We had sent away 12 miles for a chamar, a cringing little creature about four and a half feet tall, with bright, gleaming eyes and very sharp knives of all descriptions. As he turned, I could see his elephant get the wind of the tiger and hold his trunk and large tusks high in the air. Traveler’s checks and enough cash for gifts, tip, etc. The weather was very hot and he had been driven rapidly, which made him angry. As he rounded a turn about 60 yards away, I let him have it with my right barrel. Intense silence for about 20 minutes followed; then with a thundering roar and bounding down the watercourse, with his long tail erect over his back and his head held high, came the monarch of the forest straight for us. If I had been using a small caliber, high-velocity rifle, it probably would have made only a small hole, but the old .450, mushrooming when it struck the hair, practically disemboweled him. Down it went, out of sight, beyond the bank, along the edge of the little nala that it had been trying so hard to get to in order to escape under the covering banks. I had with me a U. S. Springfield rifle, a marvelously accurate weapon at all ranges. We had killed so many animals during our last three days that their pelts were not sufficiently dry to pack, so we had to spread them on top of the automobile truck that was to carry our baggage south, allowing them to dry en route. Beyond them was a guard of honor of infantry in brilliant Indian uniforms, and then we passed the line of picturesque temples and the palace to the guest house, where the Maharaja received us and bade us welcome. There he had always worn the hunting costume of jodpurs, or tight breeches, and the ordinary European coat, but now he was dressed in his resplendent court robes, with the great ancestral jewels around his neck and on his chest. Ten minutes elapsed and we heard a great roar from the male tiger and strenuous efforts on the part of the beaters to turn him back. He sat down on his haunches and looked around, concealed from our sight, though several of the stops in the trees could see him. Enraged growls came with every stride. They are covered with long, fluffy hairâstrange for a hot countryâwhich seems to protect them from bees, of which they are very fond. Elephant Numbers, Elephant Hunting Rural communities and their leaders and MPs (Members of Parliament) say that after hunting was banned in Botswana, in 2014, they suffered substantial increases in crop losses and property damage due to elephants… ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. On it went, up the steep bank, and again I fired, but with no apparent result. I took a snapshot and either missed it completely or barely touched it and it was gone. Both bears were dead and were very fine specimens. We had no time to waste. Finally, we could discern the elephants of the shikari to our right, but the left was still some distance off. We had seen the hospital in charge of an excellent Indian surgeon, the jail where the culprits not only work out their penal servitude, but are instructed in various trades, so that they may be self-supporting when they return to their communities. From our Churna resthouse we rode over to Supplai resthouse, close beside another Gond village, where we were the guests of Lieutenant Hammond, of the British army. The day following Mrs. Mitchell's successful shot we returned to the capital, where we learned that the huge tiger which had escaped us the first day and who had gotten through seven beats had killed a large buffalo out of a herd and had walked off with him into the woods, carrying him by the nape of the neck, as a cat carries a newborn kitten. At this time also the expedition for the ascent of Mount Everest was being assembled at Darjeeling. He was the biggest tiger that I have ever seen, either in the woods or in captivity, although larger tigers have been killed, the Maharaja himself killing one last year which measured 10 feet 8 inches. The chief hunter, called the shikari, put us on stands about 100 yards apart, perpendicular to the banks of the river. Of this number, snakes killed 1,133; tigers, 352; panthers, 114; bears, 15; wolves, 115; hyenas, 4; and other animals, 58. Several miles before we reached Ambikapur, the capital of Surguja, we could plainly see the Maharaja's palace, with the little houses of his subjects clustered around it. Tigers have been found to be killing elephants, mainly young ones, in the famed Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and in a few cases eating them too, according to an official study. An escort of lancers was in attendance, and as we entered the city school children were drawn up on each side of the road waving small flags, with their teachers among them, also with flags. I slipped a cartridge into Mrs. Mitchell's .405 Winchester and tried a snapshot, but it hit a tree immediately beside him and he was through a beat for the seventh time. Garlands were placed around our necks and bouquets of flowers presented. Photo: https://goo.gl/YvbGSQ. Relays