Call of the Tiger

FOREWORD THIS IS a book of shikar stories, mainly about tigers and panthers, but also about some of the other big game animals to be found in the jungles of India to-day. The stories range over a wide field, extending from the Himalayas in the North to the Nilgiris in the far South of India, and should be of interest to sportsmen and others who inhabit the country between these two magnificent mountain ranges. They will also, I know, interest my contemoraries who served in India and loved this land, but are now scattered all over the globe, or are members of the Chair-borne Division, now permanently stationed in Great Britain. To them, as well as to many others, the names of the places and the jungles they knew will recall many happy memories. The first part of the book contains accounts of my own first adventures, full of instances of glaring mistakes. Most of the stories are told against myself. I can only hope that some enthusiastic novices will profit from the lesson to be learnt from my failures. The stories that follow describe further adventures that gradually led to my discovering more and more about the animals and jungles that I loved, and finally culminated in my mastering the art of calling up a tiger. This is something about which not much is generally known, and the stories, therefore, should be of special interest. Also, I hope that the grouping together of stories under appropriate headings will prove to be of value to novices, who wish to study tigers and the various ways in which they can be hunted. And finally, the book is rounded off with a chapter of Thirty Questions, many of which will be recognized immediately by old hands as the old Chestnuts over which controversy raged in the Clubs and Messes of bygone days, not to mention the Press, and the shikar books of those good times. The answers given are my own carefully considered views, which I feel sure are far from being unassailable, and which, I hope, will start the ball rolling again. After all, we old dogs do like a good bone to chew on, and here is a bone of no ordinary size I do not profess to -be an expert. The stories have been selected from my experiences to show that big game shooting can be a grand sport particularly when it is confined to tackling animals that are to be reckoned with, and are fully equipped for retaliation and revenge. Sportsmen who have indulged in this sport do not need to be told about this. It is not for them that I am writing now, but for the many young fellows in India and all over the world, who are longing to see a tiger, and are hoping some day to shoot one. I would hesitate to lay down the law about what methods should or should not be adopted by any particular hunter, as every sportsman is entitled to make this decision for himself. I would, however, say that tiger shooting can be just what the individual sportsman wishes it to be. It is something that is limited only by the size of the sportsmans purse, and also by the size of his heart. Subject to these two conditions, it can be difficult or easy, dangerous or safe, brave or even cowardly. Every novice will eventually, in his own heart of hearts, decide on his own limitations, and will fix his own limit to the risks he is prepared to take. It is an established fact that anything which comes to one too easily is never fully appreciated. This certainly applies to the shooting of a tiger...