Sunday, September 11, 2011

Tracking and Martial Arts

When I used to practice martial arts, I quickly realised that even if you were practicing a striking oriented martial art, you would still learn groundwork; the groundwork just came at a different stage in the training. This was also the case with a groundwork oriented martial arts like Judo; it would start of predominantly with groundwork, locks and throws but would progress onto striking. Most martial arts if not all, by the time you have gone as far as you can go in that style include grappling and striking.

I have seen this contrast between tracking and bushcraft practitioners. Some see tracking as a sub skill set to bushcraft and some especially trackers see bushcraft as a sub skill set to tracking. I am one of those trackers, who sees bushcraft as an additional but useful skill set to tracking. I have recently learned a high level of respect for bushcraft practitioners and I have seen a wide spectrum of people who would use that term and some who avoid it by calling themselves survivalists or backwoodsmen.

The difference for me is in the independent streak I see in trackers who are not elitists but pragmatists. These are guys who would use a blowtorch to light a fire if there was one handy instead of a bow drill especially if time is of the essence. It is a hard mindset to attempt to describe. I guess the tracker from my experience is very competitive and result oriented but not only that they have a very inquisitive mind that needs answers to the mysteries he sees in the dirt. It is not enough to know that you are following a large man carrying a heavy load; there are loads more questions in the trackers mind: what is in the heavy load, why is he taking this route, where is he going, where did he come from, why is he traveling at that time, what is his level of fitness, what is the story in these tracks.

I wonder what a person with this mindset would be like if they had never discovered tracking and only had gotten into bushcraft. I would imagine the person would be a frustrated bushcrafter always trying to push the boundaries of what they can achieve. I guess this begs the question, is a good tracker born or made or is the question a false dichotomy?