diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index e53bd31..8e0eca3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up miniconda
         uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v3
         with:
-          miniforge-variant: Mambaforge
           miniforge-version: latest
           channels: conda-forge,bioconda
           activate-environment: prymer
diff --git a/prymer/offtarget/bwa.py b/prymer/offtarget/bwa.py
index b266e2f..dbdbb19 100644
--- a/prymer/offtarget/bwa.py
+++ b/prymer/offtarget/bwa.py
@@ -156,8 +156,10 @@ def __str__(self) -> str:
 
 @dataclass(init=True, frozen=True)
 class BwaResult:
-    """Represents zero or more hits or alignments found by BWA for the given query.  The number of
-    hits found may be more than the number of hits listed in the `hits` attribute.
+    """
+    Represents zero or more hits or alignments found by BWA for the given query.
+    
+    The number of hits found may be more than the number of hits listed in the `hits` attribute.
 
     Attributes:
         query: the query (as given, no RC'ing)
@@ -346,7 +348,8 @@ def map_all(self, queries: list[Query]) -> list[BwaResult]:
         return results
 
     def _to_result(self, query: Query, rec: pysam.AlignedSegment) -> BwaResult:
-        """Converts the query and alignment to a result.
+        """
+        Convert the query and alignment to a result.
 
         Args:
             query: the original query
@@ -357,17 +360,20 @@ def _to_result(self, query: Query, rec: pysam.AlignedSegment) -> BwaResult:
                 "Query and Results are out of order" f"Query=${query.id}, Result=${rec.query_name}"
             )
 
-        num_hits: Optional[int] = int(rec.get_tag("HN")) if rec.has_tag("HN") else None
-        if rec.is_unmapped:
-            if num_hits is not None and num_hits > 0:
-                raise ValueError(f"Read was unmapped but num_hits > 0: {rec}")
-            return BwaResult(query=query, hit_count=0, hits=[])
-        elif num_hits > self.max_hits:
-            return BwaResult(query=query, hit_count=num_hits, hits=[])
-        else:
+        num_hits: int = int(rec.get_tag("HN")) if rec.has_tag("HN") else 0
+        # `to_hits()` removes artifactual hits which span the boundary between concatenated
+        # reference sequences. If we are reporting a list of hits, the number of hits should match
+        # the size of this list. Otherwise, we either have zero hits, or more than the maximum
+        # number of hits. In both of the latter cases, we have to rely on the count reported in the
+        # `HN` tag.
+        hits: list[BwaHit]
+        if 0 < num_hits < self.max_hits:
             hits = self.to_hits(rec=rec)
-            hit_count = num_hits if len(hits) == 0 else len(hits)
-            return BwaResult(query=query, hit_count=hit_count, hits=hits)
+            num_hits = len(hits)
+        else:
+            hits = []
+
+        return BwaResult(query=query, hit_count=num_hits, hits=hits)
 
     def to_hits(self, rec: AlignedSegment) -> list[BwaHit]:
         """Extracts the hits from the given alignment.  Beyond the current alignment
@@ -412,4 +418,9 @@ def to_hits(self, rec: AlignedSegment) -> list[BwaHit]:
         if not self.include_alt_hits:
             hits = [hit for hit in hits if not hit.refname.endswith("_alt")]
 
+        # Remove hits that extend beyond the end of a contig - these are artifacts of `bwa aln`'s
+        # alignment process, which concatenates all reference sequences and reports hits which span
+        # across contigs.
+        hits = [hit for hit in hits if hit.end <= self.header.get_reference_length(hit.refname)]
+
         return hits