PH's especially,

On my 1st & only safari thus far my PH bestowed compliments on me for several shots. Not that I didn't enjoy this praise but sometimes I wondered. This man is a profocient, professional, personable, friendly guy.

Is the phrase "that was an excellent shot" in the PH training manual as a mandatory statement regardless of how shitty the shot is?

Hey guys don't stop saying it!!

boltshooter,

I think PH is saying "thanks for not making me chase this animal all over the place" as well as giving just recognition for a great shot. PH's love DRT.

Mark

I think some PH's are savvy enough to know that it helps the clients confidence which would normally help their shooting. It also likely helps their tip.

quote:

Originally posted by boltshooter:
PH's especially,

On my 1st & only safari thus far my PH bestowed compliments on me for several shots. Not that I didn't enjoy this praise but sometimes I wondered. This man is a profocient, professional, personable, friendly guy.

Is the phrase "that was an excellent shot" in the PH training manual as a mandatory statement regardless of how shitty the shot is?

Hey guys don't stop saying it!!

were they not good shots you did when he complimented you?

There is a little more to it than a compliment as well. The PH/guide is calling your shot for you... reassurance that you were on target. I would do the same for any hunting companion - if I was guiding them or not...

I wouldnt tell anyone they did a good shot if it was not...

The "good shot" comment is reassuring. I have also got "I think you missed" on an impala at dusk with rapidly fading light. This is less reassuring and can do wonders for your confidence. Most of us don't want the PH to think we are incompetent boobs. When we found the animal, in this case, the shot was very good (the animal wasn't standing still when I took the shot). The PH apologized profusely so I let him buy me a drink, or was that included in the daily rate?

My PH never complimented me on individual shots. All he said after I cloverleaf-ed my 3 practice shots to make sure each rifle survived the overseas flight, "You shoot well enough that I don't need to carry my rifle!" I took that as a compliment seeing as he always carried one 15X and one 20X binoculars. That was burden enough for a 60 year old, fit as he was.

When it came zebra time he wagered 10 Namibia dollars: he paid me if I hit on a black stripe, I paid him if I hit on the white...I have his note signed and dated as a memento!

Mine complimented me (after the fact) on how fast I reloaded a non-ejector double and got 4 shots off on an unwounded buff that came from about 25-30 yards. Of course 3 of my bullets (one passed thru...all cup solids) and his bullet were found within 6" of each other. Yes....I did give him a nice tip.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

I rememberon my first safari a nice wildebeest stepped out from behind a herd of gemsbok and gave us the frontal stare. We were 235 yds away and he was looking dead on at us.

I took the shot and he dropped exactly where he was standing. My PH turned to me and said "turn left, extend your hand and shake mine because that was a damn good shot".

I remember that like it happened yesterday.

quote:

Is the phrase "that was an excellent shot" in the PH training manual as a mandatory statement regardless of how shitty the shot is?

The other obligatory phrase, regarding the downed trophy is "this is a very good one."

I think you are being too harsh on PHs. Keep in mind that they are professional entertainers. They entertain us by taking us hunting. Would it be as fun if the PH said, "Well you hit that kudu in the lungs, but ideally the shot should have been 2 inches left and 1 inch lower"?

Living in the entertainment capital of the world, I don't consider my PHs as professional entertainers. I consider them trained professionals, just like lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers or others who have gone through rigorous training in order to assist me in my hunting. Frankly, I have been both complimented on my good shots, and advised of my poor shots. I have appreciated the candor of my PHs on both.

Sorta parallel's "I didn't know you had it in you."

Rich Elliott

I prefer no compliments at all.

The three things I tell my PH's before we start hunting is that I have actually done this before and you can scream shout and holler all you want but I will not shoot until I'm ready to shoot; second if you make me run more than a short distance to get a shot there will be no shot and finally while I'm shooting nobody moves as I will pull up as soon as I see movement in my pheripheral vision.

My ph is also my friend, however, whatever shot I make if the critter is hit, is a"great shot". I am an indifferent marksman at best, too long a soldier aiming for center mass, I suppose; always hit the target just not exactly where I hoped to hit it; except for a frontal shot at a croc about 110yds. Man, I pulled that shot about 12" to the right: clean miss. How I managed that feat of arms is beyond me. Anyway, I always kid the ph about complimenting what really is only a so-so shot.

The only phrase I can repeat in Afrikaans is "this American can't shoot," and it's not because I've been praised by a ph!

The highest praise I have ever recieved on this score came from my tracker after a week of hunting in Tanzania including a pretty exciting cape buffalo hunt. We never had to track an animal. The tracker looked at me and said something to my PH in an African dialect. I asked what he said and the PH smiled and responded that he said " He is a good hunter. He makes it easy for us". Coming from the tracker, I felt pretty good about that.

The most likely time to get a compliment is right after the shot. It seems I go into auditory exclusion during the last part of the hunt on elephant and probably have missed most of the compliments. Two of the best compliments I heard was from my PH talking to another PH when I was thought to be out of hearing range, He said, " Great shot, a frontal brain shot at 26 yards." In another case after several ele hunts with the same company a Ph told me that my reputation was that the PHs needn't carry much back up ammo when guiding me. I think their standards are low.

