The Tactics of Mantracker Part 4

I have watched Mantracker episodes over and over just like Mantracker looks for each and every footprint.  His methods are revealing.

One of Mantracker's strengths is his ability to get inside the thought process of his prey.  He knows how to escape and he knows how to move over all types of terrain.  So he makes a simple guess as to how smart the prey is and how much he needs to out think the other side.  He guesses right most of the time, and sometimes that can be his undoing.

The game of mantracker versus prey is really a mental game.  His horse is the muscle and he is the brains. He has seen all the tricks, and while some of them work he knows that people are trying hard to beat him.  When you try hard to trick him that is when he knows not to trust the trails he has been given.  If it is too good to be true, then it is and he will distrust what he sees.  That too can be taken advantage of.


Here is what he knows about you as the human prey:  you are human, you need water, you are slower  but can climb obstacles, you are trying to outthink him and you were dumb enough to sign up to a 36 hour foot race against a horse.

Here is what he knows about you as a human trying to outthink the Mantracker:  if you can figure out the terrain ahead and how to lose mantracker, then he knows that is what you are trying to do at all times and he predicts your next move.  This is the most important factor to take advantage of.  If he sees you pointing right he knows you are going left.  If he sees a fake trail that makes no sense to the direction of travel then he knows its a deception. More on this later on.

In an earlier post, I talked about his strategy of A & A: antagonize and ambush.  He can antagonize you by keeping you from water.  He can antagonize you by separating the prey and keeping you apart.  He can antagonize you by sitting in ambushes or sprinting down the road at you and making you waste energy or driving you out of your way. He can antagonize you by sitting on the tallest hill or on the only bridge and force you to punish yourself through bad terrain to avoid capture.

Basically, he has it pretty easy.  While he doesn't know the finish line he has a lot of time to find you and a lot of time to correct past mistakes. Of course it is easy because he is very good at finding tracks, and those times he wasn't then he was also extremely lucky.  As the saying goes, you need to be good to be lucky.