African Outfitter is an independent international bimonthly publication promoting
fair hunting and ethical business practices within the hunting industry.
From a hunting perspective, the preservation of biodiversity on the
African continent is the first and foremost priority. The emphasis
is however also on the sustainable utilisation of wildlife.

Herman Jonker

Honour thy Extra Eye - Herman Jonker

Ask a veteran trophy hunter the names of all the PH's he's hunted with and chances are he'll recall each and every one of them. Most likely he will also be able to tell you that Jim had a moustache, Joe was an asshole but he was good with leopard, and John always delivered what he had promised.

Ask him for the names of the trackers he'd come across though, and he's stumped. A tracker is just a tracker, just an extra eye, right?

No sir. Rather a PH is often just another PH unless he's backed up by a really good tracker. Setting a client up to shoot something that's readily there is easy enough but it's when you have to start looking for hidden things that the lead of a hunt is truly tested. There are not many PH's whose own tracking and observation skills are of such a standard that they can work alone. The assistance of a good tracker is often what puts blood on the bullet.

At a crime scene where a wounded animal got away the tracker is the detective that has to hunt the escapee down. The PH is merely the arresting officer. In planning an attack on the quarry of the day it is often the intelligence reports of the scouting tracker that allows the PH to lead his client to victory. And all too often it is a tracker's tap on the roof of the hunting truck that ultimately leads to a trophy on the wall.

Yet we seldom give a tracker credit for his part in a successful hunt. We're too busy arranging the feathers in our own cap. The tracker will be lucky if he even makes it onto a photograph and a tip at the end of the hunt is considered enough to keep him motivated.

We should give honour where it is due. A good tracker is as much a pro as the PH himself. Even if he can't shoot, doesn't know the law and cannot read inches, he's a pro at what he does. Often he's the better hunter too, through his bush knowledge, experience and instinct. We should respect him for that.

Of course not all trackers are worthy of the title. Someone who blunders along a blood spoor without losing it is not necessarily a good tracker; he may just be less blind than most people.

A good tracker can not only identify spoor and follow it, he can read and interpret it as sure as you can read the text on this page. What allows him to do so is his almost uncanny insight in animal behaviour. He knows why an animal acted in a certain way, where it is likely to head to and what it is likely to do next. Physical signs of its passing, whether on the ground, on rock or on vegetation, may merely serve to confirm what he already suspects.

On rock? Yes, a good tracker will find some sign, even on rock. In fact, I know of an instance where a tracker followed the spoor of a porcupine across a tarred road. Footprint by footprint.

Impossible? I thought so, but he did it whilst being tested by officially appointed experts who personally assured me that it was true. Where the spoor took to the tar he went down on his stomach and carefully studied the road surface. Disturbance of the sand particles that had blown into the hollows between the tarred stones gave him the clues that he was looking for.

Tracking is not something one can learn from a book in ten easy lessons. In a way it's a talent, for a tracker has to be born with keen senses, an inquiring mind and an analytical way of seeing things. Then, in order to become good, he has to spend years applying those gifts in an environment that allows him to study and practise his craft.

Few men have a natural inclination to devote themselves to so specialised a subject for so long. There has to be a drawcard or some form of motivation to fuel the drive to become an expert. To those already employed as trackers it's probably the security of a job that keeps them going. But what's there to motivate them to better themselves, for them to strive to? Also, how does a man better himself? What's there to assist towards growing great trackers and not just mediocre ones? And what are we doing to inspire promising youngsters to learn the skills and craft of tracking?

Tracking was a dying art but now, with tremendous growth in the number of game ranches and hunting outfitters, there is opportunity to further it. Question is; are we doing so?

Yeah, yeah; I know you gave Sipho a pat on the back that time he found the missing waterbuck and he did get a substantial tip, but we need to do more. We have to foster pride in a man like Sipho and we need to learn to respect him as a pro.

It's only once we acknowledge tracking as a highly specialised occupation and show the necessary respect for it as an art that we will be assured of always having men to lead us where we can't see. And even then really good ones will be rare. Respect and honour thy extra eye therefore, for he who can see what we cannot, is a gifted man; a clairvoyant.