Wild Beasts and Their Ways, Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America — Volume 1Baker, Samuel White, Sir
History
Wild Beasts and Their Ways, Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America — Volume 1
Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Animal behavior; Hunting
There are two other varieties of bears in the continent of India, the
black (Ursus Thibetanus) and the brown, both of which are confined to
Cashmere and the Himalayah range. I have had no personal experience of
these animals, therefore I do not presume to offer myself as an
authority; but from the accounts I have received from those who have
hunted them successfully, they are much the same in their habits as the
average of their species.
The dangerous character of bears, in like manner with all other animals,
was accredited at a time when breechloaders and high velocities were
unknown, but with a '577 rifle and 6 drams of powder, or a No. 12
spherical and 7 drams of powder, I cannot conceive the possibility of
escape for any bear or other creature below the standard of a buffalo,
if the hunter is a cool and steady shot. The conditions of this theory
will include a solid bullet, not a hollow projectile dignified by the
term "Express."
I will conclude this notice of the bear with an example of the failure
of the hollow bullet, '577 Express, fired by a native gentleman, Zahur
al Islam, when shooting with me in the reserves of Singrampur in the
Central Provinces last winter.
We were driving for any kind of animals that the jungle might produce,
and, being on foot, we constructed the usual little hiding-place by
cutting half through a sapling about 3 feet from the root, and bearing
down upon the young tree so as to form a horizontal rail in front of our
seat; a similar cut at the back of another sapling about 3 inches thick,
facing the stem already laid, and that was also pressed down to
interlace with the branches of the prostrate tree. This makes a screen
which can be rendered still more opaque by the addition of a few green
boughs.
The grass was parched to a bright straw colour, and was about 4 feet
high. As the beaters approached, a bear rushed forward and passed within
15 paces of Zahur. He fired; the bear emitted a short growl and passed
on.
I assisted in tracking this animal by the blood upon the grass. Zahur
described the shot he had taken as oblique; as the bear had passed him,
therefore the bullet must have struck either the hindquarters full, or
the thigh.
We found a teak tree about 14 inches in diameter covered with small
pieces of flesh resembling sausage-meat, for a height of 6 feet from the
ground. The yellow grass at the foot of this tree was covered with
blood, and many minute fragments of flesh adhered to the leaves.
Searching the place carefully, we picked up two pieces of bone covered
with blood; these were very thick and strong, the larger fragment being
2 1/2 inches in length and 1 inch in width, evidently pieces belonging
to the upper portion of the thigh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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