Snipe hunt

A Snipe Hunt is a joke played upon an unsuspecting recipient, usually by a group of people. In its original form a snipe hunt is taking out the person to be duped to join in hunting or capturing snipes, a creature that does not actually exist. The methodology to find a snipe may be odd and the humor is based upon the recipient attempting to find the non-existent snipe before later being told it was all a hoax.