I put a link to a youtube clip on on the hunt report. I'm never afraid to look the fool. I shot the heck out of a termite mound thinking it was a Francolin.

I was happy to see two posters admit to their mistaken targets....

Mark Young.... Klipspringer = Rock

D. Nelson..... Bush Pig = Palm tree

Anyone else care to out themselves.





Shapeshifting Francolin

many "mistaken identities" in the field but I never "killed" any (i.e. actually shot an object thinking it was an animal/bird).

Not that I would ever think that one of those blackened stumps was a warthog.

How many bushes in Africa become bushbucks?
Or visa versa?

Cactus always looks like a "possible". Better at movement than stills.

I blew the hell out of a genet once, turned out it was an old stick. Funny thing was when I went to pick it up and realized it was just a stick, I shined my flashlight around and found out the genet had hopped 10-15' inside the brushline and was just standing there, then he got ventilated proper.

I placed an arrow perfectly into a fallen pandanus log at about six metres with my recurve - a perfect killing shot. In the deep shade, its texture fooled me into thinking it was a sleeping boar. But that was here in the NT, not Africa. I have stalked a few termite mounds thinking they were donkeys or buffalo, and burned logs also often resemble boars.

I was shooting at a kudu that was under a shade tree hiding from the midday sun in Namibia. He was at about 100 yards; I was in the prone position slightly above him resting the rifle on my pack which was on large flat rock. There were absolutely no obstructions. Perfect set up! I took careful aim, squeezed the trigger, and the kudu took off like a bat out of Hell! He showed no sign of being hit. The PH asked me where I was aiming and I told him the shot had been perfect, right on the shoulder. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, How could you have been aiming at his shoulder? He was facing directly at you." After much discussion, we figured out that I had been shooting at the bush immediately to the left of the kudu because in the shade he looked to me like he was broadside.

quote:

Originally posted by BenKK:
I placed an arrow perfectly into a fallen pandanus log at about six metres with my recurve - a perfect killing shot. In the deep shade, its texture fooled me into thinking it was a sleeping boar. But that was here in the NT, not Africa. I have stalked a few termite mounds thinking they were donkeys or buffalo, and burned logs also often resemble boars.

That makes two of us. Stalked a few logs and termite mounds as well !!!


Some of those burnt pandanus logs look like sleeping pigs.
In fact, on a flood plain, we all drove past a huge black log
on Quads. I then went back to look at it and realised it was a
huge boar so went and got the others.
.

I have never "yet" shot a mistaken identity but have made the PH stop many times for these quality animals only to find they turned out to be bushes, that's when I tell them never mind it was just a female.

Once I was shooting at an impala needed for leopard bait, the light was fading and I ended up hitting a small tree it was standing next to. Just some bad aiming on my part. I asked what the trophy fee was on the tree and the PH started saying how rare the tree was and he would have to look it up.

Damn! We have some honest people posting here.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Damn! We have some honest people posting here.

You know I only started the thread to out your "Rockspringer".

Deer and elk hunting would be infinitely easier if every tree stump I saw was actually a deer or elk. I can't say I've ever unintentionally shot one though.

My PH last year did relate a story to me about how a another PH had his client shoot his brand new land cruiser thinking it was a cape buffalo.

While deer hunting years ago, I shot a log that looked like a deer laying in a briar patch I was easing by.

I have not shot anything my mistake.

But, we followed an old bull into VERY thick dry bush in Zimbabwe.
WE kept seeing him moving not far from us, and we kept following him.

Eventually we saw him lying down, but there was no way for a shot.

So it was that time when one has to slither like a snake on one's stomach.

This went on for quite a while, changing from one place to another to be able to see enough for a shot. All this time, the bull was no more than a few yards from us.

Eventually, we stopped, and my PH kept looking for a gap through which I could shoot. At the same time I was trying to get myself ready into a sort of shooting position. I could see something black, and eventually found a gap I thought I could put a bullet through. But, I was not able to see which part of his anatomy that was.

I asked my PH which way the bull was facing.

He could not talk, as the bull was too close and he would have heard us. So he pointed to the left, but I should wait so he can make sure.

After a few minutes of close slose inspection, he looked at me with a beaming smile, and whispered "it is a log!"

We all burst out laughing, as that old bull gave us the slip!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have not shot anything my mistake.

But, we followed an old bull into VERY thick dry bush in Zimbabwe.
WE kept seeing him moving not far from us, and we kept following him.

Eventually we saw him lying down, but there was no way for a shot.

So it was that time when one has to slither like a snake on one's stomach.

This went on for quite a while, changing from one place to another to be able to see enough for a shot. All this time, the bull was no more than a few yards from us.

Eventually, we stopped, and my PH kept looking for a gap through which I could shoot. At the same time I was trying to get myself ready into a sort of shooting position. I could see something black, and eventually found a gap I thought I could put a bullet through. But, I was not able to see which part of his anatomy that was.

I asked my PH which way the bull was facing.

He could not talk, as the bull was too close and he would have heard us. So he pointed to the left, but I should wait so he can make sure.

After a few minutes of close slose inspection, he looked at me with a beaming smile, and whispered "it is a log!"

We all burst out laughing, as that old bull gave us the slip!

Every bit more memorable than 100 of the Buffalo you have actually shot!! Am I right?

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have not shot anything my mistake.

But, we followed an old bull into VERY thick dry bush in Zimbabwe.
WE kept seeing him moving not far from us, and we kept following him.

Eventually we saw him lying down, but there was no way for a shot.

So it was that time when one has to slither like a snake on one's stomach.

This went on for quite a while, changing from one place to another to be able to see enough for a shot. All this time, the bull was no more than a few yards from us.

Eventually, we stopped, and my PH kept looking for a gap through which I could shoot. At the same time I was trying to get myself ready into a sort of shooting position. I could see something black, and eventually found a gap I thought I could put a bullet through. But, I was not able to see which part of his anatomy that was.

I asked my PH which way the bull was facing.

He could not talk, as the bull was too close and he would have heard us. So he pointed to the left, but I should wait so he can make sure.

After a few minutes of close slose inspection, he looked at me with a beaming smile, and whispered "it is a log!"

We all burst out laughing, as that old bull gave us the slip!

I did almost the exact same thing to a client on a deer very many years ago. It was embarrasing!! He was quite a well known hunter but he had the good grace not to tell all his mates about it!!

Well, there is something in the western states that look exactly like a bedded mule-deer, and many folks have shot them doing nothing but raising dust from a downed dead Yuca!

I’ve never made that mistake but did make another! Many hunters and shooters I had contact with here and other places over the years think they can’t make a serious mistake, but the have simply misinformed themselves, because anyone can make mistakes that often have dire outcomes.

In that same country I was hunting fairly open canyon country of New Mexico, and from the rim of one wall of a canyon I spotted a mule-deer standing broad side on the opposite wall of the canyon about 200 yds away with the head turned looking back at me. I was shooting an iron sighted lever action Winchester mod 94, 30-30 ! I could plainly see about a ten point rack above the head. I took my time and squeezed off a round, and dropped the deer in its tracks! The only problem was the deer fell but the ten point rack stayed where it was! It was a dead manzanita bush on the slope above the DOE I had just dropped in her tracks. Luckily I had a doe tag as well, but I didn’t want to shoot a doe! No matter how long you hunt, or maybe the longer you hunt you can still make a mistake.

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