Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-17
INDIAN PANTHER HUNTING.
Dihicult and reproductive Snort
and the Methods of Pursuing 1t.

from Field.
or all forms of sport in India sitting up
at night over a bait for panthers is about
the most utterly wearlsome and most I'M
productive, and yet at stations near to
which panthers are to be found nearly
every sportsman has tried 1t 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 temptation of trying once again when
some village shikari comes In and reports
that panther comes to his village every
night. and has killed a large number of
the villagers cows or goats. The method
ADOPTED in this form of sport is very SIM
Pie me sportsman sits up in a tree on
native bedstead generally, while under
meath the tree is tethered kid which Is
supposed to bleat loudly, and SO attract
any panther which may be in the neigh
porhood within close range of the sports
man above him. OF course a moonlight
night should be chosen; for this is moi 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 sub
eNtute LOT moon, especially if the ground
around the kid is covered with char
tWhlch Is procurable at every villagel. as
TINS makes the panther much more easily
Eel. man III only the dark ground were be-.
heath him One reason for the non-success
OF TINS form of sport is simply tina, the
lahtner on this particular night does not
go ms rounds in that jungle, or else he
comes so late that the sportsman tfrad
VI slltLis up Tor several hours has gone
nome, or what is very commonly the case
Mheh poth sportsman and kid have gone To
s,eep at their posts. Not uncommoniy when
tne panther does at last coma win :. -
IKE railway engine the sporrSnan is ~
taken by surprise that he starts IN on bie
i i; Whlch creaks loudly (and all ma
I've peusteaos 90 creak. and, of course
scares the panther If a camn char a.
paced upon the bedstead and HING .ra,,3
" WIN branches. so as to make it invisibIe
II Is possible to sit for hours with ereat
the eoet anu when the panther seizes
take the shot. This prevents an craol arau
ana noise, and Is far more comfortabIa thS
- i ing nat on ones side or stomach for -
iehsth OF time The kid generaIIy H..
loudly for half or three-onarta,S ptedlS
hcur' ana then lies down and goes To ST.!
AFTER which nothing on earth will MAKE bi,,
pIeat. rms Is the greatest difficulty the
spofts mas TO contend with for nnIesS
the Kid bleats he may Just as Well % hls,ss
panther. ~ "Iliact the
There are several ways of keeping the kid
awake ana llVeiy-all more or less cruaI
ana all equally useless. The only effectiIa
method Is to have two kids, one to he tied
up unoer the machan. the other to he Iart
with two relia BILE men at some nlaca q fa,,-
hundred yards away in the dfrection fror,
Whch the panther is least likely ia come
III only one man is left in charge. he will
De AFRAID to remain If there is a panther
about; and If he does not run AWAY he will
probably fall asleep. When kid number ono
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 he seain
tied up. By this means a sportsman can
have kid bleating under his tree from
sunset to sunrise, il he has patience To wait
SO long-which. I must confess I never
had 1 must have sat up over kids some
twenty or twenty-five times before | even
saw panther, but my perseverance was re-
Warded at last, and then only after began
to try the plan Of having two kids a MAN
which answered exceedingly we'll 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, l started late and reached the VIII
lage about 8 pm 1 had a machan rugged
up not far from the village. and between
l. and a rather extensive jungle from which
the panther generally came
got into my machan at dusk and had TO
change the kids only once before / heard
the panther grunting in the jungle about a
quarter of mile away. For half an hour
longer heard nothing of him, and began
to think he had passed on. But all of a
sudden he came with a tremendous rush
from behind me. and lay down beside the
kid / must have moved tooquickly, for the
bedstead ut was before / used a camp chair
ereaked, and the panther at once bolted
ne went yefQS ana 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 il
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 noise as IT bumped against
the hard ground that the panther was star
tied 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 I was afraid to let him come
too near. for fear he should make another
rush and make of with the kid before L
could get shot. So, when he was about
twenty yards of, fired at his chest-not
very large mark to aim at by moonlight.