of these carriers were provided for, while a conductor belonging to the state police accompanied them all the way through on horseback. Animal rights activists are revolted by a series of trophy photos that have emerged showing Eric and Donald Jr. Trump posing with a dead elephant, kudu, civet cat and waterbuck. They made this distance in the incredibly short time of 39 hours. We reached the resthouse about ten that night and found that Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Jollye had gone to the panther kill earlier. The ruins of no less than eight of these remain, and a brand-new one is now being built, equipped, and populated completely by the British. He was furious. Some of his men were reduced to tears. Across it and to our left stood the Maharaja, on the front steps of his reception hall and throne room. Along its banks were the huts of the natives, while the small islands were frequented by bitterns, plover, ducks of various kinds, and cormorants. Along the top is a crenelated wall with gold decorations. The surmise proved correct. The number of the lobes in the liver is supposed to indicate the age of the animal, a new lobe presumably coming each year, but from my experience I do not believe that this is accurate. We started back, the dead tiger being carried on a palanquin much like Mrs. Mitchell's. I first met Lord Reading in the spring of 1919, when he took passage on the Aquitania, then a troopship, on which I had command of the troops, numbering nearly 9,000 men. We threw down some sticks and stones, but as there was no response, I jumped down the bank and gave the tail a hard pull. Again she went toward the stops and was gently turned back from them. The great cat leaped toward us and crossed the stream at the foot of the machan, falling back dead, as we gave her two more bullets, which were really unnecessary. Accounts of tigers attacking and killing adult Elephants and Rhinos! My machan was only eight feet from the ground, and tigers have pulled men from trees 17 feet up. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- The tiger avoids a well-armed man, and it is next to impossible to stalk the beast on foot, except during the height of the dry season, at a water hole. Wild dogs hunt in large packs, as our own wolves do, and are very destructive to game; so that every opportunity is taken to kill them. He was then the Ambassador of Great Britain to the United States. Off the Maharaja started on one of his fastest elephants while I returned to my post in the tree to await developments. Here we talked while Mrs. Mitchell remained in the main audience hall, where the royal ladies soon appeared and took their places beside her on the dais, while the Maharaja sat on a low cushion on the floor and interpreted for them. The panther had not returned, but a hyena had come and devoured it. Knowing that he would not leave cover, the Maharaja had sent some elephants and shikaris up to a place where the jungle narrowed down to a small neck which connected with an adjacent jungle. Hunting alone, a tiger can take down prey four to five times its own size. I had Colonel Fechet, one of the best shots in the United States, target my rifles before I left for the Far East. She was stone-dead, a fine big tigress in splendid condition. Then we had an Indian galvanized-iron oven, in which we were to bake excellent bread and cake later on. Quickly I loaded and shot again, and once more the tiger went down. Every muscle was tense and she could have jumped instantly many feet in any direction. A tiger was driven by the machan and was wounded. King George V took a brief holiday in Nepal spending time on elephant back whilst tiger hunting, following the Delhi Durbar of 1911. We received him in the large reception room of the guest house, on whose floor there were four tremendous tiger rugs. They were kept in alignment by the shikaris, who rode from side to side on their elephants. The object in beating is to inclose the tiger in a wide-flung circle of men and then gradually to drive him into an ever-narrowing funnel of stops to the waiting guns. In the Central Provinces, where we hunted, the total number of reported deaths from these destroyers of human life was 1,791 in 1923. At the higher levels the Tibetans were encounteredâbig, ruddy-faced, rollicking individuals, both men and women. The lucky bones, found at the point of the shoulder and entirely detached from any other member, give good fortune to any one carrying them. hunting tigers in Terai Nepal by elephant back. And where once the National Geographic Society celebrated such hunting accounts, it nowâthrough its Big Cats Initiativeâpartners with wildlife conservation programs such as Panthera and the Global Tiger Initiative to save the species and its habitat. Elephants, which are poached for ivory, and rhinos, which are poached for horns, are often at the forefront of conservation campaigns. No one was to be seen, and the only sound was the ever-increasing din of the approaching beaters. They