Martial arts

[menna_forest92]

Really random question. What martial art might be good to pick up as a practicing forester?

[barbender]

Gosh, I don't know? If I had a disagreement with a forester and they wrapped me up in a Brazilian jiu-jitsu arm triangle it would certainly get my attention😁

[sawguy21]

Why do do you think you would need such a skill?

[Andries]

Well sawguy, you never know who you could run into out in the woods.
She might be really aggressive and menna would be able to defend himself if he had his black belt in marital arts. 
Personally, I've only been married to the same gal for almost five decades and have only made it to my brown and yellow belt. 
She belts me and my bruises turn brown or yellow.
I'm with barbender on this - gets my tenshun ever time!

[barbender]

 I'm 6'5" and 295 pounds. I still prefer whatever means I can use to prevent any physical hand to hand altercation. If I was on a job where someone was threatening me, or there was a risk of that, one of my pistols would be in my holster on my hip. 

 If you have a property owner is threatening you to the point you feel like you might have to defend yourself, I'd call law enforcement and have them accompany me while I ran the property line or whatever I needed to do. 

 I feel like the martial arts do have value in coming out on top in a physical fight, but you are goiing to get kicked, bit, gouged and scratched in the process. You'd have to be a true expert for it to have any value at all, frankly.

[WV Sawmiller]

  Many of us sawyers are old timers and we are more concerned about reaching out and touching someone before they get close enough to worry whether we need a karate chop or a kung fu kick. I'd figure the same is true for a forester.

  I maintain that situational awareness to the threat and what you have available to counter the threat is the best defense.

  Even better is a friendly attitude but be ready to back it up with a peavy hook or crowbar if that doesn't work. ;)

[Texas Ranger]

Years ago we were marking timber on an 18-acre tract.  There was a trailer parked near the land line but on the neighbor's property.  Door opens, old guy steps out with a shotgun and advised us that we were trespassing and get off.  I knew he was not the owner, so we left, parked down the road waiting on a deputy.  He came, arrested the dude, and we finished the job.  In 55 years in the woods that was the only gun pulled on us, martial arts would have been useless.

But I was usually armed, not that a short barrel would have done much but attract attention.  The gun was for snakes, dogs and hogs.  Most dangerous critters in the woods.

[Walnut Beast]

Unless you know martial arts really well to effectively use the techniques you would be better off knowing some wrestling techniques and moves if things go to the ground 

[rusticretreater]

You never know what you might stumble across. A still, a place where stolen cars are taken, someone hiding from the law, etc.

I took Tae Kwon Do for three years.  TKD is a defense system, though it does have some attacking postures.  Students are taught many defensive moves for avoidance, protection, disarming and immobilizing attackers. They number these defense sequences and there are 15 in the first set.  They are brilliant in their sequencing, use of body mechanics and leverage.  They are also quite brutal if executed correctly.

They teach you how to kick really hard too.  They do not teach killing methods. 

I also learned a bit of Tahn Bong Sul(short sticks) which would be pretty handy if I could get ahold of a branch or stick or two.

[Ianab]

You never know when you might have to use some martial arts to save your dog from a kangaroo 

Australian man saves pet dog from being drowned by 2.4m kangaroo | Stuff.co.nz

That is however in Australia, where everything is trying to kill you in some way.  :D

[Treeflea24]

Wrestling.

[barbender]

I'm still sticking with a handgun. Remember the scene in Indiana Jones where the Native with the big scimitar makes a big show of all of his moves with the sword, and Indy pulls out a revolver and shoots the guy dead as he walks away? Yeah, that😁

[barbender]

I used to think hand to hand combat was great until an opponent punched me back. It lost its luster immediately.

[Brad_bb]

MMA

[JJ]

Remember the scene in Indiana Jones where the Native with the big scimitar makes a big show of all of his moves with the sword, and Indy pulls out a revolver and shoots the guy dead

I read or heard from a Harrison Ford interview that there was a big fight scene planned in script, but Harrison was too sick from intestinal flu to do the fight filming, so the scene was shortened.

       JJ

[barbender]

If that's the case, it made for a more memorable and humorous scene😊

[doc henderson]

I thought we were appraising a painting by "Matt Dillon".     In the wilderness a gun is your friend.  snakes and pigs, human or otherwise can be there and you are on your own.  My dad talked about fights, and he said to hit them hard in the nose, and 90% of the time, the fight is over.  He was Army military police, and he did not advocate fighting, but was raised to never walk away from a fight.  In high school he said if you fought someone, when it was over you shook hands, and remained/became friends.  He also told me, if you call someone an SOB, you better have a smile on your face, be ready to run, or to fight.

[Old saw fixer]

Sig Sauer P365 is my constant companion, and can escalate if needed.

[beenthere]

Really random question. What martial art might be good to pick up as a practicing forester?

Give us some feedback as to why this "random" question comes up. 
Random imagination thought, or something come up in a class you are taking? Or trying to fill in a schedule of subjects to fill in graduation credit requirements?  
If so, maybe basket weaving would be more useful or a sewing class to mend some torn fabric or holes in your cruiser jacket. 

[Raider Bill]

Walk into a big spiders web and you will have all the karate jin-jitsu moves you'll ever need. lol

[Southside]

As someone who spent a lot of time being trained in hand to hand combat and has been in more than a few engagements involving different levels of force I can tell you that not only do you loose complex skills the day you stop practicing them, there is always someone who is faster, younger, bigger, stronger, more skilled, or simply more of them when things go bad.  Fine motor skills go out the window fast when you are faced with a serious threat that you do not train for constantly.  "God created men, Samuel Colt made them equal" is a good mantra to apply here.  

[Broncman]

As a single father who raised 3 boys by myself, there was a whole lot of scrapping going on! They all started out with boxing  and my oldest went into MMA and then into Tae Kwon Do. My grandson who is 9 has a high Red in Tae Kwon Do and competes in sparring competitions in Georgia, SCC and North Carolina. 

I have always been able to hold my own...Then I realized if I let my 9 year old Grandson in the proper range, missed one step, then he has kicked me in the head!

I have saw some very gifted Tae Kwon Do black belts kick an opponent in the head...by kicking over their head and looping back to the unprotected side. Just amazing to watch.

Situational awareness and never let strangers with questionable intent within your response boundary. 

Side arm equalizes my age if I do not let them into that range. 

It stopped me from being mugged in Asheville once, just by reaching fir it and warning.

[menna_forest92]

sorryjust getting to this. Well 1. I'm not a dude, I'm a chick 2. forests are scenes of scary crimes, you know how many serial killers bury their victims in forests.

[beenthere]

forests are scenes of scary crimes, you know how many serial killers bury their victims in forests.

Don't know, and likely you do not know either

[barbender]

 If you're a "chick", all the more reason to have an "equalizer" in 9mm or your preferred caliber. 

 An average sized girl, even a well trained one, doesn't have much of a chance against a determined average sized male. The best you can do physically, is to not get fancy but a hard kick to the groin or scratch and claw the eyes. But your best bet is to be aware, and never let anyone get their hands on you in the first place