I sometimes meet people who you might call “Armchair Naturalists” in my line of work. I am referring to people who, through books, or videos, or internet research or whatever, have learned something about a topic and are eager to seem an authority on the subject. For example, someone might see an article about how a person can make fire from a coke can and a chocolate bar and then feel like he or she truly knows that skill. I have recently had someone come to show me a new and “better” method of making friction fire. Yet when I asked this person if the skill worked for them the reply was “I haven’t tried it”.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that videos and books and the web are great resources for people who want to learn a new way of doing things. And in this modern era where we often lack true elders the experiences of others are even more valuable. But when we see a new skill our first response should be to go out and try it and test it for ourselves. You can’t really understand a skill until you have tested it and either failed or succeeded.
I have had that experience many times but one that comes to mind was when I first started using deadfall traps. I was trying to trap mice and rats and I wanted to use the opportunity to test out the primitive trapping skills I had recently learned. Over the course of 5 months I regularly set several deadfalls in the same areas and checked them once or twice a day. Not only did the experience make me better at setting up the traps but in probably 75 sets I killed only four or five rodents and accidentally killed a songbird. That is a lesson that can’t be taught by any teacher. (It should be noted that primitive traps are illegal in most areas. Check your local regulations)
Yet in reality, I have caught myself sometimes being a little too eager to profess a bit of knowledge without testing it first. But my experience continually teaches me that by making assumptions without testing skills myself I usually end up being wrong. What our world needs is more doers and fewer “Armchair Naturalists”
