93944230 tracking by jack kearney ex u s border patrol officer

7/27/2019 93944230 Tracking by Jack Kearney Ex U S Border Patrol Officer

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/TRACKING

A Blueprint for Learning HowbyJack Kearney

Pathways Press El Calon


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\ \Cover Photo byJoe O'Dell

DEDICATIONThis book is lovingly dedicated to my wife, Avis, withoutwhose untiring efforts it could never have been accomplished.Her assistance covered grammar, sentence structure, punctua-tion, and typing,...tons of typing. Throughout the months ofwriting, re-writing, typing, re-typing, correcting, changing, andtyping again, she maintained her same even disposition: whining,complaining, and footdragging every tortuous inch of the way.

Pathways PressFourth Printing, April 1986

Library of Congress No:: 77 - 1 847 2Manufactured in the United Stares

El CajonCopyright @ 1978 by pothwoys press,525 Jeffree Street, Et Cojon, Colifornia92020' All rights reserved. No port of this pubtication moy be reproduced,stored in o retrievor system, or tronsmitted in ony form or by meons electronic,mechanicol, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission ofthe publlsher ond outhor,


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ln the last ten years many good trackers have workedgt th9 El Cajon Border Patrol Station and all of them helped tobuild our envious record of success on searches for lost per-sons. However, in some outlandish places and at someoutrageous hours, the guy I looked up and saw the most oftenwas Jim Burns, and only slightly less often was Larry Harlan.The initial motivating force behind our involvementin Search and Rescue work was our boss, Ab Taylor. He, morethan anyone else, has been beating the drum and selling theidea. of tracking as a rescue tool. rt was originally his idea tL tryteaching tracking to search volunteers and his dedication tothis pursuit continues to occupy a major portion of his time.Others who provided vital input, encouragement, orinspiration were Lois McCoy, Jon Cunson, peeWee Lagasse,Stan Bush, and the San Diego Mountain Rescue Team.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

.. .MunI people contributed in some way to the eventu_ality of this book. However, the three people who investedthe greatest amount of time and effort are my feilow sanDiego Mountain Rescue Team members: John Wehbring,Bill Mackintosh, and Joe O,Dell. John took my originlfmanusc.ript and promptly demolished it. As the pieces irerep.ut back rogether it began to resemble a book. Hri rrolto*"dalloJ his suggestions the finar product might even havel;"k;;professional. Bill Mackintosh nor only pioofread and offeredsuggestions on the text but took photographs and handredall,Jilm developing, enlarging, printlngfand croppi;;.1;;O'Dell spent innumerable holrs, took-long trips, andirob_ably took a half dozen days from his job in "iaui,o ,", ,p ,ndshoot precisely the picture I wanted in order to illustiate aparticular point. with these three peopre t particururrf *irnto share the credit,. . . or the blame.

lack Kearney


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...--'/

TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter 1MAN, THE TRACKERChapter 2WHY TRACKING?Chapter 3AWARENESS TRAINING

Phase l, Exercise IChapter 4UTILIZING SUN ANGLEPhase I Exercises, ContinuedChapter 5S/GNWhot to Look ForChapter 6SLOPE AND GROUND COVERPhase ll ExercisesChapter 7AGINGPhase lll ExercisesChapter 8SIGNCUTTINGChapter 9TRACK IDENTIFICATIONAND DESCRIPTIONChapter '10FOLLOWING A NON-VISIBLE TRAIL

Page 1Page 1 1

Page 21

Page 4lPage 55

Poge 79

Page 97Page 113

Page I 29Poge 1 39


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Man, The Tracker

, Approximately one million years ago there walkedupon the earth, for the first time, a creature called "HomoErectus", a creature that scientists are willing to agree wasman. Another million years prior to Homo Erectus thereexisted a man-like creature known as "AustrolopithecusAfricanus" who is believed to be the direct forebear of HomoErectus. Austrolopithecus is special because he is the earliestof our ancestors to leave us evidence of his tools, the crudebut sharp-edged stone tools of a meat eater.The fact that Austrolopithecus was a meat eater tellsour archaeologists that he was a hunter and thus distinguisheshim from all of his predecessors who were believed to bebrowsers and grazers.The fact that Austrolopithecus hunted means he hadto seek out and stalk his food source. We can only guess how


