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9,3X57 - your analytical & objective intellect is impressive.

The population density issue needs to be seen in the context of rural population. India has a population of 1.1 billion people give or take a few million! 70% of this population is rural or semi rural - that is the BIG difference. You get samll villages everywhere. I have seen them at 12,000 feet in the Himalayas and tribal villages deep inside National parks & Sanctuaries. The government used to arbitrarily relocate such villages until around 20 years ago. The rights of such tribal people are getting more recognition & it is not easy to relocate villages out of forest areas any more.

When I managed a Tea Plantation in the early 1980's - the property was about 2000 acres of tea and another 1000 acres of nursery, roads, housing, fallow / swamp land etc. We had over 2000 workers in peak season. They lived in Labour "Lines" which are small villages with in the property - we had 4 or 5 such villages with in the property of 3000 acres. There were several more, larger villages outside the property. Yes, I shot green pigeon & other small game on the property. However, I would not wish to use a 22 or a centre fire in such circumstances. The chances of a worker grazing a cow or collecting friewood is very high. Kids could be playing around.

In forest areas, the issues is different - the population density is lower but the random movement of people is much higher. Villagers move deep into the forest (illegally or legally) to graze cattle & sheep (with permits) or collect honey & cut wood (without permits). I still shudder at the thought of an incident in the mid 1980s - I was on a night shoot for pig & hare in a very remote area with a river boundary between two states. A companion fired a shot but the ammo was a dud. He then screemed at some one & started swearing - suddenly two guys stood up from the "nullah" & popped their heads out from a blanket. They were poaching timber & had hidden in the "nullah" when they heard us. One of them would have been dead if not for the dud ammo! The companion was an idiot of course for shooting at a target that he had not clearly identified - that is another story....

The social environment in such places is still very feudal - local officials and politicians rule like autocratic "barons". The rural people are not very educated - few people near such forest areas would have done more than 5 years of schooling. (This is changing & varies from region to region). Ownership of land is fragmented. Individuals can not own more than about 50 acres of un irrigated land (corn, sorgum etc) or 25 acres of irrigated land (rice paddies etc.). The rules on plantation crops such as Rubber or tea may vary but small private holding are still very fragmented. Family / company holdings are larger but still not huge like in the US or Canada. The 3000 acre Tea Plantation I worked on is a huge property in that context & the Multinational company owned 13 such prperties (ranging up to 5000 acres) in the 2 districts. This was in a VERY remote region that was 30 to 100 miles from the Burma border & it was closer to Laos & Cambodia than to Calcutta!

I truely hope I am wrong & legal hunting can return to India.

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Always shoot through the target & not just at it.

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