bark up the wrong tree
This phrase meaning 'to follow a false scent' is of US origin (by 1832) and appears to come from racoon hunting. As this is done at night (racoons being nocturnal animals) and as, if chased, racoons run up trees, it would be quite possible for a dog to bark mistakenly under the wrong tree.
- Perhaps at this point a dutiful biographer, loyal to his calling, should seek to refute such charges. Actually, I am inclined to accept some of them, and simply say that the critics are barking up the wrong tree. Times Higher Education Supplement (7 July 1995)
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