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Ellison, B.C., 1922. HRH The Prince of Wales' shoots in India in 1921 and 1922 - part 1. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 28 (3): 675-697, pls. 1-9, map 1, table 1

  details
 
Location: Asia - South Asia - Nepal
Subject: Distribution - Hunting
Species: Indian Rhino


Original text on this topic:
As regards shooting rhino in Nepal the importance of a vital shot has been already commented upon. Selous, in his ' Hunters Wanderings in Africa' in writing about rhino says :-' As with elephants it is very unsatisfactory work following up a wounded rhino as they do not go and lie down but walk on and on until their strength gives way. They die very quickly when shot through both lungs and the upper part of the heart, but if shot from the front, and the bullet only penetrates one lung, they will go on to all eternity though throwing blood out of their mouth and nostrils by. the gallon. With a broken shoulder they will run first at a gallop and then at a halting trot for more than a mile, but, if the hind leg is broken they do not appear to be able to bridge a step.'
Conditions in Nepal are entirely different from the country in which Selous shot; owing to the nature of the terrain the tracking of wounded rhino is practically impossible and many a mortally wounded beast has been lost in consequence.
A shot through the brain placed a few inches in front of the root of the ear would seem to be the most effective, or a shot through the forepart of the neck severing the cervical vertebrae. In the Society's journal Mr. G. C. Shortridge records shooting an Asiatic two-horned rhino with a shotgun loaded with lethal bullet dropping him at 7 paces with a lucky shot in the head which smashed through the skull and lodged in the brain.
Writing of the Rhinoceros of Somali Land ?. bicornis) Captain P. Z. Cox (Society's Journal, Vol. XIII, p. 93 et seq.) describes his experiences and those of Donaldson Smith, as to the effect of variously placed shots with heavy rifles, the conclusion arrived at being that the 'knock out' blow is a broadside shot in the belly, the reason probably being that in this part of the rhino's anatomy, there is such a number of nerves and blood vessels that a bullet planted therein causes him a violent shock to the system.
Another writer commenting on the above on page 538 of Vol. XIII takes exception to the belly shot, states he has no faith in head shots, and considers a shot behind the shoulder to be the most fatal.

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