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A great story from the last decade of the the "good old days". Yes, such incidents were not uncommon & each area had many such stories repeated for generations. It makes me home sick. I am going to visit my father & brother in July & hope to see some wildlife.

I found some of the author's claims to be a bit off the mark.

The "toddy" tapped from the coconut or other palm trees is not "raw alcohol". It is a sweet juice that flows out of the flower stalks that are sliced each day to get the fresh juice. If this is drunk the next day it has a mild alcohol content & is truly enjoyable. I prefer Chilled toddy to cold beer! What you buy in the local shops is not as good quality since it is a mixture from different trees and could be mixed with water or sour buttermilk. The fresh toddy from the single tree is a rare treat.

Bears do have an excellent sense of smell. Don't let anyone tell you different.

There are authentic records of the Sloth bear going 8 feet long from nose to tip of tail & weighing over 400 lbs. It is leaner than the American Black Bear as it does not hibernate.

The Indian Wild dog or "Dhole" is a fascinating animal. It is not very big at all - about the size of a coyote or even smaller & certainly 6 inches shorter. But they are as efficient as a pack of wolves in hunting down large pray such as sambar. They are known to chase tigers and there are many records of them appropriating tiger & leopard kills. They certainly kill strong healthy animals & not just the weak or young. Yes, they do bite off chunks from live pray as the terrorized deer runs for its life. Not a very pleasant sight to see a 600lbs sambar standing knee deep in a stream with its intestines hanging out & its hamstring missing a few lbs of meat.

The author claims that his shikari was the best in all of India. After 45 years of his writing it, there is no point is crying foul! Obviously there were many, many great hunters in India and not all of them were written about by some American or English visitor.

The sloth bear is less dangerous than the Himalayan black bear, which is more carnivorous & kills livestock such as cattle & ponies in the mountains up to about 10,000 feet elevation. The tiger is certainly more dangerous but seen very rarely.

All the same, a wonderful piece of authentic Indian jungle lore. Thanks for the reminder.

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Always shoot through the target & not just at it.

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