Is the tiger the largest hunter of any kind to stalk the earth?

Yes, the tiger is the largest hunter of any kind to stalk the earth today. And of all the tiger species, the largest is the Siberian because they have evolved in the cold Far East of Russia where size matters in order to maintain body temperature.

The tiger is the largest member of the cat family, and its immense power enables it to kill almost any kind of hooved animal up to large wild cattle.

The difference in size between the tiger and the leopard and the subservience of the leopard to the tiger is dramatically shown in this excellent photograph. And note that the tiger regards the common leopard as a prey animal. There is no 'cat agreement' to leave each alone.

When hunting the final dash has to be relatively short because of the tiger's immense weight. The tiger can maintain top speed for around 30 metres. 

It delivers a massive blow with its front paw to knock the animal down except for the very large prey animals.

Once down the tiger grabs the animal in its front claws and suffocates it with a neck bite.

The killing process is quick, but the tiger will maintain its bite to the throat for several minutes after the animal has died.

Then it drags the carcass to a safe place to devour it. The immense strength of the tiger is seen once again in this process as the tiger is able to drag weights of up to over 500 pounds (230 kilograms).

The tiger will gulp down as much as 66 pounds (30 kg) of flesh at one sitting.

The tiger may remain with the carcass and restart eating when hungry or it may cache the prey animal with leaves and undergrowth and return.

Tigers are enormously strong as demonstrated by their ability to drag huge prey items over long distances in order to hide their prey. The tiger's strength is legendary. Image: MikeB based on an image in the public domain.

Research indicates that male tigers successfully catching prey animals in one out of twenty attempts (5% of the time according to Dr Morris, the British zoologist). He referred to the work of US field biologist George Schaller observing tiger hunting in Kanha National Park in India.

Females with cubs are more successful with a success rate of one-in-five or 20% as they are driven on by the need to feed their cubs.

The low success rate demands that the tiger adopts a 'waste not want not' mentality, hence hiding the carcass.

Because of the tiger's large food demands it has a large home range about the size of a modern city.  Most tigers in India are in reserves and there are questions over whether they are large enough to accommodate enough tigers to allow them to successfully breed without inbreeding due to their small population size per each reserve.

Inbreeding ultimately leads to sterile males and more inbreeding. There is a lower population size limit at which it is viable.