Maneaters, Mitiala, Gujarat. Early 50's. Rifles in the pic 465 H&H & 450/400

Pig Sticking, Rajasthan, 1952

Croc pictures were taken close to the lakes in the Old Indian hunting ground thread


19th March, 1940. Rajasthan





18th March, 1940, Rajasthan


Ford jeep was nicknamed 'Desert Fox', Rajasthan




Field Trail Championships, Punjab in the 50's.

Great photos, thanks for posting.

i like the top pic,

Great pictures. Is that a jeep?

Regards,

Terry

P.S.
I fixed the link to the first croc picture. That's why you see my name on the edit line at the bottom of your post.

quote:

Mitiala, Gujarat.

Are these locations? near the Gir Forest?

Thank you for the superb photographs!
I've often wished photography was invented a thousand years earlier!

quote:

I fixed the link to the first croc picture. That's why you see my name on the edit line at the bottom of your post.

Thank you Terry. Jeep in the last picture is a Ford WWII model. Quite a few of them around here. People have them in their car collections here...

Lynx

quote:

Are these locations? near the Gir Forest?

Nick,

Location was written behind the picture, I think this is part of the Gir forest. Can find out, will call the gentleman on the left in the lion picture.

These lions were from a pride of 5 maneaters.

Gir lions squeeze out an existence

"Sasan-Gir (Junagadh district) , Jan 12 THE Gir lion is perhaps aware of every nuance of modern civilisation The Gir notes: "The increased population has intensified territorial competition and conflict among lions in the Gir The displaced lions are moving out of Gir in search of fresh territories At present, there are 4 to 5 satellite lion populations outside Gir in Girnar, Mitiala and coastal forests "

Lynx

From the Shillong Times:

- If the government was so much concerned for Asiatic lions, then why wasn't there a project for these lions on lines of multi-crore Project Tiger or Project Elephant?'' Mr Jethava asked. Disagreeing with Mr Gangopadhay's contention that it was not genetically safe to keep Asiatic lions at one place because if a disease affects any of them, it would spread to all of them and endanger their lives, Mr Jethava said the lions are not concentrated in one place in Gir -- they are scattered over 30 to 40 kms away from Gir.''More than 25 lions are in Girnar, 15 to 20 between Mitiala to Hipavatli, 25 to 30 in the coastal forests of Una, Kodinar and Sutrapada, and more than ten in Babravidi and another 15 in Daldi, Malan and Ambaliyala.The lions have naturally dispersed to these places. We should not translocate them and interfere with their natural processes,'' he said.

The Gir Forest is in the district of Gujarat:
Gujarat

Thanks Lynx.

Wish I had kept one of grandpa's solar-topees's - just don't get to see them any more.

Damn, I'm slow. I just realized those are Indian lions. I had no idea that there were lions still left in India in the 1950's.

Regards,

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by Lynx:
Maneaters, Mitiala, Gujarat. Early 50's. Rifles in the pic 465 H&H & 450/400

Great photos and I especially like the double rifles and comments.

As many of these fine Indian doubles have since emigrated first to Australia and the UK and many since to the USA, wouldn't it be a fine thing to have a photo such as this, as part of the history of one's rifle. Hopefully some of these fine doubles have remained in their home for future hunting needs if they are ever reopened.

The Japanese believe a Samurais soul continues in his sword. I like to think the exploits, times and owners of vintage double rifles lingers in a fine vintage double rifle. Adding character and value to the blued, slightly worn steel and wood.

Lynx,

Weren't the old Jeeps grand? I hate the bloody Pajeros we get these days. Lovely pictures and please post more details when you hear from the gentlemen in them.

Thanks!

The field trial picture is classic. Only in India can you conduct a field trial while on an elephant!

Definitely puts our Southern trials on horses and mules to shame. Imagine showing up to a refined Georgia quail plantation with an elephant as your mount. Now that's hunting in style!

Thanks for the pictures.

RCG

I think I hunted that concession a few years before these guys got it!!

Very nice pictures indeed...

Great pics! Very enjoyable indeed! Thanks

Delightful pictures. Thank you very much indeed!

Did pig sticking end when the British left, with the rest of the Indian hunting?

I also love that field trial setup - I will show the picture to a friend working a lot with retreiver trials here in Sweden.

Regards
Martin

quote:

Originally posted by Marterius:

Did pig sticking end when the British left, with the rest of the Indian hunting?

Looking at the photograph, my guess the riders are Indian gentlemen, not British.

quote:

Did pig sticking end when the British left, with the rest of the Indian hunting?

Hello Martin,

Officially, hunting in India, stopped in 1972 not 1947.

Pig sticking was still popular in the erstwhile princely states of Rajasthan or Rajputana as it was known in the British days.

Where Lynx comes from, it was considered very bad form to hunt a pig with a rifle or gun. Ofcourse, the farmers who's crops were destroyed couldn't give a hoot about all these social norms and it led to the demise of the feral pig and wild boar in his area.

Pig sticking amongst the gentry was supposedly quite a social affair. They have this tall stone tower up which the ladies climbed to observe their heores doing the needful. This tower still stands and perhaps Lynx can show us a picture of it.

Rustam

Thank you Rustam! I have not seen much written about pig sticking. I have seen short notes about pig sticking in the memoairs of General Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart who was riding after boars around Muttra in the first years of the 20th century, and also in a book about the sporting artist "Snaffles".

I should very much appreciate if Lynx could show a picture of the tower!

Regards,
Martin

quote:

I should very much appreciate if Lynx could show a picture of the tower!

Hello Martin,

He tells me he doesn't have any old photographs of the tower but he will go there by motorbike to take some pictures - apparently it is not easily accessible. Sadly, it hasn't been taken care of (forest department property now), so it may be dangerous climbing right to the top (100 feet) to take photos.

There is an adjoining lake to this tower that I did not know of until an hour back but I will let Lynx take up the tale from here on.

I too look forward to the pics as I have only seen it from some distance.

Regards,

Rustam

Some pictures and info on the implements of pig sticking

Rustam: Thank you! I sincerely look forward to Lynx's reply here.

NitroX: That was very interesting. I was about to ask in the Spear Hunting Forum about the nature of pig sticking spears. It appears from your post that they used some sort of "service issue" spears?

Regards,
Martin

Martin,

Not to far from the 100 feet tower, a articial lake was made early part of the century, lake is still called sursagar, sur or suwar means pig and sagar - lake. In this area 50 years ago there use to be herds of blackbucks, at times, upto a thousand.

Encampment, Kadir Cup, India, 1937

Pig Sticking in India

'The Sideways Pop' - Baden Powell,1924.



'The line of beaters' - baden powell




'I again got up to the panther'








Pig Sticking - Lord Baden Powell

Toothpick holder..



Brass ashtray.



My family had camped many years ago close to a river in a beautiful forest in Central India. We could hear the tiger calling at night, chital(axis deer) & sambhar were giving their alarm calls. Next morning we found tiger pugmarks, along the river. A plastercast was made of a pugmark, my uncle then had the pugmark made in brass. Reminds me of the wonderfull times we spent in the jungles of India.

Lynx