The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-27
PANTHER HUNTING IN INDIA.


VI all forms Oh spot III luold, S1ttiAS
up at night over bait for panthers is
about the most utterly wearisome and
most -unproductive. AID yet at stations
near to which pantbers are to be found
nearly every j sportsman has tried II
more or less often-generally without
ever having seen, much less bagged, a
panther. Still, after repeated failures,
it is very hard to resist the tempta-
ton of trying once again when some
village shikari comes in and reports
that a panther comes to his village
every night, and has killed large
number of the villagers cows or goats.
The method adopted in this form OIL
sport is very simple. The sportsman
sits up in tree, on a native bedstead
generally, while underneath the tree Is
tethered a. kid, which is supposed TO
bleat loudly, and SO attract any panther
which may be in the neighborhood
within close range of the sportsman
above him. OF course, 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 tree over the kid, makes a
very fair substitute for a moon, es-
covered with chaff (Which is procurable
at every yillage), as this makes the
panther much more easily seen than II
only the dark ground were beneath
him. One reason for the non-success of
this form of sport is simply that the
panther on this particular night does
not go 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 to 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 creak, and, OF
course, seares the panther. If camp
chair is placed upon the bedstead, and
hung round with branches, 50 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 length
of time. The kid generally beats loud
ly 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 greatest difficulty
the sportsman has to contend with, for
unless the kid beats he may just as
well go home at once as there is moth
ing to attract the panther.
of in o.
the kid awake and lively-all more or
only effective method is to have two
kids, one to be tied up under the
machan, the other to be left with two
reliable men at some place few hum
dred yards away in the direction 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 fall asleep.
When kid number one stops bleating,
the men with number two should be
quietly whistled 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 a kid bleating
under his tree from sunset to sunrise,
If he has patience to wait so long
which, 1 must confess, I never had 1
must have sat up over kids some twen-
ty or twenty-five times before I even
saw a panther, but my perseverance
was rewarded at last, and then only
after 1 began to try the plan of having
two kids, a plan which answered ex-
ceedingly well. A large panther had
been doing a lot of mischief for some
months at village some twenty miles
from environments, and the local shi-
kari persuaded me to go and try for
him. So, having sent my camp and
two kids on ahead, I started late, and
reached the village about p. m.
had a machan rugged up not far from
the village, and between it and a
rather extensive jungle from which the
| panther generally came.
l got into my machan at dusk and had
to change the kids only once before /
heard the panther grunting in the jun
gle about quarter of a mile away. For
half an hour longer I heard nothing of
him, and l began to think he had pass
ed on. But all of a sudden he came
with a tremendous rush from behind
me, and lay down beside the kid.
must have moved too quickly, for the
bedstead Gt was before I used camp
chair) creaked, and the panther at once
boited. He went about fifty yards and
lay down, watching 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, The peg
| to which the kid was tied had not been
| sufficiently hammered into the ground,
and it came out when the panther
| snatched away the kid. 1t was large
and heavy, and made such a noise as
| it bumped against the hard ground that
the panther was startled, dropped the
| kid and went off. After going some
| fifty yards, he lay down and watched
| the kid for nearly a quarter of an hour.
! He then began to crawl toward it step
by step. was afraid to let him come
too near, for fear he should make an
| ether rush and make off with the kid
before l could get a shot. So, when he
was about twenty yards off, fired al
his chest-not very large mark to
aim at by moonlight. When l fired he
gave loud wough, wough and made
off at full speed before / could get a
second shot. / could not find any blood
that night; next morning 1 found a few
drops, but could see nothing of the
panther, so gave him up as lost
! Next day l beat the jungle in the
neighborhood for spotted deer without
success. and when / had finished the
last beat / sent a man to look at a
porcupine hole close by to see If there