truck |
The ear shattering shot resounded in the silent jungle and the animal just crumbled to the ground. We had our orderly haul it into the truck, and we decided to roam a bit more. After about an hour or so the deer was writhing in pain and was not dead – in spite of the fact the all the 6 pellets had entered the neck and head area. We could have used the second LG cartridge to end its troubles – but Subin decided against it – being low on ammo. He told the orderly to use his axe instead. That ended the poor beast's agony – but it also converted one of our group – Kuldeep Kalavar – to instant vegetarianism, unable to eat the kill. We returned back around dawn – without spotting any more game. The were plenty of rabbits, foxes and some jungle cats, but no animal for the shikar.
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| 12 Bore Gun |
We were supposed to return that day but with no good kill to take home – we voted to stay an additional night. Our lunch and dinner was made of Barking deer and we had to get some potatoes from a nearby village, for our dear friend who had become vegetarian.
So again we set out in the night after dinner. Today we managed to spot our first kill fairly soon – it was a full grown Sambar deer, it had no antlers – so probably a female. Subin made sure that there were no calves around, otherwise he would have not killed the female. He was a damn good shot and he got it straight through the heart. We did not have any problem or issue like we had had the previous night.
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| 12 Bore Cartridges |
Next morning we set off on the return trip. On the way we spotted a flock of green pigeons (fakta - in Hindi). Wirh one bird shot still available, Subin allowed me to shoot. We bagged one fakta, and carried it to the Forest Officer's home, where his wife cooked it for breakfast - delicious...
The deer we had got was almost the size of the Indian cow. It must have been about 600 lbs. It got skinned in the nearby village and was brought to the FO's house. We carried about 200 lbs of meat – in a big jute sack with us when we returned to college; the rest of the meat had been given to the villagers and helpers by the FO, to have a feast.
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| Barking Deer |
The neighborhood meat canteen was really useful – the entire meat was cooked and he was given instructions to serve it free to who ever wanted it, first come first served – as long as it would last. Word spread quickly and it all got consumed within the next day.
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| Sambar Deer - courtesy Wikimedia |
Four of us were not able to forget the trip and were constantly reminded of it for at least 2 more weeks – as we had to keep pulling out splinters of wood from all the nooks and corners of our bodies, which we had manged to pick up – especially as we would lie down on the wooden floor of the truck during our return to the base. We had managed to pick them up from the wooden sides and floor of the truck while negotiating the bumpy jungle roads.
Subin is now settled in the US; we are still in touch and meet sometimes. Shikar is one of his passions and his house is full of trophies - mostly hunted in Africa. His trophies and his wide range of latest guns adorn most of the walls in his home. It would not be out of place to mention that he is a very well known shikari in the African continent and he had been specifically invited to Tanzania for help in getting the marauding and man-eating lion, this lion had already killed 40 natives and one seasoned hunter before he fell to Subin's bullet.
