Is the ability of the native trackers taught from person to person or is it for a lack of better words bred into them? In other words could a white man ever learn to keep his own after learning from a native?

Taught ! There was a funny story told by ??? Bill Jordan or Julian Hatcher .Indians were sent out to track some people because "all Indians were great trackers !!" The Indians got lost and trained LEOs had to find the lost people and the lost Indians !
For many good native trackers I assume they learned from their experienced fathers starting at a very early age.

Are you serious?

If your and your family's well being, and even survival, depended on it, and you were born with half a brain, you could learn to track a ghost through the fog.

Necessity is the best of teachers.

Some of the best trackers are past poachers.

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Some of the best trackers are past poachers.

As some of the best Game Law enforcment officers are former poachers, whether in Africa or North America.

I do a fair job of tracking wounded game by their blood trail, by my life and the ;life of my family does not depend on my ability to find game or track down a wounded animal.

Those people have a knowledge and ability that those of us that live in the civilized world will never be really able to appreciate in my opinion.

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Originally posted by Pegleg:
Some of the best trackers are past poachers.

But most were children sent to collect or keep track of the ranch stock.(No doubt they would of dabbed in a little Poaching also..)

I think tracking is like learning music. Some love it and are "naturals" while others learn it and do not have the natural instinct for it.

Tracking is not just reading sign. It is knowing animal behaviour, lay of the land, feeding, resting or territory regions etc. I have spent a lot of time in the bush in India but mostly just walking & watching wildlife with binoculars. From the age of 10 or so I used to be accompanied by tribal people in the bush. They hardly seemed to look at the ground. With tribal trackers I found that they tended to look at the trees, bush, ground, be aware of the wind direction, anticipate the animal's path based on where the stream takes a bend or a ridge splits etc. Tracking in the scrub jungle is different from the rain forest. Tracking wounded game or spooked game is also different from tracking an undisturbed herd or single animal. Good trackers seem to have a good idea of what kind of sign they are looking for.

When I was on a black bear hunt in Canada I was with a young trainee guide who was a very good hunter. But like a lot of people in North America, he drove a lot and stalked game after spotting it from a truck or with binoculars. I hit a bear on a hill slope & it turned back instantly & went downhill but over the ridge. When we went up, the guide had no clue where to look. I just followed the contour of the hill where I thought I shot him and found the sign with some blood & then tracked the running bear down hill while the guide was headed uphill. He was a far better hunter but I was the better tracker.

Here in NZ I once went hunting with a very experience hunter who used to be a top deer culler in the 70's. I was amazed at his ability to read sign on grass and undergrowth. While walking at speed he would pick up bits of possum fur. On one occasion he stopped and showed me an area where deer had been resting - I had real difficulty making out the smudges in the grass but this guy was reading large patterns across 250 sq feet of grass, shrubs and fern, showing me that there were 6 or 7 deer in the mob! I was very impressed. I believed him because of the fresh dropping of different sizes & locations as well. This guy was a very good hunter AND a great tracker.

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Originally posted by ozhunter:

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Originally posted by Pegleg:
Some of the best trackers are past poachers.

But most were children sent to collect or keep track of the ranch stock.(No doubt they would of dabbed in a little Poaching also..)

I don't believe that in the least.

The vast majority do in fact learn the basics by tracking family or village stock as youngsters. Later they refine their skills on specific animals they will be hunting.

I spoke with a tracker years ago who told me that at the ripe old age of 6 he was put in charge of keeping the family's livestock.

This meant he had to track down the strays, keep the herd together and protect them from occasional preditors.

This was a huge responsibility for a young boy and was an essential part of his ascention into manhood.

Every one of us becomes a better tracker after a few weeks in the bush - we've all experienced this. Just imagine how good we'd be if we did it all day, every day from the age of 6 or so.

JW

Tracking stock or stealing stock?

But many have such excellent eyesight as to leave most if not all whiteys behind. Some are just amazing trackers.