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

[Vanguard2279]

Buffalo hunt in South Africa. Bulls were passing by a fairly wide gap in the brush. I'm on the sticks and the PH is glassing each bull as it passes. He hisses "That one!" and I send a round out. The bull takes off and we hearing it's death bellow in under a minute. We approach and I realize that it is a completely soft-bossed bull. Absolutely heart-breaking. I didn't get mad as mistakes happen. It was the only bull in the slot so there was no confusion between that and another bull. I estimated that it was a 6-7 year old bull. Dr. Robertson would later confirm that I was correct after seeing the pictures, but said it was much closer to 6 than 7.

 

[BRICKBURN]

1. Reedbuck hunting in tall grass. We stalked in under 60 yards and the PH was assessing the trophy through the cover. I was watching a great specimen and got the classic "take him when you are ready". I line up on the big guy I have been watching and reply that the ram has a tree over his vitals and I can't shoot. The PH, says "What?" in a confused, incredulous tone. He lifts his head away from the binos, looks at my rifle and we both note that we are assessing two different rams with our own tunnel vision. He now looks at mine and we reposition and I make the shot on the ram I have been looking at.
That tree saved us from the classic "the one on the left. No, the other left" result.

2. During a culling excursion in Botswana I was taking a rather lengthy shot on a broadside Wildbeest. The animal was facing left. I get the go ahead to shoot. I pulled the trigger and the animal dropped and the rest of the herd scattered. We made our way up to the animal and found the beast dead on its side with a hole behind the shoulder where I had aimed. The mystery; the animal was dead on its side facing right, the wrong direction. I was pretty certain it was in the exact spot where the target animal was standing/fallen when the shot had been taken. There were no blood trails, no spare critters. To this day I can't figure out what happened. Thankfully, the PH did not care as the goal was to cull every Wildebeest in that area for disease control.

3. A buddy had a PH make a rather bad error judging Kudu. My buddy even questioned him twice before making the shot. The PH assured him again and again. It was an truly embarrassing judging error.
Unhappy hunter, embarrassed PH. Don't recall any further result.

 

[gillettehunter]

In my 10 trips to Africa it's happened too often. First trip the PH had me shoot a female red hartebeast. He admitted it was his fault and that I'd shot the one he told me to.
Next one I remember was a blesbuck. A herd came by quite close and my brand new PH finally decided that there was one I should take when they were out there 300 yds. Shoot the last one in line. So I did. unfortunately the "last"one in line was hidden from me by some bushes and I had a doink.
Then there's the eland. First time hunting them. We find a herd and as they are working along a hillside we're looking at them. I find a dark blue one and think it's the bull. I'm dumb enough to just be looking at color. I ask the PH is it one with it's head up. Yes. Just took a step yes. Now head is down. Yes.... Bang and whop. I thought the PH said I hit him. Later he claims he said I didn't. Bull moves around and stops on a rocky point. Bang whop and down he goes. We walk over and I have 2 eland down. A big cow plus a bull. Cow isn't pregnant so I got off with minimal cost.
The biggest goof ever tho was in Zambia. Private ranch. We see a herd of 4 hartebeast and my PH claims all are bulls. We sneak into 240 yds and I set up the bipod. He tells me which one to shoot and we wait for it to give me a broadside shot. It does so I shoot it. We walk up and it's a female. He says that I shot the wrong one. I tell him no way. We load it up to take back for processing and bump into the other 3 "bulls". Short stalk. Shoot that one, so I do so. Another female. No chance I shot the wrong one. We load it up and stumble on the 2 remaining hartebeast. We hop out and make a short stalk. Shoot that one so I did. 3rd female............ All were females in that herd and the PH screwed up. I didn't pay for any of those. We went to another property for a male the next day..........
In Kyrgyzstan hunting Ibex in the winter we got on a large wintering herd before we could see to shoot. As it got light they said shoot #3. OK the 3rd on in from the right was a male so boom and whop and down. Mediocre bull. They meant the 3rd bull in from the right..........
I try harder now to be sure I know which one they mean.....
Bruce

 

[Ridge Runner]

First miscommunication in RSA on my first safari we were hunting Kudu. My PH was standing slightly higher up behind and to the side of me looking at a bull about 200 yards away. He instructed me to the location of the kudu,.. see the big tree? Come down the hillside . It's in the thick brush. I could make out the body of the kudu but couldn't get a good look at it's head to confirm it was the bull we were after. Since he only seen the one bull.....and a cow that was further ahead of the bull. I kept repeating I couldn't see horns and wasn’t sure of the animal I was looking at was a bull.

My PH was getting more excited about the size of the bull and that we were going to miss another opportunity on this big bull he began saying Shoot! Shoot! Reluctantly I touched the trigger on my 30-06. We heard the animal crash to the ground in the thick cover.

When we go to recover the kudu the tracker in Afrikaan told my PH who translated the news, PH said, you shot the cow.

