Hunting a Man-Eater

[xl_target]

I came across this post in another forum. It is a hair-raising (true) story told very simply. The poster has not yet finished the story but it is fascinating to see it unfold.

July 23rd 2011.
In a remote village a girl in her teens goes out from her house in the early hours of the morning to her uncles house barely 100 yards away.
She does not return by afternoon. The Uncle has not seen her. They assume she has gone to the school instead. By evening a search is launched.
The girls head and a small portion of the leg are found in the lantana bush barely 50 yards below the narrow mule track which connects the two houses.
The work of a Leopard. A clever and cunning animal . What is amazing is that no one has heard a sound or seen anything unusual till the remains are found.
Her beautiful long hair entangled so badly in the bush that they have to be cut through . The left over are put together and cremated on a pyre.

In an open Jeep and on foot, at night, these two hunters are trying to flush a confirmed man-eating Leopard. Using themselves as bait? Holy Cow!

I must admit that on the first night when we went out for the walk I was rather terrified with the strangest of thoughts. I could almost picturise myself being bitten by a cobra in the middle of the night.
We would start our search at dusk and would continue to walk till past mid night. Take a halt for a couple of hours and resume the return journey. Be back in the camp by dawn for a cup of hot tea.
At the slightest of sound Singh would stop and focus the light in that direction. My job was to ape him. When he stopped, I stopped. When he bent down , I bent down. When he crawled , I crawled. We had decided , that if we came upon the maneater well in sight and with enough time. We would both shoot together at the count of three. One ,Two ,Three(bang). He with his thirty oh six. I with the .315.

Read on as the story continues, from convincing the locals (in a village in India) to juggling landslides and washouts, as these guys try to end this reign of terror (that the villagers are under). It's well written and its happening right now.

I think anyone who has read Jim Corbett or Peter Hathaway Capstick will enjoy this.


Here is the link

[Loosedhorse]

"Maneater of Devprayag." India. The rifle is I believe an Indian Ordnance (IOF) SP in .315 Indian (Rimmed).

I agree that the author is consciously imitating Capstick...and I have no quarrel with that at all.

SPOILER ALERT: if you're waiting for the end of the story, don't click here

[xl_target]

Umm! You might have been a little premature with your spoiler. It is my understanding that this particular hunt is ongoing and hasn't been concluded yet.

This particular hunter has shot 9 maneaters whereas in the link pointed out by you, the hunter claims to have shot at least 31. The name "Singh" is very common in parts of India. In some parts of India, almost everyone has "Singh" in some part of their name.

The .315 mentioned in the post would indeed be the IOF .315. Enfield action.

[Lanius]

Singh means 'Lion', and is so common because all male Sikhs are surnamed 'Singh'. Other groups use it too.
Female Sikhs are surnamed 'Kaur', which means 'princess'.