SHIKAR NEAR AND AROUND POONA. 
1077 
lour 1* to the mile Ordnance Maps of the country round Poona. (Poona is, 
roughly, in the centre of these four maps) and then steadily explore the country 
around independently. By doing this he will not only come across the well- 
known places, about which he will very soon find out in any case, but will also 
incidentally discover many a useful little spot where none or few sportsmen 
ever go. There is, also, much more satisfaction in discovering some little “ pre- 
serve ” on one’s own apart from the fact that it probably has not been shot 
over for some considerable time. 
There are many of these little places around Poona if only a little trouble 
is taken to find them. 
An instance of this kind occurred to me only last season. I had been 
shooting on one of the larger well-known tanks and had noticed a lot of duck 
going off in one direction and appearing to settle at some spot some miles off. 
The following week I made up my mind to explore in this direction and after 
travelling some miles off the road and incidentally discovering a small tank on 
the way, on which there were a fair number of duck and snipe of which I took 
due toll, came across another small tank completely hidden from the surrounding 
country which was literally full of duck. It was, by then, after 1 o’clock in 
the afternoon, but nevertheless I managed to pick up twenty seven duck before 
they finally cleared off and on the way home bagged a buck from the driving 
seat of the car (a Ford, nothing else would have gone over the country I had to 
pass through). Not a bad result for one day’s exploring ! I went again a 
second time and did equally well, but on the third time found the tank bone- 
dry. 
On my first visit the villagers told me that no Sahib had shot the place for 
over 3 years. 
I might mention here that towards the end of December or beginning of 
January, when the tanks are beginning to dry up, the rivers around are well 
worth exploring for duck. By this time the rivers have also shrunk and a 
considerable amount of “ feed ” begins to show. There are several useful 
places on both the Mula-Mutha and the Bhima where a fair amount of cover is 
also available. It was from one of these spots that I shot the Dwarf Goose 
that I have alluded to above. 
To work the country in the manner I suggest, a motor of sorts is indis- 
pensable (a Ford for preference) as many of these spots are well off the road and 
there is often only a very “ kutcha ” road, or a bullock track or even less. 
Many of the tracks on which I take my old Ford, now nearly eight years old, 
would be impossible even to a motor-byke, and very few other cars have suffici- 
ent clearance or are light and strong enough to stand the jolting and bumps ! 
So far as big game shooting is concerned, it is practically non-existent within 
50 miles of Poona save for an occasional panther around some of the neighbour- 
ing hills. The shikaries will always tell you of one that has just “ killed ” and 
that he is willing to go out and make a bandobast provided he gets an advance 
and the price of a goat, but in 19 cases out of 20 the result is the same — the 
goat vanishes and no panther ! 
To the man, however, who is content with Black Buck or Chinkara, Poona 
offers many opportunities, at any rate so far as numbers are concerned. The 
heads of the Black Buck average very small when compared with those up- 
country. An 5 rthing of twenty inches or over is above the average in this 
district. Occasionally one comes across a head of twenty-one or twenty-two 
inches but anjrthing larger than this is rare now-a-days. The largest head which 
I have seen from these parts was one shot by Mr. L. J. Sedgwick, I.C.S., in 1910, 
near Kalas, on the eastern side of Dhond. This is a remarkably fine head, and 
is, I believe, the record for the Deccan. The measurements from base to tip 
are 24| inches right horn, and 24f inches left horn. There are five complete 
spirals, but the spread is somewhat small for the length. I believe the buck to 
