Anyone had a ph tell you to shoot the wrong animal or wrong shot?

[pilar]

I curious about hearing about ph’s or APH’s making mistake on the wrong animal, wrong distance or wrong position/ end of the animal
No names necessary

My buddy Doc had a ph tell him “ right behind the shoulder” on a bull buff and it was a mix up and was through the hip and gut , same hunt his daughter nicked a zebra after the distance was misjudged by over 100-150 meters. Many days where spent on tracking both.

Watching a video on pronghorn hunting and the guide got two bucks mixed up and had the hunter shoot the smaller one, just got me thinking about mistakes

 

[BryceM]

I was after a cull blue wildebeest one day on foot on my first safari. The PH and I played cat and mouse with the herd for quite a while on his very large high-fence property. Eventually we caught up, and he told me to shoot a very particular animal. When we got up to it, it was a trophy bull.

The PH was very gracious about it, and took it in stride. No upcharge, no lamentations, no drama, just congratulations! It's on my wall now. It happens.

 

[Red Leg]

I curious about hearing about ph’s or APH’s making mistake on the wrong animal, wrong distance or wrong position/ end of the animal
No names necessary

My buddy Doc had a ph tell him “ right behind the shoulder” on a bull buff and it was a mix up and was through the hip and gut , same hunt his daughter nicked a zebra after the distance was misjudged by over 100-150 meters. Many days where spent on tracking both.

Watching a video on pronghorn hunting and the guide got two bucks mixed up and had the hunter shoot the smaller one, just got me thinking about mistakes

Right behind the shoulder was reasonable advice. The PH didn't fire the shot did he?

The most challenging shot verification between me and a PH were trips to the Zambezi Delta of Mozambique. There you must be very careful to understand exactly which cape buffalo bull among a herd that the PH intends for you to take.

The funniest screw-up was all on me. We were again in Mozambique looking over an enormous grass flat. A nice reed buck stood up at about 150 yards and my PH suggested I take him. It started walking to the left, and I fired just as he was going behind a large bush. A few seconds later he emerged from the other side and I hit him again. As we walked up a lovely pair of bucks lay on either side of the shrubbery. My now old friend Boet laconically remarked in his perfect Rhodesian accent, "they should make nice bookends."

 

[RolandtheHeadless]

While hunting for a trophy Cape kudu in the Karoo Mountains of SA, the PH told me to shoot the animal below. Turned out to be a "lesser kudu," as I like to call it. lol

Actually, it's a runt Cape kudu. The PH said it was good to remove him from the gene pool and didn't charge me for it.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Last PH told me to shoot the wrong blue wildebeest. I asked him twice "The one on the left?" He said yes and I pulled the trigger. "Good shot!" We walked up to it and he says "You shot the wrong one!" Uhh ... what happened to good shot? "It's a young bull." Yeah, as in yearling young! PH goes to get the truck and I tell the tracker to get busy gutting. Won't be any photo op. He rolls it over and there's tits. Fortunately no milk in them. PH says he'll make it right with the property owner and lodge owner. Leaving the property we run into the owner. Long conversation in Afrikans and then in very broken English he asks me if I was happy with the hunt. I merely said "Okay." But I did not look very happy I'm sure. Time to pay up the day I left and PH blames me for shooting the wrong animal. He did not make it right with anyone. Not a good scene ensued ... briefly. Not that I haven't made mistakes but no one else ever pays for mine. I did agree to pay half the "fine" for shooting breeding stock just to put and end to it. I have since heard other bad stories about the guy.

The last evening hunt we were after kudu on another PH's farm. Saw 27 of them that day but no real good shooters. Rather than go back to the lodge empty handed my PH spotted a lone springbuck ram I should cull. It was a tricky stalk before we were finally in range for a long shot. I cranked my scope up to 9x. "Nah, that's no shit-ram!" "Yes it is. Shoot." I handed him my rifle. "You can shoot it if you want. I'm not going to." Talking to the owner/PH that night after dinner he confirmed the ram who held that turf was breeding stock not a cull.

 

[Hedge774]

I had a PH ensure me that the kudu bull's shoulder that I could see was connected to a mature head and horns. I made the longest shot of my life at 402 yards, bang on the shoulder. There was much back slapping and hand shaking and we were off to retrieve my trohpy. When I caught up I noticed the party looked a lot less excited. I finally saw my kudu laying stone dead. He had a big body, but his horns only did one turn then pointed out. He was too young. I was a little bummed but still riding the high of the long shot. The PH gave me another kudu and a handful of culls to make up for it. He really wanted me to be happy with my safari, and was really embarrassed on the call. All was great in the end though!

 

[VertigoBE]

The only situation I have experienced so far, was when chasing zebra. We had climbed up a kopje and installed ourselves on a rock that hung a bit over the edge. In front of us was a bit of plain, with the bush starting again about 300m from us. We had seen a group of zebra starting to come back in our direction at a gentle trot. When they came out the PH identified the stallion as the last one in the line. I was under the impression that he gave me the go-ahead to shoot when I was comfortable. Lying on my belly on that rock, at about 40m of elevation, when the stallion got to within 100m I let loose with my 7x64. The PH just encouraged me, on the then running stallion, to put a few more bullets in him, final shot likely around +200m. However afterwards, he explained that he had wanted me to wait for them to stop trotting before taking that first shot.

In the end no game lost, just a few extra holes in the cape for the taxidermist to arrange, but it did point out that sometimes communication can be difficult, and as a hunter you should never assume.