Seems it was another instance of hunter and PH looking at 2 different animals and miscommunication on where the bull was actually standing.

In Zimbabwe the owner/PH mistaked a young cow hippo with calf for the bull hippo we were hunting. His response was, '....well we shoot cows [hippos] also.' More details on this very bad Zimbabwe safaris experience with Lloyd Yeatman is in my 2021 hunt report.

 

[Grandpa Moose]

Need to trust your PH for sure. Stalked a sable that looked pretty good and waited for a full broadside view, PH wanted to see length of curl for sure; in my excitement as the animal appeared ready too run I broke it's neck with the 375 I was carrying ; decent animal couple inches short of book but patience would have offered a better chance. Had a young starting PH who called shoot on a nice impala, nailed him but he thought it was missed ; upon checking it lay dead behind brush, he didn't stay on animal as I shot. Good chuckle between us

 

[DieJager]

Luckily never happened, (yet) in Africa. But I'm always trying to judge the trophy myself as well. If I do not see its size and I'm not certain it is a good, adult specimen I'm not shooting.

I've shot some wrong roe deer, not the ones that my mentor wanted and he raised hell. Now I'm always double checking.

 

[Nyati]

My first safari, in the thick of the Limpopo bush, my PH said shoot that impala, and I did.

When we got to it he said, sorry, too small, this one is free, we´ll find you a better one.

 

[HookMeUpII]

My first safari, in the thick of the Limpopo bush, my PH said shoot that impala, and I did.

When we got to it he said, sorry, too small, this one is free, we´ll find you a better one.

I know of someone who had that happen. I won't tell their story, however, it happens.

PH's are humans just like everyone else.

Mine was the opposite, luckily. He lost the one we wanted, said the one behind was a shooter as well, but didn't know how big. I shot and it's probably going to be SCI Gold.

Sword can cut both ways.

 

[wildwilderness]

Yup, night hunting and the PH had poor eyes…. Let’s just say he said shoot and I did. Wrong sex and he said I had to “pay” game official and tracker to bury it…. he never told the crooked outfitter who didn’t pay him past wages though so no trophy fee for me. The next night we hunted a different blind and ended up shooting a juvenile of another species since he didn’t say it was young…. That was a fiasco of a hunt, PH was nice but under a lot of stress from a bad outfitter.

 

[Fatback]

The only issue I’ve ever had was a mistake by a PH on ranging an impala. It was about 75 yards further than what I shot it for. It was a clean miss. Worked out great because about 45 minutes later I was able to connect in an even bigger Impala. Alls well that ends well cokes to mind in my situation.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Kudu are hard to judge. I recall another complete thread about this subject. My PH on third safari had me on a promised fifty inch bull for a couple of days before we finally got him. In the salt he measured only 44.5". I thought my PH was going to cry. Really. But I was okay with it. The bull had a very ratty cape and I only wanted a skull mount. And it is a very pretty rack, dark brow, smooth, thick, three turns, ivory tips. Another client might have been very disappointed without a cape to mount. Worked out fine for all. I love hunting that mountainous country. Last safari I hunted the same property and never got a shot at kudu, though we sure saw a lot of them. No big deal. Lovely country.

 

[Dudders]

I needed to shoot a fallow buck for a local village deer roast we have provide one for many years, This event usually took place on the first weekend in august and as fallow bucks season begins the 1st of August some years we do not have many days and busy with harvest. I had seen a buck a couple of times that would be perfect. I took a young american airman out with me to shoot this buck, got to where the buck had been seen the last few days it was still dark as we pulled into the field there he was in the headlights with a young pricket not twenty yards, lights off killed the engine and we waited 20 minutes and i explained we would let them move off across the field when they settled we would get into position for a shot i really need a head or neck shot using my rifle where you put the red dot the bullet will go. It was just starting to get light so we head off wide creep into about 100 yards hidden from view by stone field boundry wall. the pricket is stood against the edge of a small wood and the buck i want had just moved into the wood. I place the rifle on the wall get him set for the shot as i am sure the big buck will come back out in a minute, I tell the young lad not to shoot i am going to check the buck has not come out the other side of the wood i take a quick look nothing, thinking good the buck will still be just in the wood plenty of time to wait him out "CRACK" off fires the rifle up jumps the young airman " I GOT HIM " as I watch the buck i wanted run off across the field and a little pricket lying dead on the floor . I did get a buck that evening. the young airman was happy his fallow pricket and i get tell the tale of the time the now son in law shot the wrong bloody deer.

 

[steve white]

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

Uh, that would be me....

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

I have one time out of 6 trips and 60 plus animals. It was not really the PH's fault but rather mine and miscommunication on which animal.
We had come across a herd of Gemsbok and eased into them. PH says take the 3rd one from the right, there were maybe 8-9 kind of standing in a line. Well I had kind of tunnel vision and the farthest right was blocked by a tree from my angle. So I came up three and shot and it dropped. PH says you missed and tracker says same. I say it dropped in tracks, and it had. It was still a really nice female at 44 inches, but the other was bigger, Got the right one the next day, she was 46 and change.. I was happy paying for both.

