How about when you're on your first safari, the first day, the first hour. You've read the books, you've studied the animals and you are as ready as God will allow.......and you misidentify a kudu as an eland.

We had already seen duikers and steinbok and came around a bend and there stood some tsessebe. While the PH judged them I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A few hundred yards away three kudu bulls were walking on the edge of a wooded area. I could only with my naked eye make out half of their horns, the upper half hidden by the overhanging vegetation and the distance. I proudly announce them as eland and my PH said "where?". I pointed to the three animals and he asked "where are they in relation to those kudus?". Oops! We ended up stalking those kudus (all too small) and later that morning well into the afternoon we stalked two eland bulls. When I got my first good look at one of them I couldn't believe I had made such an error earlier.

As to eating what I kill, absolutely. The only thing I tell them is don't feed me sweet meats.

Most people will recognise a warthog, and a zebra, but most can not pick out an impala or a Kudu.

I would not mind much if a person calls a cape buffalo a water buffalo but several people have looked at pictures of a blue wildebeest and called it a water buffalo.

One of the strangest comments was from a female coworker who asked me if I had a lot of deer "faces" hanging on my walls at home.

I have gotten the same reaction from the Zebra I shot. It took me three days of tracking that sucker to be successful. Fine hunt of a worthy adversary. And the PH was very careful when approaching him ... even after telling me to shoot it again just to be certain.

He later produced the skull of a lion he had taken for a local farmer. The lion was killing cattle because he'd been injured. There's no way to tell for absolutely certain, but it appears the lion had been kicked in the front of the face probably by a Zebra ... nose and jaw had been broken and had started to heal. Front lower teeth were displaced backwards and the left lower canine had been broken off by the blow. I sure as s*** would not have wanted to be kicked by what ever kicked this lion!

After Zebra having spoiled two earlier stalks, the great hunt, and seeing the lion's skull ... I have one Zebra rug that I will be proud of having taken!

One of the biggest reactions that I get is on the Zebra.

They will say,"You shot a horse?!" I tell them,"It's not a horse, read a book."

They then realize that they aren't sure of what they are talking about, and that whinny bullshit ends.

If you ever try to get a Zebra in The Selous, one would realize just how wild and a challange they are.

Sam