PrashantSingh is definitely a member here.
If any of you haven't, you must read his stories.
His writing style, to me, is as riveting as Corbett or Kenneth Anderson.
When deer hunting, I would often go out at about 4:00 am so I could settle down in my spot and catch the deer coming back to their beds at dawn.
I have often noticed that one cannot see the front sight till just as the sun comes up. If you're in a valley or nullah, it might take longer that. The same thing starts to happen at dusk and pretty soon, you're left helpless, without any way to make an accurate shot.
As dawn approaches and the forest comes alive with the sound of the birds and the animals waking up, I would be unsure of any shot taken, even up close till I could see the front sight. Often, you could clearly see the deer as they stealthily made their way back to their bedding area but without a front sight, there was no way to make a clean shot. The risk of just wounding the animal or missing it totally and giving away your position was too great to take.
When reading Corbett and Anderson, I always marveled at the sheer intestinal fortitude displayed by them.
Waiting on a maneater; sitting, at night, out in the open in a chair or walking out on the jungle paths at night.
Even though I knew that I was in a part of North America where there is absolutely nothing dangerous in the woods, my imagination does play tricks on me. I would look around into the darkness and I would think; "Man, those guys had guts. I would never be able to or want to do that".
Prashant is one of those few select individuals who chooses to be out there; risking his life, without any hope of personal gain, for the benefit of others.
For this, I admire him greatly and am glad to consider him a friend.
Some of his stories are available here:
Four Leopards in four days
The maneater of Devprayag
The Pithoragarh maneater
The maneater that stood its ground
The maneating Tigres of Moradabad
The maneating Leopardess of the F.R.I
I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.
