Traditional Apache scouts

The traditional Apache scouts were members of secret societies within various clans of the tribe. Only Lipan, Chiricahua and Mescalero Apaches had Scout societies. The scouts' original purpose was to protect the clans people from enemies, and to locate game and new campsites.

It is important to distinguish between these scouts, and the "Apache scouts" hired by the U.S. Army during the Apache Wars.

Training

The scouts trained their own clansmen in an intense process that lasted over ten years. Young children within the clan would be closely observed by current scouts and elders. Those who showed promise in skills--such as awareness, tracking and hunting, physical fitness, and selflessness--would be selected to undergo the training process.

Training included advanced techniques of camouflage and invisibility as well as of observation and stalking. These skills led to their nicknames as "shadow people" and "ghosts". The scouts became masters of wilderness survival, excelling beyond the skills of the lay clansmen. This was necessary, for they often had to leave the clan for extended periods of time with little more than knives.

Moreover, the upcoming scouts were taught a highly complex system of tracking, utilizing miniature topographic features within each footprint. These features could tell the trackers anything from the speed at which the animals were moving, to the directions the animals (or humans) were looking at the times they left the track. Some tracking experts, such as Tom Brown, Jr., assert that scout-trained trackers could know whether the makers were hungry, pregnant, or had to urinate, and to what degree.

An Apache Scout Prayer
"Grandfather of all Scouts...
Teach me to be the eyes of my people.
Teach me to move like the shadow.
Allow me to become the winds, the rocks,
the soils, and the life forces in all its forms.
Allow me to suffer for my people and take
away their pain.
Honor me by allowing me to die for my people.
For I love my people beyond myself and I will
sacrifice my all for my people, my earth,
and for you.
Test me beyond all hardship and pain.
Create me as you would forge a tool, and
if you find I am worthy, then bless me
as your servant - your Scout."

"Shadow Walker" 1807
Panther Ridge
Age 91