The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-23

INDIAN PANTHER HUNTING.
A Difficult and Unproductive sport
and the Methods of Pursuing it.


From the Field.
OF all forms Of sport in India. sitting IN
at night over bait for painters is about
the most utterly wearisome and most I'M
productive. and yet at stations near to
which panthers are to be found nearly
every sportsman has tried it more or cess
often-generally without ever having seen,
much less bagged a panther. Sua, after
repeated failures. it is very hard to resist
the temptation of trying once again when
some village shikari comes in and reports
that panther comes to his village every
night, and has killed large number of
the Villagers cows or goats. The method
adopted in this form of sport is very SIM
pie. The sportsman sits up in a tree. on
native bedstead generally, while under
meath the tree is lethered a kid which is
supposed 10 bleat loudly, ana so attract
any panther which may be in the neigh
borhood within close range of the sports
man above him. OF course, a moonlight
night should be chosen; for this is not a
sine qua non, as a lantern with the glass
covered with white tissue paper hung in
a tree over the kid, makes a very fair
substitute for a moon, especially if the
ground around the kid is covered with
chan (Which is procurable at every Wiz
lage), as this makes the panther. much
ground were beneath him one reason
for the non-success of this form of sport
is simply that the panther on this par
ticular night does not 80 his rounds in
that jungle or else he comes so late that
the sportsman, tired of sitting up for
several hours, has gone home, or, what
is very commonly the case when both
sportsman and kid have gone 20 sleep at
their posts. Not uncommonly when the
panther does at last come with a rush
like a railway engine the sportsman is
so taken by surprise that he starts up on
his machan, which creaks loudly (and
all native bedsteads do creaD, and, of
| course, scares the panther. If a camp
| chair is placed upon the bedstead and
hung around with branches, so as to
make it invisible, it is possible to sit for
hours with great comfort and when the
panther seiZes the goat to lean quietly
forward and take the shot. This prevents
| all creaking and noise, and is far more
comfortable than lying fiat on ones side
or stomach for a length of time. The kid
generally beats loudly for half or three
quarters of an hour, and then lies down
and goes to sleep; after which nothing on
earth will make him bleat. This is the
general difficulty the sportsman has to
contend with for unless the kid beats
he may just as well so home at once, as
there is nothing to attract the panther.
There are several ways Of keeping the kid
awake and liVely-all more or less cruel,
and all equally useless. The only effective
method is 10 have two kids, one 10 be
tied up under the machan, the other to be
left with two reliable men al some place
few hundred yards away in the d.
rection from which the panther is least
likely to come. If only one man is left
In charge he will be afraid to remain
If there is a panther about; and If he does
not run away he will probably fan asleep.
When kid number one stops beating, the
men with number two should be quietly
whistIed up and the kids changed; and
when the fresh kid also goes to sleep,
the original one should be again tied up.
BY this means a sportsman can have
kid bleating under his tree from sunset
to sunrise if he has patience TO wait so
long-which, ] must confess, / never had.
/ must have sat up over kids some twenty
or twenty-five times before ever saw
panther but my perseverance was re-
warded at last, and then only after | be-
gan to try the plan of having two Kids,
a plan which answered exceedingly well.
A large panther had been doing lot Of
mischief for some months at Vlliage
some twenty miles from environments,
and The local shikari persuaded me to
30 and try for him So, having sent my
canD and two kids on ahead, L started
late. and reached the village about p. m.
/ L had machan rugged up not far from tne
village. and between it and rather eX-
tensfve Jungle from which the panther
generally came.
I got into my machan at dusk, and
had to change the kids only once before
I heard the panther grunting In the jun
gle about a quarter OF a mile away For
half an hour longer I heard nothing OF
him. and / began TO think he had passed
on But ali of a sudden he came with
tremendous rush from behind me, and lay
down beside the kid. l must have moved
roo quickly for the bedstead 0t was be-
fore / used a camp chair creaked, ana
the panther at once bOlted. He went
about fifty yards and lay down. watch
ing the kid After some ten minutes he
began to crawl very slowly toward my
Tree. and when he was about twenty
Yards off he again rushed at the Kid
caught it by the neck and tried TO make
off with IT, Tho peg to which the kid
was tied had not been sufficiently ham
n,ered into the ground, and IL came out
when the panther snatched away the KID.
IL was large and heavy, and made such
a noise as 1t bumped against the hard
ground that the panther was startled,
dropped the Kid and went Off After go-
ing some nfty yards, he lay down ana
watched the kid for nearly quarter OF
an hour He then began to crawl toward
h. step by step. ] was afraid to let him
come too near for fear he should make
another rush and make off with the Kid
before I could get shot SO, when he
was about twenty yards Off / fired az his
chest-not very large mark to aim al
bv moonlight When ! fred he gave a
loud wough, wough, and made off al full
speed before I could get a second shot.
1 could not find any blood that night;
next morning / found a few drops hut
could see nothing Of the panther 80 gave
him up os lost
Next day 1 beat the jungle in the neigh
borhood for spotted deer without success.
and when / had finished the last beat
sent man to look at a porcup!ne hole
close by. to see u there We're any signs
Of IL panther having entered Il. lie re-
r.1.rfad ihal he had aaau a ranIIl.-r NJ ihl.