Pressure releases?

[HuBBa]

Isn't the fact that every time you track, you judge the track in some way? Direciton of travel, speed, etc. And pressure releases are just one attempt to explain and catalogue that judgementprocess. It helps to have a common language when describing a complicated process, especially one that is based on judgement and guessing based on experience.

You can use pressure releases in tracks to determine where the next track is. Ie. by examining the one track, you can determine the speed and direction the track is going, thus you will have a good estimate where the next track should be. If it's not there or in the vicinity, backtrack and go more slowly, if its there, repeat.

But if you are hunting (with camera or with gun and go examining every single track in minute detail, the trail will be cold, frozen, buried and eroded by the time you get close to the goal.

Pressure releases does contain a lot of information.. IF you want it. But that goes for all kinds of tracks. Scat droppings for example can fast give you an estimate of how recent the track is by how eroded the scat is. But it can also give you an estimate of the diet and even the health of the animal. This however isn't really useful information if you are just pursuing an animal. Same goes for middens or scrapes aswell.

So, don't be discouraged if an experienced tracker don't know what you are talking about when you mention pressure releases. He probably uses them without knowing the "scientifical" term for it When tracking for a long time (or to put it like Brown does, with a lot of "dirt time") the ability to judge a track becomes an instinct.

In the beginning however, its useful to get down in the dirt (or snow Abbe just to see how it all works.

 

[bloodline]

ummmmmmmmmm

 

[HuBBa]

ummmmmmmmmm

Yes? Do you have a question? Do you not agree? what? =)

Tracking that post isn't easy

 

[Pappa]

I'm by no means experienced in tracking, but after reading Tom Brown's book, I did get the impression that there was nothing particulary complex about pressure releases (in their theory at least). Although he does explain them very well, he also keeps saying that there are thousands upon thousands of them to learn, when in reality the vast majority vary by matters of degree to others, and as has been said here already the degree must still be judged subjectively.

Like Stuart, I was originally sceptical but they do make sense, although the book still gets a bit 'out there' in later chapters (at least in my opinion).

Pappa

 

[amott69]

I would reckon the best thing you can do is go on a course with shadowhawks I did two courses with max last year. After doing these courses the only think I found help full about tom browns book was using it to light fires. Strong words maybe but max made it all very simple.

 

[bambodoggy]

I would reckon the best thing you can do is go on a course with shadowhawks I did two courses with max last year. After doing these courses the only think I found help full about tom browns book was using it to light fires. Strong words maybe but max made it all very simple.

Have you been on any other tracking courses? Or been taught by anyone other than Max?

I know that Max is very highly thought of and I am certainly not suggesting otherwise but it's a bit much slatting something you have only had one point of view over and when you have only been shown one way. The mind is like a parachute......it works best when it's open and there are other ways than the way you have been shown

Pappa is right that there's nothing really that complicated about it and that although there are lots of them they are often only seperated by a fraction or so. Tom Brown invented the name "Prussure Release" but certainly makes no claim to have discovered them himself or know anybody else before him who calls them as such...therefore it's no great suprise that other Trackers haven't heard the term.

Hope that makes sence to you guys,

Bam.

 

[amott69]

I see where you are coming from and may be i should have given my reasons before slatting Tom Brown. Firstly I read Tom Browns book on tracking along time before i did a tracking course with max and could have given you the same view on his book before max's course.I think if you were to spend your time looking at the thousands of pressure release Tom Brown claims there are, then what ever you were tracking would have died of old age by the time you court up with your target. I think you can learn a great deal from tracking boxes but how often do you see clear tracks in a oak woodland in winter' or grass in summer or even snow. I just cannot believe that anyone tracking to get there next meal would be bothered with pressure release. However each to their own it's just not for me. I'm going tracking in sweden this year with the sammi I let you know if the prove me wrong.

 

[Abbe Osram]

May I ask your where you are here in sweden are doing the tracking?
Is it private or a company?

thanks
Abbe

 

[HuBBa]

I see where you are coming from and may be i should have given my reasons before slatting Tom Brown. Firstly I read Tom Browns book on tracking along time before i did a tracking course with max and could have given you the same view on his book before max's course.I think if you were to spend your time looking at the thousands of pressure release Tom Brown claims there are, then what ever you were tracking would have died of old age by the time you court up with your target. I think you can learn a great deal from tracking boxes but how often do you see clear tracks in a oak woodland in winter' or grass in summer or even snow. I just cannot believe that anyone tracking to get there next meal would be bothered with pressure release. However each to their own it's just not for me. I'm going tracking in sweden this year with the sammi I let you know if the prove me wrong.

No i totally agree with you here m8. If you are going to START by studying all the pressurereleases that are mapped, it will most likely not make you a effective tracker.

But as i see it, Tom Browns books is an attempt to map it all into a common language. The intent is not that everyone should learn thousands of pressurepoints before starting to track but rather to act as a base, making it more accessable and a first step towards a science, rather than a skill.

The difference of course being that a skill you must be able to apply directly, a science is trying to explain.

When i track (which i might add is at a very very very very basic level) i don't go down and examine every single ridge, and pressure release. I quickly try to judge age, direction of movement and speed and then im off. My goal is to track the animal down and get a good photo.. not map whatever the animal has been doing the last hour.

Well thats my opinion at least =)

 

[pierre girard]

Greetings!
Over the years I've found the 'pressure releases' taught by Tom Brown jr to be of immense value. A wonderful way to get inside the mind of the animal. I find they make tracking more than just following tracks and provide a deeper understanding of the creature you are tracking. They make reading the tracks more like reading a book.
Might be a silly question but does anyone else here use them? I've not seen them mentioned yet.
Peace
Damh

My grandfather was very good at this. Any trip with him was a series of admonitions to "Learn to think like a deer (fish, bear. mink, etc.)."

He seemed able to project into the mind of the animal we were tracking or hunting, to the point of telling me where the animal was ("he's circling on us now, to try and come up behind us" or "Be still, he's up on that bluff now, trying to get a look at us.").

My own skills have never developed to near that point, but then I've never really gone seriously hungry if I didn't hunt well.

We used to go a on a week long starvation trek once a year. Amazing how sharp your senses become when you only get to eat what you can catch or gather.

PG

 

[Rhoda]

I truly believe that as a tracker one of your most useful senses is your sixth sense or intuition. If you have a basic idea of animal behaviour and a sharp sixth sense you'll find it much easier to predict where an animal has gone or what it is doing when you lose the tracks. If you are tracking for your next meal or a good photo then this skill will be more useful than knowing the pressure releases as it allows you to track quickly and skip ahead to link up with the trail again. Was this how your grandfather tracked or was he stopping to study the tracks in great depth? You can sharpen your intuition by spending time sitting in the woods watching and listening to what is happening around you. You'd be surprised at how 'in tune' with nature you can get, a skill that is much forgotten when you live in towns and cities. Sorry off the subject a bit there!

 

[pierre girard]

... If you are tracking for your next meal or a good photo then this skill will be more useful than knowing the pressure releases as it allows you to track quickly and skip ahead to link up with the trail again. Was this how your grandfather tracked or was he stopping to study the tracks in great depth? :

He'd do both - depending on what he needed to know, and how tough a tracking problem it was. Seemed like he could tell an awful lot of things - getting a good idea of the size, weight, sex, and health (of deer and moose) from one good print. I'd imagine a lot of it was intuition, born of experience, but it seemed like magic to watch.

PG

 

[Rhoda]

I bet it was, you are so lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from a young age with someone close to you!