had traveled ten miles to the hunt, ten miles back, had participated in the beat, and some had hunted in the morning before we started, making a total of at least 35 miles or more for the day. It is hard to express one's exaltation at the first tiger. Two machans had been erected on the banks for fish shooting and the next morning we took our posts in these and got several specimens measuring from one and a half to two and a half feet. A bright new moon lighted our first view of the wonderful Taj Mahal, while cool, bracing weather accompanied us to the palaces and haunts of the Great Moguls. In addition I had an 11-millimeter Mauser. The tiger had now seen me. This state is feudal in all respects, and the inhabitants seem happier than in the British provinces, where the people are going through the throes of instruction in self-government. One was that the heaviest rifles are necessary to stop these great beasts. If it becomes hot, the water is regurgitated and sprayed over its back, giving the rider an unlooked-for shower bath. The shikaris are also provided with ball ammunition, in case the tigers attack the beaters. It disappeared as soon as my shot had been fired, and I thought that it had gone for good, when suddenly I heard a roar behind me and the animal appeared, not 20 feet away, speeding by the machan. MRS. MITCHELL'S FIRST TIGRESS, SHOT NEAR SRINAGAR This animal, after being mortally wounded with the first shot, charged right up to the machan. His wife shot the tiger through the heart and it died with its teeth in her husband. Soon the game began to come, beautiful gray jungle fowl, a little larger than the red jungle fowl found farther north. The tremendous mountain masses radiating out from Kinchinjunga, 28,000 feet in height, as a center, with more than ten peaks of over 22,000 feet altitude to right and left, furnish the greatest mountain panorama in the world. The purdah system prevents this. That was wholly jungle, with very few fields crudely cultivated; this was a rice country, with jungles covering only the mountains and hills and unprolific ground in the valleys. Providing meat makes the bush meat trade redundant, thereby helping to save other species. Only a few days before we started hunting, a young man had followed a wounded tiger not very far from where we were shooting, and the animal had stalked him and mauled him so terribly that he died within three days. There are many superstitions and marvels connected with tigers. We were sure that more tigers were in the beat, but we could not tell whether they had broken back through the beaters or were still coming our way. At 4 the next morning we started our trip to the railway at Itarsi, and from there went by a devious route to Kharsia, the railway station of the native State of Surguja. The Viceroy had made tentative arrangements to go shooting in the Central Provinces, and Sir Frank Sly, the genial governor of that part of India, had set aside one of the best blocks of Government forest and kept it unhunted for a long time in expectation of the occasion. Old Stripes had sensed the defect in the beat, had immediately taken advantage of it, and made his escape. It is strange how luck runs. I have never seen a great animal that can conceal itself behind such small objects or that is so expert in the use of cover. He began pounding on a large bamboo to keep the tigers from breaking out in that direction. Their necks and heads were iridescent in the sunlight and the tails of the cocks appeared like jewels of many colors. They lie down on their sides, put their heads under the water, and are scrubbed all over by their attendants. In an instant it was at the top of the river bank above me and turned, roaring, to face me. Certified copy of your Passport for the taxidermist. They do not travel at an ordinary dogtrot, but at an extended run. He fell stone-dead, in his full stride, without uttering a sound or making any motion whatsoever. I was astonished at the strength, the beauty, and the size of the tigers. She had become thirsty, in all probability, and had descended. It reminded me of what a Frenchman had said to some friends after seeing his first tiger. The present tiger was a very canny animalâa great cattle-killer, who had carried off innumerable cows and buffaloes. He remained entirely by himself, cooked his own food, and slept among his skins. It seemed as if the whole forest opened a huge door, out of which these grand animals charged toward me. The quarry disappeared for a few minutes; then all of a sudden broke at top speed for my side of the river and about 200 yards to my right. The people are of the Dravidian race, aborigines of the country, called Gonds. The importing of so-called hunting trophies was banned by former President Obama in 2014, but the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it will allow Americans to bring back elephant … This is a very much harder thing to do than it sounds. Now it requires a month to get there. 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