Beetle Bailey
Member
I caught a hunting show called "Under Wild Skies" on ESPN late one night and though I've never hunted before, I decided to watch to see if I could learn anything useful. I'm unfamiliar with the show, not being a regular viewer, but it seems this particular episode was in Africa, where the hosts of the show and the crew go on a guided hunt.
Near the end of the show, one of the hunters spots a leopard in a tree and shoots it with a rifle. In the background you can see the leopard fall out of the tree and it looked as if it was dead when it hit the ground. However, at least from the view of the camera which looked to be from a vantage point very close to where the shooter was standing when he took the shot, it looked as if the shooter didn't have a good backstop ("Know your target and what is beyond it."). From what I could see on my television, it looked as if there was one other, larger tree in the background in an otherwise open field.
Again, I've no experience hunting and I know the television can't tell me everything, but from the POV of the camera he was shooting up into the tree to hit the leopard. The only thing I can think of that would be okay is if he were on a hillside and shooting down into the tree but it didn't look as if that were the case.
My questions are: Was the hunter wrong to shoot upwards into a tree? Has anyone ever been in a situation where they were armed with a rifle and spotted an animal in a tree? What did you do? TIA
Near the end of the show, one of the hunters spots a leopard in a tree and shoots it with a rifle. In the background you can see the leopard fall out of the tree and it looked as if it was dead when it hit the ground. However, at least from the view of the camera which looked to be from a vantage point very close to where the shooter was standing when he took the shot, it looked as if the shooter didn't have a good backstop ("Know your target and what is beyond it."). From what I could see on my television, it looked as if there was one other, larger tree in the background in an otherwise open field.
Again, I've no experience hunting and I know the television can't tell me everything, but from the POV of the camera he was shooting up into the tree to hit the leopard. The only thing I can think of that would be okay is if he were on a hillside and shooting down into the tree but it didn't look as if that were the case.
My questions are: Was the hunter wrong to shoot upwards into a tree? Has anyone ever been in a situation where they were armed with a rifle and spotted an animal in a tree? What did you do? TIA