Tigers, Crocs, and Deer, Oh My

On Day eight of the trip we left Jaipur and began the bumpy ride to Ranthambore National Park.  When we moved further from Delhi, the roads became very narrow and very bumpy.  As we drove through many of the villages, cows roamed the streets freely because they are sacred to the Hindu religion.  The primary method of transportation still was the motorcycle with some automobiles. We saw no chain or big box stores in any of the villages.  The countryside economy is made up of small individual shops.  There were vegetable and meat shops everywhere.  Just for your information, importation of autos carries a very large tarrif  so all automobiles are manufactured in India.

Ranthambore borders the outer fringes of the Thar Desert and the former hunting grounds of the Maharjah of Jaipur.  The park is now a 512 square mile natural preserve and one of India's largest.  It is home to a diverse plant life, historic ruins, and hundreds of species of bird, reptiles, mammals and of course, Bengal tigers.

Ranthambore belongs to India's groundbreaking Project Tiger.  This program is dedicated to preserving and protecting the once plentiful Royal Bengal tigers that roamed the land.  Now threatened by poachers, illegal logging, and encroaching civilization, India's tiger population has decreased precipitously.  It is believed that just 34 tigers currently live in Ranthambore.  National Project Tiger has seen the Bengal population rise to about 4,000 from the 2,000, counted when the project launched in 1973.  The park's varied landscape of beautiful lakes, lush grasslands, deep ravines, wooded valleys and open scrub also features picturesque ruins of old fortifications and the thousand-year old Ranthambore Palace. 

The park is closed from July through August due to the monsoons.  Our group was very fortunate with the time of the year being the end of November and the dry season.  Viewing and touring of the park takes place in a jeep type of vehicle, although much larger and very elevated.  Each vehicle would hold about 10 to 12 people depending on the seating arrangement.  We were extremely lucky in that our vehicle only had 5 people in it from the tour. 

In addition to a driver and an assistant driver, the government of India supplies a naturalist.  This person spoke perfect english and had a biology background.  Each of these people had extensive knowledge of the park and plant and animal life.   This made touring in the park much more interesting as trees, plants, birds, and other animals were readily identified.  They also gave background information as to the type of habitat each species would search out. 

The park is divided into 4 zones for viewing. Excursions only take place in the early morning and late afternoon to almost evening.  The tour groups' vehicles picked everyone up at the hotel. We were introduced at that time to the park personnel and the naturalist that would be accompaning each vehicle. We were informed at that time about the slim possibility of seeing a tiger and how rare an event it would be. 

In our vehicle everyone was surprised.  We got to see one of the rare tigers up close and in hunting mode.  This was a rare viewing.  As we were touring the park near a lake with tall grass surrounding it, we were watching a deer.  The park was full of peacocks and they began to make a screeching noise.  In addition the monkeys that were everywhere near the lake, joined in.  The naturalist informed us that the peacocks and monkeys had seen a tiger.  The next series of pictures is of the tiger emerging from the tall grass and stalking a deer.  What was really interesting was the deer took a couple of steps and the tiger just laid down in the grass and rolled over.  He watched the deer for about 30 minutes, then just got up and walked away.  The naturalist informed the group that he was probably not hungry.

Next morning, a dead deer was found near where we had seen the tiger, and it was assumed that during the night he had some dinner. 

The following series of pictures are from the three excursions we made into the park.

At the top of the distant cliff are the old fortifications

Banyan Tree.  This is actually one tree.  Its branches shoot out which grow down to the soil and form secondary trunks.

Your friendly croc

Shooting lodge for the Maharajah of Jaipur

Sambar deer, the food of the tiger

Big Sambar deer

This is the Sambar deer the tiger began to stalk.  The Naturalist said we might witness the tiger make a kill.  It didn't happen.

He has just emerged from the tall grass and is starting to stalk the deer.

This is a tough picture, but if you focus, you can see the tiger stalking the deer.

After the deer took just a couple of steps away, the tiger laid down, rolled over a couple of times, licked his paws, and watched the deer.  Then he got up and left.  Here he is leaving.

The best pic I have of the tiger.

He walked right across the road in front of us.  The road is to the left.

The setting sun at Ranthambore.

Spotted deer are everywhere and are considered one of the tiger's favorite food. 

Monkey in the tree.

This is a dam across a small stream.  A croc is laying on top of the dam.

Peacocks were everywhere

Sambar deer eating lakeweed.  He is in a good spot for a croc to grab him.

More spotted deer.  They were thicker than flies.

Ma and Pa Parakeet taking care of their nest in the tree.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

After Christmas is a great time to stock up on gear.  The big stores want to get rid of all their hunting inventory and ammunition and now is the time to stock up.  I buy all my ammo after Christmas when the discounts go deep.

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Namaste



Namaste

I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells.

I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light, and of peace.

When you are in that place in you,

and I am in that place in me,

we are one.

Namaste is a Hindi salutation or greeting. The word Namaste is a combination of the two Sanskrit words: nama, and te. Basically, nama means "to bow" and te means "you." The Namaste salutation was transmitted from ancient India to the countries of South-east Asia, and has now traveled virtually all over the globe.

The duck season was short lived for me as I had my posession limits early with smaller ducks and some Mallards plus a few Canada.  So, my wife and I went to India and Nepal.

You don't shake hands when you meet someone.  You place your hands together in front of your chest and greet the other person in the traditional Hindu style of greeting and say the word "Namaste."  The picture of the gentleman above says it all, and there is a slight blow.  This trip was an experience of a lifetime plus we visited the Ranthambore Tiger Preserve.  More on that section of the trip later. 