465H&H

For me, it was during the third day of climbing the mountains after Kudu in Namibia where we were expecting shots out to 300 yards. On the way back up the mountain after passing up three different bulls, I noticed that my PH hadn't brought his rifle.

About 5 days later we were out hunting Wwarthog, Steenbok, Duiker and Baboon and the only rifle that my PH had in the truck was a 22 rimfire.

After having to suffer clients who whine,complain, have soft feet, are dreadfully out of shape and are poor shots,they really appreciate clients who are good sports, go with the flow and are decent shots, makes their life so much easier. These are the clients who get shown the 60" kudu they have been keeping secret and get invited back.
I agree with RReese, compliments on good shooting from the trackers and skinners really mean a lot to me.

I always loved the famous PH line after a horrendous miss or wounding shot (is it from Hemingway?) that, to paraphrase, goes something like this - "Must be the light. You know it's different in Africa."

My sense from having interrogated (note that no enhanced methods were used) a fair number of PHs is that, as a rule, they often cite Americans and Germans as the best shots.

Frenchmen and Russians have just as often been cited as the worst.

I admit my sample is small, so I would be interested to hear what others think or have heard.

On our plains game safari in RSA in 2006, the PH started referring to my son as "one shot, one kill" after three DRTs on impala, warthog and kudu. The best compliment however was after the second day the PH stopping carrying his own rifle.

I've been complimented on good shots, and chided on some not so good shots.

The chiding only comes when you know the PH well, after some hard earned respect, imo. After all, whats the fun of chiding a guy who's in the dumps about his shooting and is struggling?

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by boltshooter:

the phrase "that was an excellent shot"

It's almost on par with "now don't f$#k it up!"

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanna:
The only phrase I can repeat in Afrikaans is "this American can't shoot," and it's not because I've been praised by a ph!

Lol. I think you deserve a beer for that one.

I can remember once in zim with Mark Butcher where i felt very proud of being a Spanish hunter. In spain we hunt a lot in Monteria. we are used to shoot at full speed wild boards and deer chased by dogs and do a goood job.(sometimes)
We had come into shooting distance of a chobe bushbuck, stick, take some time, shoot, miss, the bushbuck starts running trough thick stuff, i start running to and suddenly see a small small opening.Stop wait shoot again. Bushbuk straight down.
Mark- what the hell....
tracker(paul) baba the bushbuck is down
He turned round and looked at me as if I owed him money.
Mark(clapping my back)
- That fucking monteria shooting.-
Then a big smile comes up his face and told me that tipe of shooting is unusual for americans, germans and austrians. Missing an animal that is standing still and killing it afterwards with a very difficult shoot.
-Tthey would have never failed that shoot but either they would had never done the second one.Don´t try it again.
As you may imagine I did it two or three more times in that safari and butch started saing. ok my friend make them run and then don´t fuck it up.
I love does words- fuking monteria shooting_

Below is brief summary (in my opinion) of most of the replies to this thread.

PH Compliments:

A. Bolster hunter ego/confidence/reassurance 5

B. PH way of saying thanks for not making us track wounded game 6

C. PH friendliness & courtesy 3

D. Unadulterated praise for great shots/hunting skills 2

So, 1st timers reading this, when you finally go on that 1st safari the praise for "great/excellent shooting &/or hunting skills" is not just idle words but professionals who want to make you & your hunt the best it can be; it ain't bull & hype for a tip!!

The PH I hunt with never stops complaining about my shooting!

It is either too far back, too far forward, too low, or high.

And one time he was absolutely stunned that an impala I had shot was lying there in front of him dead.

He was standing broadside, and I hit him with a 270 Ackley low in the shoulders. Breaking both legs, but the bullet just creased the chest without going in.

He ran a few yards and dropped dead.

My PH was trying his best to poke a stick into the chest cavity where that crease was, without any success.

He was muttering "he shouldn't have diedHe shouldn't have died"

I got that all on video

Another classic comment was when I shot an impala, which was standing facing away from us on a slope of a hill, 420 yards away - measured afterwards.

I hit him in his rear end, the bullet going through his body, and coming out at the chest-neck junction.

Roy's comment was "You hit him too far back!"

I think he thought I was going to bounce the bullet of a tree and hit the impala in the chest.

quote:

Originally posted by boltshooter:
PH's especially,

On my 1st & only safari thus far my PH bestowed compliments on me for several shots. Not that I didn't enjoy this praise but sometimes I wondered. This man is a profocient, professional, personable, friendly guy.

Is the phrase "that was an excellent shot" in the PH training manual as a mandatory statement regardless of how shitty the shot is?

Hey guys don't stop saying it!!

At the end of the day, you know how good you are really.
If the compliment was deserved, you are probably going to accept it.
However, if the PH's benchmark is the nightmare he last took out and you are a blessed relief just because you actually connected with the target somewhere in the right area, you are problably not going to get big-headed about the compliment if you know you could have done better.
Compliments from people you employ aren't half as good currency as those from your kids or mother-in-law!