 

[fourfive8]

In answer to ? of OP… not really. I make my own decisions about which animal and where….and live with those decisions. Then no one to blame for screw ups but me. I really try to avoid the blame game. I really don’t care for PHs who start yelling, “shoot, shoot, shoot!” Discussing opinions on certain animals or if real unseen safety concern involved… sure no problem. But no one “tells” me to shoot anything.

 

[Speedster]

Yep. Was hunting gemsbok in SA. Very thick bush. A lot of sneaking around and the sun was getting low with us looking straight into it, so there was considerable glare. We finally set up for a small opening in the bushes. The PH told me he would let me know which animal to shoot as they were passing single file through this small opening. I was concentrating on getting a quick shot and relied on what the PH said. Finally a gemsbok walked through and the PH said to shoot. I made a good shot and the gemsbok only went about 50 yards. We walked up to it and saw one horn was short, bent, and splintered in about 5 pieces. Since it was less than 24 inches, the outfitter did not charge me and I was able to shoot another one. What irritated me was the PH said he knew the gemsbok had a damaged horn but told me to shoot anyway. I was like... What?? Yes it is my responsibility to pull the trigger or not but under the conditons, I was concentrating on the exact area of the gemsbok to aim at and I did not notice the damaged horn. I thought the PH should have at least warned me or told me to hold the shot.

 

[Andrew62]

Hunting in Zimbabwe on my very first safari, 1988, my guide said to shoot the klipspringer on the right, shot it, turned out to be a female. If that were today I’d have had a 10x power scope rather than the 5x I was using and I’d know better to be sure of my target.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

In answer to ? of OP… not really. I make my own decisions about which animal and where….and live with those decisions. Then no one to blame for screw ups but me. I really try to avoid the blame game. I really don’t care for PHs who start yelling, “shoot, shoot, shoot!” Discussing opinions on certain animals or if real unseen safety concern involved… sure no problem. But no one “tells” me to shoot anything.

PH and tracker live with these animals and I live across the pond on the opposite side of the planet. I need to trust their judgment and they need to trust me to do what I'm told. That's the way it's supposed to work ... now and a hundred years ago. If something goes haywire and both are gentlemen, there's no need for a blame game. Sort it out and move on. My guy volunteered to sort it out. Okay, enough said and we did move on ... until it was time to pay the bill at the end of safari. THEN I get bushwhacked with the blame game. If the jerk had asked me beforehand to help him out of the mess, I'm sure I would have agreed. But in the field he accepted the blame ... and then he didn't. Not my only only complaint. He was also very lazy. Refused to get up early for kudu because he'd miss 7:30 breakfast at the lodge. I sorted that out quickly with two polite sentences: "You work for me when I'm paying the bill. We WILL be on-site for kudu when the sun comes up." End of discussion. He made the lodge owner's wife feed the campfire while he sat and fiddled with his phone. That bugged me. I finally took over for her. And he never took a turn at the BBQ pit. Not once. Just sat on his butt every night.

 

[meigsbucks]

On my first safari, there was a herd of impala ready to cross the road at about 75yds. I was on the sticks and ready. Most of the herd crossed. The PH then told me the one to take was the second one. When they crossed, I shot the second one. It dropped to the shot. He immediately told me “You shot the wrong one”. Evidently they switched positions, but I didn’t see it.
On that same hunt, a waterbuck was in some thick cover. The PH assessed it was old and had heavy horns. We stalked it and never got a full look at the horns. I shot it. Turned out it had shorter horns than the PH thought.

 

[skydiver386]

I'm still in Romania as I write this, but a funny story I didn't know until a few days after I shot my Red Stag.

Four of us were in a high stand with the thick woods of the Carpathians to our back, and open fields to our front. Tina, Marius, the Club Hunt Director and myself just casually viewing the huge stags about 300 yards below us with their groups of cows. Group after group came up from the pastures and agricultural fields, through a thin treeline and up to the open field just below us.

One Bull had vines or brush stuck in his rack, another very large Bull stayed to our left, and another large Bull slightly to our right. The Hunt Director couldn't clearly Identity the Bull on the right as one he'd seen before, but but knew the one on the left to be a good trophy Bull. The one on the right was covered with mud, and in the low light was really hard to score.

Marius wanted to put a stalk on the Bull to the right, the Hunt Director the one to the left, so there was a bit of lively whispering in the high stand for a minute or two.

After I put him on the ground, the Hunt Director got a good look at him up close and was shocked. He'd never seen this particular Bull and was every bit as happy as I was that we had this one in the bag. So much so, he called the Club President who arrived a few minutes later to get a look at the Bull.

Just goes to show, there can be a difference of opinion even between very experienced guides when judging trophies.