NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 29/01/06 05:20 AM |
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Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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While in India I was extremely fortunate to be invited to join in an elephant cull.
Two rogue elephants were stalking the jungle where we were camped and having destroyed many food plots and some village buildings, it was decided they had to go.
Hearing about this I immediately put my hand up, and amazingly got the job. Even better I was loaned a very nice Jeffrey (what else!) double in .450/.400 3". The only ammo was some vintage Kynoch solids which was a worry. Were they still good after all the decades?
We hunted them in the thick forests and jungle, tracking the crop raiders from their last scene of destruction. What a mess! Flattened wheat and mustard seed crops. Several farmers huts destroyed.
Concerned villagers gather at dawn after a night of mayhem.
We followed the tracks through the tall sal forest, through thick bamboo valley bottoms which was hairy, and finally spotted glimpses of them through the dim light of the forest. Circling around carefully the head shikar and myself worked our way into position.
BUT a sudden wind change, their trunks in their air, they knew something was wrong and crashed down the hillside. Running fast we caught up to them in the stream below and a quick left and right felled them.
Then I was asked "What did you do that for? They are in the water!"
I was a very unpopular fellow. Having shot the jumbos in the stream, it was going to make the recovery more difficult. The trackers are showing me their disgust.
| EricD |
| (.416 member) |
| 29/01/06 06:43 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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I see you have put chains around it's feet to drag the carcass out of the riverbed. Did you use a winch?
| bulldog563 |
| (.400 member) |
| 29/01/06 09:17 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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Are you serious? Wow, talk about right place at the right time. Is it common for foreigners to be asked to take care of rogue elephant? If this isn't a joke you should give some more info. Did you kill both? Brain or body shots? etc.
I assume this is a joke but if not you are one lucky man.
| 500Nitro |
| (.450 member) |
| 29/01/06 10:22 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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And we all go down to the forest today to do some work
with the elephants !
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NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 29/01/06 11:00 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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You mean these chains?
They are to keep the carcases from floating away in a flash flood ,of course!
***
You guys have too sharp a set of eyes, though the chains were a dead giveaway.
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NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 29/01/06 11:07 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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Bulldog,
Your instincts are too keen and you are right it was a joke. Unfortunately fat chance of being in the right place at the right time today!
India is very anti-hunting these days and wild elephants are rare. Found in a Nat Park in the South and a couple more in the North and North-East. Many times why there I wished I had been born seventy or eighty, even fifty years earlier.
These are two tame elephants having a rest, and if it wasn't for the chains I might have got away with it a bit longer. There are a fari number of elephants used as domestic beasts however,
When going through my photos I found this photo where the two elephants looked dead, except for the chains. I couldn't resist a joke anyway.
Will post some more photos.
These elephants are some of those used by the mahouts to locate tigers in the parks early in the mornings, and which tourists ride through the forest if a tiger is located and stays put long enough in order to get views of them.
After their work they get a bath or wash down.
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NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 29/01/06 11:41 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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Jumbo bath time.
Cool water is great!
| gryphon |
| (.450 member) |
| 29/01/06 11:55 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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A little bit of photo shop for the chains mate and you would have had us all in haha...good one mate!
| mikeh416Rigby |
| (.450 member) |
| 29/01/06 12:02 PM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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NitroX, you had me going there. Remind me sometime, and I'll teach you how to crop photos.
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NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 29/01/06 12:12 PM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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The elephant cast her beedy little eye on me, sprawling in the dust below, with murder in her heart, blood dripping from her trunk ....
| mikeh416Rigby |
| (.450 member) |
| 29/01/06 12:16 PM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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Never Mind!!!!!
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NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 30/01/06 03:17 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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For those people who have expressed interest, more photos from "Travels in India" are being added daily here:
"Travels in India"
| BwanaBob |
| (.300 member) |
| 31/01/06 09:09 AM |
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Re: Double rifle Indian elephant cull
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No, the photoshop tool to use is the 'Clone' tool, along with the 'Morph' tool you can change any photo to almost anything you want!