After my first animal my PH didn't say anything, he just stopped carrying his rifle. I had eight one shot kills and didn't have to track anything so I felt pretty good about that.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:

Frenchmen and Russians have just as often been cited as the worst.

Your PH's just haven't guided enough Spaniards.

I've heard it all, from good to bad. Too far back, why didn't you shoot sooner, too low, too high, great shot, you're the best shot I've every guided.
Their really just reacting to what they think at the moment and usually speak before thinking.

Oh my personal favorite, (very excited) "that was the most brilliant shoot I've ever seen", as he turn away I heard very softly, "or the luckiest".

It's called "Azz kissing", and sometimes results in a hunter returning for another hunt.

quote:

He was standing broadside, and I hit him with a 270 Ackley low in the shoulders. Breaking both legs, but the bullet just creased the chest without going in.

He ran a few yards and dropped dead.

My PH was trying his best to poke a stick into the chest cavity where that crease was, without any success.

He was muttering "he shouldn't have diedHe shouldn't have died"

That is a classic story!!!! "He shouldn't have died" LOL.

Funniest compliment I have had was from Mike Kibble after shooting a huge bodied Kudu bull. I hit him through the shoulders but he got up and ran with a broken on shoulder......we chased that bull through the bush........he broke to our left, going like a grey steam train and I spined him at 80 yards.

Mike's comment was a "You shoot moving targets better than stationary ones, you bloody 'roo shooter"

quote:

Originally posted by boltshooter:
PH's especially,

On my 1st & only safari thus far my PH bestowed compliments on me for several shots. Not that I didn't enjoy this praise but sometimes I wondered. This man is a profocient, professional, personable, friendly guy.

Is the phrase "that was an excellent shot" in the PH training manual as a mandatory statement regardless of how shitty the shot is?

Hey guys don't stop saying it!!

Wait til you and your PH been friends for many years---then it will get like the jabs here in the forums---or worse.
Take the compliments and run

On our first trip to South Africa I took a 9,3x62 and a .416 Rigby. The PH was delighted with the 9,3x62 and obviously concerned about the Rigby. He made the comment that every client he'd had bring one was afraid of it and didn't shoot it well.

Toward the end of the hunt we went looking for Gemsbock and I took the Rigby. We were standing in the midst of large acacia tree in middle of a very large field and one had run down the other side at quite a clip. Would have been a two box car leade ... way too far to shoot.

The PH's was looking to our left and quietly said "There are horns in that thorn bush." We whipped around to look just about the time that 4 or 5 of them moved out toward us at a pretty good clip. No time to get back on the sticks as they were going to go right in front of where we had been situated.

The PH quickly knelt down and motioned for me to use his shoulder as a rest. I did. He covered his ears and turned his head so as to minimize the blast effect as I pulled the trigger. The big fella in the pack stopped ... staggered for a bit and fell over dead. All of this happened in just a few seconds.

After the fella dropped, the PH looked at me and said "You can hunt Buffalo with me any time."

Made me feel REALLY good!

Well, you should know whether it was a good shot or not. Nobody dislikes a compliment, except for a bad shot.

quote:

Originally posted by DuggaBoye:

Wait til you and your PH been friends for many years---then it will get like the jabs here in the forums---or worse.
Take the compliments and run

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Latham:

quote:

Originally posted by fatbutnotdead:
If you can hit a 12 inch circle at 25 yards, you will be a better shot than 50% of the guys on this forum.

See what I mean--

The first compliment I received from my PH was not about my shooting actually. After the first afternoon of sneaking around on foot I asked him why he had not given me any talk about safe gun handling or if he normally did that. "I saw what I needed in the first 5 minutes." was his reply.

On the 2nd day I had made 2 very good shots from kneeling on a zebra and an impala when we spotted a huge blue wildebeest offering a straight on presentation at 80 to 90 yards. He let me take that shot(which I later learned was a compliment in itself) after quickley telling me to shoot again ASAP if it was still up after my shot. It crumpled to the 250gr NF soft from my 35 whelen and as we walked up to it he sort of muttered to himself "that hits them hard" having never had a hunter with a whelen before.

I have hunted with the same PH/friend on 3 different trips and he still compliments me when I make a good shot, frankly it is always nice to hear. But there have been a couple of times when I hear "What the hell were you aiming at?"

quote:

Originally posted by David Culpepper:
I have hunted with the same PH/friend on 3 different trips and he still compliments me when I make a good shot, frankly it is always nice to hear. But there have been a couple of times when I hear "What the hell were you aiming at?"

Isn't it amazing? I've had 1-shot kills on buffalo, zebra, hartebeest, and a 200+ yd kill on an Nyassa Wildebeest who was running flat out on a dry lake bed. Yet, I have literally shot the horn off an oryx at 40 yards and hit a kudu midship from 50 yards. I was aiming for the shoulder on both and neither shot obstructed in any conceivable way. Whassupwitdat? It must be the light in Africa. I hear it's different there.