In Delhi, our guide said there are three things you need when you drive a vehicle. Good brakes, a good horn, and good luck are required.  The traffic was the worst I have ever seen.

There are all modes of transportation from bicycles, to motor cycles, cars, trucks and of course scores of the green and yellow three wheeled cabs.  A note of interest with the cabs:  They are powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) a resource our country is awash inand hardly utilized.

Delhi is a booming city with, according to our guide, an excess of 20 million people.  Businesses are primarily made up of individual small shops, but you can see the impact of big business being felt everywhere. We never saw a grocery store, but the streets were lined with vendors selling produce.

We toured the city with one of the highlights being a vist to Hamuyan's Tomb, a World Heritage Monument.

The fog obscures the grandure of the structure, but you can get an idea of the beauty.

Visiting a Sikh temple and observing their ceromonies was an experience.  I also waded in the healing pool hoping that would cure some of my arthritis.  So far, no results have surfaced, but a person must have faith.

The above pictures show the temple, a guard at the temple, and the healing pool.  These were very gracious people.

The next city was Jaipur.  This city is home of India's legendary Hindu warriors, whose historic forts, palaces and gardens  lend a timeless quality to the region.  Called the "pink city" for its buildings of rose-hued sandstone, Jaipur today retains the a timeless face. 

Typical dress worn by the women of India.  The colors were bright and enhanced the beauty of the person wearing the garment

Palace of the Winds



Snake Charmer.



Amber Fort

Hindu God, Ganesh, god of good luck and prosperity and beginnings.

Duck hunting lodge of the Maharajis.  I need one of those.

My wife above and myself at the hotel.

On day nine of the trip, we toured the Ranthambore National Park and Tiger Preserve.  I have some really great pictures there and a couple of an animal rarely seen. 

Good hunting, good fishing and good luck.  Hank.



Great sales going on at each of these fine outdoor suppliers.  Don't let the good buys get away from you.  You cannot own enough gear.

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Mallard City

It is mallard city, almost.  The next day after the big weather push, members in the club hit the blinds again ready for a big shoot.  They were not disappointed.  The mallards were coming, but what was interesting, the birds were very young.  The traditional green head did not have a mature green head, but only partial and this is the sign of a young bird. 

Still the boys had a great shoot and bagged seventeen mallards by 10 AM.  And now the rest of the day's story.  My friend John and his dog were out in the lake picking up a cripple and here they came.  I was not there, but I have verified the story from two people.  In the middle of the lake was John and his fine dog, Junior.  Here came twenty giant Canada Geese all locked up and ready to land in the water.  What do the hunters do.  Nothing of course because there is nothing to do but wait to see how it unfolds. 

John grabbed Junior and stood still.  The birds hooked to the southwest and came back right over the top of the blind.  One hunter had a safe shot and took it, dropping the bird right near the blind.  The nineteen then went on their way.  It never fails.  You can wait and wait with a clear sky, but if you get out of the blind, the birds will show up.  I have hunted since I was a boy, and this always held true. 

Junior bringing in a drake

The next morning the weather had totally moved out, and the wind was forcasted out of the west.  This was not the best conditions, but if you have time to go hunting, go.  A person should always remember that a bad day of hunting is better than a great day at work.

There were just two of us in the blind.  This man is one of my favorite people, and we had a lot to talk about in the blind.  There is nothing like great company whenever you hunt or fish.

As we walked up the path to the blind, geese on both sides of the walkway were startled and took off.  Farther up the walkway small groups of ducks were startled and headed to the north. We were in the blind well before daylight. We could just make out the shadows of the birds as they flew over the blind.  The wind was not from the west but more to the north. We did not have to move a decoy or re-set the wing decoys.

It was not long after shooting time when a group of birds started circling high above us.  We could hear the hens quack as they started to lock up and glide down toward the blind.  We did not call or make one bit of noise.  The plan was to be patient and wait to see if they would end up in front of us locked up and ready to land.  They would start from the south heading north and lock up. Then just before they were in gun range, they pumped up into the dark sky and circled overhead.  This happened several times, but the plan was to wait.  It was worth it.  Once they had flown north and and south of the blind without flaring, they locked up.  Meat was on the table.  This was a beautiful shot and demonstrated the patience of letting the birds be birds.  We never called one time. 

Five nice young mallards



Once the ducks leave Canada, all they hear are duck calls and shotgun shells going off.  Several more groups of ducks worked the blind, but stayed high.  The feeling was they were local birds and their butts had been burned before at the club blind.  

Then two Canadas came to the blind and they were really big.  It was as if they were blocking out the sun.  We harvested both of them. Each one must have been at least twelve pounds.

These are really nice big birds

While we were picking up the Canadas, here came three mallards.  We dropped down on our knees, the birds went behind us, and then came up from the south.  The locked up just south of the decoys and when in gun range, we dropped all three. 

 The drakes we picked up were not fully mature and could have been a late hatch. They also must have left their nesting ground early. This had been the consistent pattern with all the mallards shot since the first of November.


It was 9:30 AM, and the two of us had experienced a great morning.  We folded up by 10 AM. 

This is as good as it can get.

 Great sales are taking place at each of these outdoor suppliers.  This is a great time to stock up on equipment for next year.  Click on a link for great buys.             

Good hunting, good fishing and good luck.  Hank

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