 

[Odinsraven]

Young PH the springbok on the left ...I shot the one on the right as one on the left was a very nice trophy ...PH sad good shot we recovered it ..happened again two days later..discovered the young lad when under stress mixed up left and right in English....

 

[mark-hunter]

In 5 safaris, I did not have such an experience. But from what I hear, it does happen sometimes.

 

[mdwest]

A good buddy was told “shoot the one in the back”…

He understood that to mean “shoot the wildebeest furthest from you”…

What the PH meant was “shoot the one the furthest to the rear of the herd”…

Thankfully the herd was in pretty desperate need of culling and the one furthest away was a dry old cow… so… no one was upset at all… it was actually pretty funny when the ph started asking “did you miss???” And my buddy was saying “no… it’s on the ground”… followed by the PH saying “no.. it didn’t react to being hit, and ran away”… followed by the buddy saying “you’re blind.. it’s on the ground right in front of you” lol

 

[redbarn]

I have had two animals where the PH misjudged a female as a male.

The first was a Zebra in the Selous with Paddy Curtis. A zebra had stood apart for the herd and he said go ahead and shoot it, that's the male. Boom. Animal goes down. We get up to it and Paddy says, "you shot the dick off of it".

The second was a gemsbock in Botswana. Apparently it's a challenge to tell the sex of a standalone animal from 350 yards, but the PH had plenty of time to look the animal over. He just got it wrong.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Blesbok culling, "Take the second one from the right in the last bunch". "Now he's third from the left on the right side". "He's now in the middle standing behind the one that's third from the left". BOOM! "That wasn't the one but that's ok".

 

[PARA45]

This happened in South Dakota and not with a PH, but with my friend the landowner. We come up this hill, and we see a buck with five does on the edge of the corn field. We leave the truck behind, and we stalk to about 180 yds or so from the edge of the corn field. By this time we get there, only two does are there, the buck and the other are back in the field. I clearly heard my friend say shoot, and I even asked again shoot, and he said shoot. After I shot, he is laughing saying why did I shoot, when he said not to shoot. Well, my hearing is all jacked up, and I told him that I thought he said to shoot. Well, while we are arguing back and forth about the shot, the buck steps out of the corn field, and my friend said to stop arguing and to shoot the buck. I tagged out in less than 5 min, filled my doe and buck tags. We always laugh about this, and we make sure I'm listening to the right command when we hunt.

 

[chashardy]

Not in Africa, but on an elk hunt in New Mexico last year. The guide--I guess he is considered a professional--glassed a bull and told me to get ready. I handed him my range finder and told him to range the bull while I got set up. He says "300 yards" so I set up just at the top of the bull's shoulder to allow for drop (300 winmag 200gr TBBC) and squeeze off the shot. We both thought we heard a hit.
We go down to the area and look for blood and find nothing. After about 45 minutes of looking we decide it was a miss and he says he's going for the truck and I should just stay and sit down. While he's gone, I stand at the bush where the bull was standing and range back up to the spot where I took the shot. 572 yards. Confirmed by the other guides who arrived with my guide in the truck.

 

[wyosteve]

Happened to me on an aoudad hunt. Cloudy, hazy day, near dark, aoudad was 387 yds. I get ready and say to guide-the one by the big cactus right? 'Yes', shoot and it goes down. Turns out to be a small ram. I was looking at one on the left of the big cactus, guide was looking at one on the right of the cactus! No problem. Just miscommunication. Next time I"ll clarify.

 

[AZDAVE]

@RolandtheHeadless A little leather die to get the white stripes on the mount and you have a new (eastern cape lesser kudu )

 

[coreydb]

Twice..... The first was in Africa, The PH described the animal I eventually shot then screamed at me that I shot the wrong one. We got in an argument. I had to pay the $350USD for shooting the wrong animal. The second was with a new PH in TX (although I didn't know it at the time) who got excited and misidentified a sheep at sunset. The senior PH on the team took him aside and reamed him out. I overheard the words "I'm sorry..... and you know the difference in species and you'll pay for this kill". I felt bad for the guy and I told the senior PH I'd pay for the trophy.

 

[steve white]

I'll just say this...if you WON a hunt for two buffalo, chances are better than even that you will be encouraged to take a less than stellar trophy for at least one of the two. Especially if they coach you to shoot one that can only be appraised from the rear, which always makes horns look a bit bigger.

 

[pilar]

I'll just say this...if you WON a hunt for two buffalo, chances are better than even that you will be encouraged to take a less than stellar trophy for at least one of the two. Especially if they coach you to shoot one that can only be appraised from the rear, which always makes horns look a bit bigger.

Now I’m just confused, who won a two buff hunt auction or raffle?

 

[JimP]

In the end it is you the one with the rifle and the one who pulls the trigger who needs to make the decision.

On my last hunt my PH wanted me to shoot a bleastbuck but I refused until I knew for sure it was the one to shoot. He was getting pissed off at me and I could tell it in his tone. On the way back to the lodge he apologized to me and told me that it was my hunt and not his and that I did the right thing. I also had a mountain reedbuck that was in a herd. As I watched him through the scope my PH was telling me which one it was. I was asking him just which one since there were two nice trophies in the small herd. It came down to him telling me that the reedbuck just took a step and just how it was standing before I pulled the trigger.

On this hunt my PH didn't have a range finder and it was up to me to determine the range. It was a good thing that I can tell ranges quite well, but I was also shooting a rifle that I knew very well and knew what the point blank range was.

But hunters just need to know when to pass up a shot even at a trophy animal when there is any question on the shot, or which animal that they are looking at.