Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire So you think the honey badger is the baddest in the land?

Maybe the little guy wanted to learn how to fly.

The pics came from Foxnews. If they're fake, they fooled them, too. OTOH, those might be shadows in the dust.

I don't know if that's actually true or not. I know an evolutionary article was written years ago regarding a similarity, but with around a 90% mortality, it doesn't appear to do much and most predators readily kill them if they find them.

To have a survival advantage, it only needs to save a small percentage of them, not all or even most.

Suggests the pictures mean rabies

https://africageographic.com/blog/honey-badger-dont-care/

Couple years back I helped a friend get his dream rifle by dropping not so subtle hints to his wife for over a year and playfully raising it up now and then and finally I found him, a great deal.. It was a 270 ( shut up) Rem in a stainless \walnut Weatherby Vanguard to use in lieu of his or his grandfathers 243 ( that I redid for him). He is a half a box a year guy but I chipped in for a scope that I mounted and helped him with a load and settled on 150's. Good thing and after reading this you might think he owes me! So outside of Glen Rose, next to a high dollar game ranch on one side and a huge high fence private ranch on the other is what is now our lease. First year hunting with the Weatherby he was leaving his stand and upon shutting his door noticed something big moving. His game camera showed nearly all activity had ceased for about a week and this was why. Turns out a huge trophy Eland was walking past. He fired a neck shot and it took off. To his credit he found an opening where he thought it would reappear and fired a second round that dropped it. Night approached and he was alone and out of cell service. He tried to turn it over but feared it would roll and pin him. This guy is a rancher used to big critters. I got a pic of him carrying it off in his John Deere(..coulda been his Kubota) but it hung out both sides of the bucket and handily outweighed his largest heiffer. Didn't have to leave the county let alone country- or pay for an exotic hunt.

Amazimg animals.

Depending on the area they are called Oryx, Gemsbok, or Gemsbuck. I shot one in So, Africa and it was called a Gembok. I grew in in Alamogordo and we called the Oryx. Very attractive animal IMO.

While that is true, similarity doesn't always mean mimicry. If you can find that article it's interesting but IIRC, states it's a possible case. Sure it's possible, but I don't think it can be said for sure.

I got to Elk hunt with our old friend EddyBo from her at the 'Fire one year across the road from White Sands, he as well as the local guide Wayne said, "If you see one of those, SHOOT IT" they're highly unpredictable and a horse cant outrun one either if they want to swarm you.

I bull gemsbok is about 75% the size of a big bull elk. They are not even close to horse size. However at a distance I can see how they might apppear that big because of their body shape.

I’ve had honey badges lick the blood off the tires of a land cruiser and when the blood taste runs out they chew through the tire looking for more. I personally watched one go around as a cruiser drive away several times before letting go of the tire. Then shook it off and trotted away. I’ve watched them stack rocks along a wall to climb up high enough to get over the wall.

They have the ability to work out problems with logic unlike most animals. They have unmatched determination and fear no living thing on earth. Another professional hunter told me of a honey badger clinging to the end of an elephants trunk holding on and preventing that cow from moving must be like a nose ring in a bull.

Never EVER underestimate a honey badgers will, determination, or aggression.

The PH's and landowner I hunted with in Namibia told me the same thing of the tenacity of a honey badger. They are amazing animals. Then again, Africa is full of amazing animals!

African wolverines is what they remind me of

I believe they are all Oryx but the larger sub-specie is the Gemsbok. There are a number of different varieties of Oryx on the planet.

You're right, it can't be said for sure. It's certainly plausible, but it's a largely untestable hypothesis, as most, if not all stories of mimicry are.

I personally think the American badger is the meanest in the land- only because honey badgers aren't found here and in the morning I have a badger to remove from its hole in the lawn. I do not relish the thought as my last experience with a badger was a surprise at only a couple of feet. I have a healthy respect for them and dearly hope it leaves but this animal re-opened the hole after I covered it a few days ago. It will be Caddyshack time in the morning.

Yes, they are very similar, and seem to have adopted a similar path in terms of survival strategy. They are not closely related, though, as wolverines are large weasels, while honey badgers aren't in the weasel family.

Different oryx but, I know one of the scimitar horn Oryx killed one of the bull Red Deer/elk hybrids up on cousins game ranch. Broke off a horn.

In the larger animals anyway. Some are more obvious than others, particularly in insects.