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2 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howhe did this, but since many of the rower forms of animar huntby scenting, this pre-man probably did also. Surely, veryearly in this period of Man's development as a hunter, heused his vision to assist him. He must have looked for evi-dence of game and become aware of sign left on the groundby the movement of the animals he sought. He soon prtUuOlyassociated these tracks with food and began to look for themwhen hunting. Thus his skill in tracking probably evolved atabout the same time asdid his earliest use of tools. lt is there-fore reasonable to assume that the development of trackingas a method of locating something you are seeking probablygoes back so far in pre-history as to antedate the presence ofMan himself. /As mai-besan/more civilized and less dependent onhunting as a method of securing food, his skill in trackingundoubtedly deteriorated. However, it never completelyvanished and one need only look into American hisiory tofind tracking a flourishing art as recently as one huniredyears ago.Much of our current awareness of tracking derivesfrom Hollywood's romantic versions of the winning of theWest. These exciting western movies showed us how thedaring settlers knew when the lndians were near by keepingtrack of footprints on the trails and around the wateringholes. we learned that both the lndian and early settler reliedon evidence of tracks to tell them if game was available andhow plentiful it was. We learned that a number of lndiantribes regularly moved their encampments to follow theirfood source. However, the most vivid tracking lessons welearned were from the cowboy movie's most heroic character,the scout of the wagon train. This eagle-eyed hero could takeone look at the ground and know everything that had hap-pened between the Mississippi River and the pacific oceanfor the past eight days, why it had happened, and who wasgoing to get the blame.

I/Man, The Tracker 3

TRACKING IN THE BORDER PATROLIt generally comes as quite a surprise when people dis-cover that there are still men who practice this ancient artwith as much skill and frequency as did the early cowboy andlndian. These men not only track other human beings almostdaily, but actually earn their living at it. The United StatesBorder Patrol has been charged with the responsibility ofapprehending aliens who try to enter the United States il-legally, and the practice of tracking these aliens, of actuallyfollowing their "sign" through the rugged back country, is atechnique that is as old as the Border patrol itself.ln 1911 when federal officers first began to patrol theMexican Border the original seventy-five man force was madeup largely of ex-cowboys. Almost all of these men were fromthe Southwestern United States where ranching and the dailytracking of cattle wer'e a way of life. These early officers werenot so far removed in time or spirit from this country,speriod of great western migration that they had forgottenthat tracking was a skill needed for survival by everyone inthe early days of the West. Therefore, it is easily under-standable that these men would resort to tracking in order toapprehend aliens who tried to walk into the United Statesundetected. Thus tracking became the earliest Border patroltechnique and the continued emphasis on its use has causedthe Border Patrol to develop the largest pool of experttrackers that exists in the United States today.It is wrong to assume, however, that all Border patrolAgents are expert trackers. Probably 90 per cent of all BorderPatrol Agents are less than expert due to the fact that theyare not involved in an activity that allows them to perfectthis unusual skill. The largest concentrations of our officersare assigned to "linewatch" activities and are stationed im-mediately along the international boundary opposite largeMexican and Canadian border cities.These cities are major transportation hubs and provide


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4 Tracking: 4 Blueprint For Learning Howa jumping-off place for most aliens who try to enter thecountry illegally. Therefore, most agents spend their time"on the line" opposite such Mexican cities as Tijuana, Mexi-cali, Nogales, )uarez, and Matamoros or across from suchCanadian cities as Vancouver, Winnipeg, Torohto, Montreal,and Quebec. Officers at these line stations are primarily con-cerned with observing and apprehending aliens in the act ofentering, and rely on "back-up" stations to pursue thosealiens who have eluded this first line of defense.Still, other Border Patrol officers are assigned tostations that are many piles from the border but are situatednear major highways or railways so as to facilitate the appre-hending of aliens on pheir way to the interior. These stationsare located in such,fiaces as San Clemente, California; Teme-cula, Californii]Indio, California; Lourdsburg, New Mexico;and Miami, Oklahoma. Officers at these stations are engaged

/IMon, The Tracker 5

ln train check or traffic check and have little opportunity todevelop expertise in tracking.Quite a number of Border Patrol Stations are located in

areas that attractalien workers who are in the country illegally.Since most of these stations were established duringthat periodof time when the largest numberof illegalalien workerssoughtwork in agriculture, these stations are situated near areas ofhigh agricultural activity. These stations can be found in suchplaces as Sacramento, California;Twin Falls, ldaho; Amarillo,Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Lake Charles, Louisiana.These stations are so many miles from a land border that it isquite obvious the officers at these stations do not spend theirtime tracking people who are trying to sneak into the country.It is predominantly at back-up stations like El Cajon,California, or at small line stations where few illegal entriesoccur that Border Pitrol Officers have the opportunity to be-come h ighly skilled trackers.TRACKING AT THE EL CAJON BORDER PATROLSTATIONln 1948 the Border Patrol established a station at ElCajon, California with a nucleus of four good trackers. Lo-cated just east of San Diego, the purpose of the station wasto back up the line stations of Campo and Chula Vista.ln the 1950's there were changes in personnel but the num-ber of officers changed very little. With my arrival in 1961the station was increased to six men and in the interveningyears has grown to a current complement of about 20 offi-cers. lt is still a relatively small station but its efficiency (theratio of aliens apprehended to man hours expended) isperennially among the highest in the United States. lt is arare month that fewer than 1 ,200 aliens are apprehended andour peak months average close to 3,000 persons per month.Nearly 60 per cent of these are caught as a result of tracking.r

itp,Eorder Potrol agents checking troffic ot Son Clemente, Catifornia. The El Cajon Border Patrol Station's area of responsi-


