We have all heard excited hunters recounting their adventures back home. And anyone listening to some of these stories would be forgiven for thinking that the PH, who obviously features strongly in these stories, has been blessed with many God-like qualities.

 

But the reality is, no matter how beautifully he has been portrayed, the PH is not God. He is merely a human being. A walking, talking, expectorating, flatulent human being. And as much as we might want this PH to be perfect, alas, he is not.

 

Yes, you are paying him money to guide you. You are paying him money to assist you, and advise you, and keep you out of harm's way. And yes, you are, usually, paying him to tell you which animal to shoot.

 

Without being side tracked into a separate issue of good PH's and bad PH's, let's simply agree that a good PH is going to make better, more accurate decisions, more consistently, than a bad one, and in order to address the questions posed by this article, let's assume the PH who told the client to take the shot, is not a complete buffoon.

 

But the end result? The crux of the matter?

 

This PH has made a bad judgment. He has erred.

 

Many years back, I remember an incident on Unit 4 at Matetsi. The client had wounded a well maned lion, which disappeared into that stuff where the men are sorted from the boys. That thick, dark, dangerous stuff.

 

The hunters carefully circumvented this thicket, trying to ascertain if the lion was still inside of it, suddenly, very close by, the lion broke out, trying to escape. The PH and the client fired, killing the lion. He was a beauty. But at the same time that the hunters were examining the beast, and with some consternation, finding that the only holes in that beast were the two very recent ones fired from the right hand side, they heard a gurgling sigh inside the thicket. To cut a long story short, they had killed two lions, not one. And those lions were almost identical in appearance.

 

An “honest” mistake? A damned expensive one anyway - that's for sure. But let's be realistic, most of us could have made that same mistake.

 

Of course any crusty old elephant hunter who has been following the big footsteps most of his life will know how easily, and how quickly perceptions (and outcomes) can change when you're in the thick jesse, at the point of no return, where decisions have to be made and they have to be made immediately - and that crusty experienced old elephant hunter will know by ingrained instinct that there could be that slight doubt that things may not be as they seem, and he will gently pull back, and try another day. But not all PH's will have his experience.

 

So, I believe that we can appreciate how something like this can happen, but the fact remains, it's still an error, a poor judgement on the part of the PH.

 

But what about the rest of the issue - “What would you expect from your PH?” The answer is, unfortunately for the hunter - nothing.

 

Except of course, his apologies. Oh, and his anguish and embarrassment, and regret and his worry about this blemish on his record and reputation.

 

Consider this. If your pilot screws up and you come in too fast, and the Cessna is wrecked at the end of the runway - what next? Do you sue him? Maybe. How about your bus driver who goes too fast into the corner? How about the stock broker who tells you to put everything on maize futures this season, and you lose every cent you owned? There's not much you can do, is there? You could kill him I suppose, but the risk these days of getting caught is much higher than it was in Grandpa's day.

 

Here's a thought prompted by the wrecked Cessna; - Fine print. I bet every commercial plane ticket you buy has some pretty comprehensive fine print on it so suing the Cessna pilot would probably be a tricky thing. Just about every reputable safari company that I know has a disclaimer somewhere in their advertising, and many of those will mention “any injury, illness, mishap or loss”. I suppose being told to shoot the wrong elephant could be construed as a mishap of sorts.

 

The nut of it though, is that there's nothing that could be expected from the PH. Except an apology. Perhaps a remorseful conscientious PH would offer to host you and your family on a free plainsgame hunt on his Uncle's ranch or something similar sometime in the future, but certainly any financial consideration for a PH, would be a difficult thing to contemplate. For someone who might earn US$35 000.00 before expenses (in a good year) thinking about a 30 to 60 thousand dollar replacement elephant hunt would be about as fruitful as me contemplating marriage with Penelope Cruz.

 

Coincidentally, the cleft stick arrived at my place about a week after an interesting conversation I had with a PH who works in Niassa province in Northern Mozambique.

 

The PH told me that the authorities in charge of this hunting area imposed certain restrictions on the safari operators regarding the age of lions and weight of ivory taken there. Apparently these authorities also promised stiff penalties for any transgressors. One particular operator then added a few zeroes onto these penalties and informed his PH's and clients that they could have them if they crossed the line. If they made a mistake.

 

Specifically, I understand these penalties to be a ten thousand US dollar fine for the PH if the client shoots an elephant less than 60 pounds, and a 30 thousand US dollar fine for the client if he shoots a lion that is under 6 years old! Why the one fine is for the PH and the other is for the client, I couldn't figure.