Hunting secrets revealed

Imagine you are a hunter, naturally you will want to be tracking the large prey, because that's what feeds the family for the longest with the least effort. You live on the edge of three different forests, and each day your first job is, of course, to determine which forest will be the most fruitful. You can decide this based on past experience of where you have made the most kills, or you can stand at a good vantage point and observe the edges of the forest to see if any large animals are currently grazing at the boundary. The best hunters however tend to combine both, weighing up the pros and con's of either strategy in the present moment.

Once you are aware of which forest presents the best opportunities the hunter enters the forest and begins the second stage of his endeavour, tracking the beast. For this he needs to know intimately the tell tale signs that the big beasts leave. To someone who doesn't know what to look for, a broken twig here, a footprint there, it would just look like any other forest, but the hunter can see the invisible map.

During the tracking the hunter is not simply following the beast, he is also attempting to learn it's behaviour. For example the easiest hunting technique is normally simply to wait at a place the beast often returns to, such as a water hole, and spring an ambush. Most hunters do not have the patience for this and feel the need to know exactly where the beast is at all times.

However the truly successful hunter does not just understand the beast intimately, he also understands the forest and his surroundings and is alert to all possibilities. For example, whilst waiting for an ambush is there a snake creeping up behind ready to strike? What does the weather look like, is it about to pour down with rain hence meaning the beast will no longer need the water hole? Is there another hunter nearby with the same ideas as you?

You can survive for a bit as a hunter without all these skills, you will come across some easy kills, and you can live on fruit for a while. But unless you have the complete picture you won't live into old age, and your wife will run away with a better hunter.

thats the trading metaphor.

how about an investment metaphor?

capture, at a watering hole (where ideally you should be based anyway), enough of the species to start animal husbandry.
You will then essentially have a farm, which you can tend, and will give you dividends in the form of a "meat crop".
You might even be able to sell excess produce to those hunters who havent had a bite for ages.

less running about, relatively more secure returns, into "old age", and the favours of many runaway wives.

Reads like Socrates re-incarnate

seriously, what is this nonsense? why do people need analogies?

neil said:

Reads like Socrates re-incarnate

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I thought that too.

trendie said:

thats the trading metaphor.

how about an investment metaphor?

capture, at a watering hole (where ideally you should be based anyway), enough of the species to start animal husbandry.
You will then essentially have a farm, which you can tend, and will give you dividends in the form of a "meat crop".
You might even be able to sell excess produce to those hunters who havent had a bite for ages.

less running about, relatively more secure returns, into "old age", and the favours of many runaway wives.

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Absolutely! Even the best hunters are taking enormous risks in comparison with farmers. It's a slower road because rather than going out and making a kill each day for your food, you have to wait for your calf to mature. But in time you will have a big enough stock that you can live from it. The risks are still there as your stock might be hit by disease, theft or break loose, but this is nothing in comparison to the risk you take each day in the forest.

You can also extend this away from investments and think of a 'cash' metaphor, which is effectively the same as buying your food from a farmer. There is very little risk, but your risk is that you are subervient to someone else. If the farmer decides he wants more reward in return for his stock he can change at a whim, and as food is a necessity you are forced to go along.

gooseman said:

seriously, what is this nonsense? why do people need analogies?

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It's a lateral thinking exercise you simpleton, go and look it up.

As far as I can see most people on this site are doing the following.

They wake up in the morning and decide they want to hunt. They enter a random forest on a whim, and as soon as they see a squirrel running up a tree they chase after it in a frenzy. Only when they are at the top of the tree do they realise they have no idea how to get down.

ahahahahahahahahahaha i don't need lateral thinking. i have the ability not to be able to need to. cut throught the bullsht

gooseman said:

ahahahahahahahahahaha i don't need lateral thinking. i have the ability not to be able to need to. cut throught the bullsht

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Can someone translate this into English for me?

So anyway, what do you think the inexperienced hunter does when he finally gets down, how does he change his tactics? What is his new plan?

As far as I can see most people on this site are doing the following

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Why do you think that most people are doing this ?


Paul

Trader333 said:

Why do you think that most people are doing this ?


Paul

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There seems to be little interest in getting to the root of things, lots of superficial questions, and an ignorance of the basics despite it being handed out again and again by the handful of posters giving good advice.

virtuos0 said:

Imagine you are a hunter, naturally you will want to be tracking the large prey, because that's what feeds the family for the longest with the least effort . . .

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Nope, hunter gatherer societies are opportunistic in nature and have always gone for the metaphorical quick buck.

cf Guns Germs & Steel and its sequels.

A Dashing Blade said:

Nope, hunter gatherer societies are opportunistic in nature and have always gone for the metaphorical quick buck.

cf Guns Germs & Steel and its sequels.

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This is true too, if a buffalo runs into your path you kill it, no questions asked. But all the same, the hunter needs a strategy and no strategy was ever based around opportunism. If you rely on luck, then at sooner or later your luck is going to run out and you're going to go hungry, or worse.

virtuos0 said:

There seems to be little interest in getting to the root of things, lots of superficial questions, and an ignorance of the basics despite it being handed out again and again by the handful of posters giving good advice.

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No doubt you include yourself in that select group. Another thread without merit.

virtuos0 said:

Can someone translate this into English for me?

So anyway, what do you think the inexperienced hunter does when he finally gets down, how does he change his tactics? What is his new plan?

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have a lateral think about it.

seriously, all you're saying here is look at the bigger picture. thanks sherlock.

trendie said:

thats the trading metaphor.

how about an investment metaphor?

capture, at a watering hole (where ideally you should be based anyway), enough of the species to start animal husbandry.
You will then essentially have a farm, which you can tend, and will give you dividends in the form of a "meat crop".
You might even be able to sell excess produce to those hunters who havent had a bite for ages.

less running about, relatively more secure returns, into "old age", and the favours of many runaway wives.

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Although, for most people it's setting up farm in the Sahara, hoping that it will rain and waiting and waiting for a rain cloud to appear, until finally they concede that the rain cloud will no longer appear so they abandon the farm.

virtuos0 said:

As far as I can see most people on this site are doing the following.

They wake up in the morning and decide they want to hunt. They enter a random forest on a whim, and as soon as they see a squirrel running up a tree they chase after it in a frenzy. Only when they are at the top of the tree do they realise they have no idea how to get down.

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Sounds like me when I scalp.

Nowadays, I tend to hunt the injured wilderbeast in the open plains. With a rocket launcher. It's not subtle. It's not clever. It just works.

gooseman said:

have a lateral think about it.

seriously, all you're saying here is look at the bigger picture. thanks sherlock.

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You've already proven you're simple, you don't need to keep reminding us, we get the message!

dcraig1 said:

No doubt you include yourself in that select group. Another thread without merit.

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A thread only gains merit from the quality of its reponses, and as your response is without merit I think you have a point.