SPORT
Sport is, as is well known, one of the chief attractions of Kashmir.
Every year, like the swallows, with the coming of spring, tonga loads
of ardent sportsmen begin swarming into the country. Nowadays they
cannot, as formerly, shoot wherever they like and as much as they
like; and in their own interests it is well they cannot, for if they
still had the freedom of former days no game would now be left. For
some years past a Game Preservation Department has been formed by the
Maharaja, and placed under the charge of a retired British officer,
that keen sportsman Major Wigram. Licences to shoot have now to be
taken out, and regulations for sportsmen are published annually.
Certain localities are strictly preserved for the Maharaja's own use
and for the entertainment of his guests. Others are reserved for Raja
Sir Amar Singh. Others again as sanctuaries. The number of head of
the various kind of game which a sportsman may shoot is laid down. The
number of sportsmen which may be permitted to visit each locality in
the year is fixed. And regulations determine how the places are
allotted among the numerous applicants. Major Wigram has also under
him an establishment to prevent poaching by the natives, and he
himself is incessantly touring and keeping a watch on the due
preservation of the game. He obtains an income of about Rs. 25,000 per
annum from the sale of licences, and spends about Rs. 20,000.
Under these conditions sport in Kashmir will always remain. The total
bags of big game for the last two years are:--
1907 1906
Ibex 219 260
Markhor 51 52
Stags 49 51
Black bears 223 226
Brown bears 62 59
Leopards 22 27
Shapoo 100 85
Burhel 64 57
Goa 57 57
Ovis ammon 16 15
These figures do not include what was shot in the Maharaja's
preserve, but they were not all shot within the limits of the Kashmir
Province. They include also what was shot in the high mountains at the
back of Kashmir proper--in Ladak, Baltistan, and Astor.
In this last year it so happens that magnificent trophies were
obtained. Captain Barstow shot a markhor of 61 inches, which is the
largest "shot head" ever obtained, though a head measuring 63 inches
was once picked up. In the Kajnag mountains, which tower over the
Jhelum River on the drive into Kashmir, one sportsman shot a markhor
of 57-1/2 inches, and several other heads of 50 were obtained last
year. And as showing the pure luck which attends sport, it may be
mentioned that Captain Barstow had never shot a markhor before he
shot the record head.
Three good ibex heads, measuring close on 50 inches, were shot last
year, and the other trophies shot were good. The reputation of Kashmir
for sport is therefore being well maintained, though sportsmen have,
in their own interest, to conform to more restriction than of old.
Last year the record ibex was also obtained by a well-known Kashmir
sportsman, though not in Kashmir. Mr. Frank Hadow shot a 59-1/2-inch
head, but had the bad luck to lose it in a stream while having it
cleaned.
In duck-shooting, too, last season was a record year. Mr. T. Kennard
shot 325 duck in one day by himself. And Colonel Edwards twice shot
over 200 to his own gun while shooting with others. But it would be a
mistake to suppose that Mr. Kennard secured this record bag merely by
good shooting, and by being placed down amidst a crowd of ducks as in
a big ceremonial state shoot. Mr. Kennard is among the most scientific
sportsmen who have ever visited Kashmir. I first met him twenty years
ago when he built the first house-boat ever seen in Kashmir. He used
then to come out to Kashmir regularly every cold weather, and spend
many happy months shooting small game in the Kashmir valley, markhor
and ibex in Baltistan, the Gilgit district, and Astor, and stag in the
Kashmir mountains. No man had a more glorious time, when Major Wigram
and the whole Game Preservation Department were still unthought of,
and at a time of year when game was most easily obtained, and all the
sportsmen in India were bound down to their official duties. After an
interval of several years Mr. Kennard returned last year to Kashmir
for yet another shoot. He set to work in a most methodical and
business-like way. He studied his ground well. He found out exactly
when most ducks came. He studied their habits. He spared himself no
labour and neglected no detail. And he devoted the entire cold weather
to this single sport.
Besides duck and goose shooting there is excellent chikore shooting on
the hill-sides, and a few manaul pheasants may also be shot.
The Maharaja's preserves have for many years been under the management
of that old and experienced sportsman and naturalist, Colonel Ward, to
whose book, the _Sportsman's Guide to Kashmir and Ladak_, all those
who want full information on shooting in Kashmir should refer.
And in addition to shooting, trout-fishing will soon be established as
a further attraction to the sportsman.
Some years ago a number of keen fishermen banded together, and after
some failure and much trouble, and with the assistance of the State
authorities in Kashmir and of the Duke of Bedford in England,
succeeded in introducing the ova of the English brown trout into the
valley. Under the special charge of Mr. Frank Mitchell a hatchery has
been established at Harwan, nine miles out of Srinagar, just beyond
the Shalimar garden, and at the outlet of the Dachigam--a perfect
trout stream--the valley of which is preserved for the Maharaja's
shooting.
From these stock ponds a trout weighing twelve and a half pounds was
taken on Lord Minto's visit in 1908. The Dachigam stream itself is now
well stocked, and affords some excellent fishing to those who have
obtained His Highness' permission. In addition aged ova and yearling
trout have been sent to other streams in Kashmir--to the Achibal,
Beoru, Wangat, Vishu, Kishenganga at Badwan, the Liddar at Aru and
Tannin, Marwar, Erin. Yearlings have also been let out in the Burzil
stream, the Gorai (on the north side of the Tragbal Pass), in the
Gangarbal Lake, and in the Punch River.
It has been proved satisfactorily that when the snow-water has run
off, the biggest trout will take a fly put to them at the right
moment, though when the snow-water is coming down there are few flies
rising and the fish do not take. A constant enemy of the trout is the
poacher. English trout are, unfortunately, becoming very popular among
the Kashmirs, and it is difficult to protect the fishing. The biggest
trout caught so far is a nine-pounder caught in the Dachigam stream
when the trout have been let out some years. In the summer of 1908 a
fish weighing two and a half pounds, which must have been one of the
yearlings turned out in 1906, was caught in the Vishu stream. By both
Major Wigram and Mr. Frank Mitchell great attention is being paid to
the development of trout-fishing.
Seeing the success which has attended the introduction of trout the
Maharaja on the occasion of Lord Minto's visit ordered the importation
of the ova of the huchon (_Salmo Hucho_), or so-called Danube salmon.
Mr. Frank Mitchell in the spring of 1908 successfully introduced them,
and about 2000 hatched out in the Harwan hatcheries. They will
probably be put out in the rapids of the Jhelum River below Baramula,
and as they run to some 26 lbs. in weight, and are known to be one of
the most sporting as well as the largest of the Salmonidae, they should
afford another welcome attraction for the sportsman in Kashmir.