The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-12-04
TRACKING OF BIG GAME.
WONDERFUL SKILL DISPLAYED
By ORIENTAL HUNTERS.

and FemaIe--Finding Stolen Black
Ruck.
Several sportsmen have asked me
questions about tracking. Some of the
questions have been intelligent, and
proved that the art has attracted more
than ordinary interest 1t must be dis
tinctly understood that I do not pre-
tend to be a Sherlock Holmes, writes
Felix in Bailys Magazine, but simply
an amatuer disciple of Oriental hunt
ers, in whom the art of tracing the
movements of men and beasts is almost
INFORM
Whatever little knowledge have ac-
CURED I am glad to impart, and l will
now give one or two illustrations OF
tracking which merely represent the A.
; B c of venerie.
A friend of long ago said to me:
How is 1t that you can fairly tell
to day when a tiger passed over the
sandy bed Of dry river or dusty foot
path?" 1 explained to him that there
there were human and cattle tracks
which the tiger pads had covered, and
I knew when those human beings or
cattle had traversed the same route,
Second; the fierce, lot breezes of the
jungles gave me information. If the
poor was clear knew that the beast
had moved on the path after the dust
storm; If the footprints were partially
dimmed L judged otherwise. The
breaking Of a shed twig over which
beast has trodden, likewise conveys
information, as a freshly broken twig
Is easily dated, The information de-
rived is the result of circumstantial evil
dence rapidly put together, and keeps
observation.
But went stage further than the
above; assured my friend that by
tracks I could fairly surmise the length
and weight Of an individual tiger who
had recently trodden on a sandy river
bed or dusty footpath,
I described my reasoning as follows:
If tiger has lately trodden on soft.
dry earth you will find that the inter-
val between his fore and hind pads will
give you an approximate idea of his
length. The fore-pad is totally differ
emit from the hind one, as the former
has five fingers.
Gas to weight" / said, when you
next find the track of tiger descend
on your knees and examine carefully
the surroundings of the forepads. "A
tiger, walking in his ordinary way, pats
the ground with his fore feet, and the
conoussion created by the pat throws
the dust away from around his foot
prints A small ditch is thus created
adjoining the impressions. The wider
that miniature ditch is the heavier the
tiger or tigress will prove to be, The
hind feet of tiger or tigress tread the
earth in a totally different manner,
and hardly any ditch will be found as
the hind fet do not "smack" the
ground
On a certain occasion I was out with
my shikaree, Nuttoo, and we came to a
spot where a large male tiger had
rolled as dog would do. lNutto's keen
eyes spotted two or three shed hairs
from the tigers skin. He examined
them and informed me that the tiger
was old. The hairs had lost the gloss
of the beast in his prime A subse-
quent event, namely, the death of the
tiger, proved Nuttoo to be absolutely
correct. Such data are, however be-
yond the average hunter.
Leaving tigers alone, royal stage
sanrbhur can be Disseminated from
does and smaller animals by the forma-
ton of the cloven hoof. Hunters know
that one portion of the cloven hoof of a
great sambhur projects and curls con-
siderably beyond the other.
My greatest triumph in tracking oc-
cUrred when in the company of Lieut.
P., R. a., after an immense amount
Of walking, we found four bison on a
high plateau. One was a fine bull, the
others were cows which we had no in
tontion Of killing. The cows persistent
ly got in the way of the bull but wo
were patient, and at last I saw an open
shot at 200 yards P. asked me to fire
and I did so, hitting the bull behind
the shoulder. The cows fled in one
direction andthe bull in another, leav-
ing a fine trail of blood for 800 yards,
after which it ceased to be found on
the ground. I proceeded lebsurely with
P. behind me, and never left the tracks.
With no ground blood to guide me and
no black tracker to assist ! sauntered
along pointing out to p the utrned peb-
bles, the bruised grass and the drops
of blood on bamboos and leaves, which
were my sole guides. Suddenly after a
couple of miles of trailing, l confronted
the bison standing on sheet rock. He
was below a high bank and ! fired
again, smashing his spine My first
bullet had not caused a mortal wound
and even then, though the bison lay
helpless on sheet rock, he looked the
Incarnation of malice. He snorted at
us, but attempted in vain to rise, and
we therefore had an opportunity of ap-
preaching him closely before P. killed
him. I have seen the same impotent
rage in a paralyzed tiger, but there is
no doubt which is the more majestic
beast in his death throes.
P. was very much pleased with this
job. What Jey Sing had taught me
had endeavored, with some success, to
explain to him.
Any amateur can discriminate be-
tween the tracks Of male and female
bison The bulls track are round and
large, the cows elongated. So it is
with sambhur, tiger, neilgai antelope
and chinkart, Elongation denotes a fe-
t,,n