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b lruclting: A B/ueprint For Leorning Howbility is uniquery shaped and situated so as to armost force itsc,mplement of officers to become expert trackers in order toperform their duties. Located in San Diego County, where in1976, 25 per cent of all the undocumented aliens in theUnited States were apprehended, it is an area of high activity.The station is shaped somewhat rike a spreading tiee with itsnarrow trunk setting on the Mexican Border between OtayPeak and Tecate peak. lt grows upward and outward into asecondary line of defense to the north of the Campo andchula Vista stations. Functioning .much rike a rinebacker infootball who moves to pick up the rushes that elude his line_men, the El Cajon Station is respopsible for taking the secondcrack at those people who h/ve eluded delection andmanaged to get several mile*lnto the United States. Withover ,l,000 square miles of area to patrol, much of it rugg.aand mountainous, the El Cajon tracker may be able to stalkhis quarry for upwards of fifty miles. over the years I haveworked tracks on a number of chases that lasted as longasthree days and fondry remember one that traversed arm'ostone hundred miles!My own first exposure to tracking began when Ientered the Border patrol in j960. However,'rin." t *u,assigned to a line station r reaily did not start acquiring skiilas a tracker until I transferred to El Cajon in 1961.,qItnattime, I began tracking from four to ten hours a day,threetofive days a week and have continued to do so for a periodof time that is now approaching twenty years. This is, no

doubt, a solid background of experience for a tracker, butsometimes the quality of the experience can be even morevaluable than the quantity. The interesting ,,catch,, to aBorder Patrolman,s experience is that every blessed personhe goes after, HIDES. Getting within shouting distance ofmy quarry when he is awake, alert, and listening gets me anabsolute zero_if he .can hear me coming he will Jsuulty "utnd run before I get there. I may have to track him step_by-step Lightened sectiori indicotesEl Cajon, Colifornia.

Man, The Tracker 7

SAN DIEGO

areo of responsibility of lJ,S, Border potrol stotion,


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8 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howto the exact bush under which he is hiding, crawl under thebush, and dig him out from under the leaves with which hehas concealed himself. "Close" for me is failure.There is a high element of sport in trackingand ldo nothave to spend much time in reflection to realize that over theyears my tracking skill has brought me more adventure, excite_ment, satisfaction, and downright fun than anyone should ex_pect from something they get paid to do. Beinga Border patrolAgent is not exactly an everyday, mundane type of job. Dealingwith smugglers and felons can be dangerous and risky and tendsto keep a person alert and interested. However, if you have theadded dimension of being a tracker, you will find yourself be-ing called upon to assist other law,enforcemenr agencies insearches for burglers, rapists, murdelers, kidnappers, escapedprisoners, and arsonists. Ye1;thg_g>dst satisfying tracking ex-perience you are apt to encounter is the chance tosearch for,and find, a person who is lost in the wilderness.

TRACKING THE LOST PERSONIt is difficult to pinpoint exactly when I began to getinvolved in search and rescue work. I can remember teachingtracking to local volunteers in the late 1960's, but ldon'tremember actually participating in a search until about 1970.The reputation built by El cajon officers as skillful trackersof aliens caused us to receive requests for instruction in ourtracking techniques. As search and rescue personnel wereexposed to this instruction they began to realize the value ofan expert tracker and we were requested to assist on actualsearches. lt was from these vague beginnings that we em_barked on our enviable record of live ,,finds,, of lost childrenwhich has propelled us to national prominence.Prior to 1967 I was unfamiliar with searches for lostpersons but, knowing the value of tracking, I had supposedthat all searchers were similarly informed and thereforeaccomplished trackers. lt came as quite a shock when I

Man, The Tracker 9learned that with most search and rescue groups tracking wasa rudimentary tool at best. Upon reflection, it was under-standable that the average person would seldom have thetime, opportunity, or motivation to learn this painstakingskill. What was much slower in coming was the realizationthat people are almost completely unaware of what an ef-fective method tracking is for finding lost persons and, infact, have no idea how often it is the BEST method.The San Diego Mountain Rescue Team was one ofthe first groups to receive our training and is chiefly re-sponsible for spreading the word of our successful ,,step-by-step" teaching technique. Our two-day tracking indoc-trination course is sought after, and has been taught to SARand law enforcement groups from all over the country, andhas been presented to groups from as far away as Guam. ltis acclaimed because it works. We teach it because the mostcommon problem we trackers are forced to cope with is theconfusing tracks laid down by non-trackers in a search area.

The author conducting field training for search and rescue group.


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l0 Trocking: A Blueprint For Learning HowI have been on a number of searches that found non-trackers clomping randomly through an area because theydecided the area would not reveal tracks and therefore, theyfelt no harm could be done. I could have easily followedtracks in the area and so could at least eight or nine of myfellow officers at El Cajon. I have heard or read of countlessother searches where the subject was never found, or founddead, in terrain where our tenth or eleventh best trackercould have easily found him alive in eight hours, if hecould have gone in alone before the area was trampled bywell-meaning but short-sighted amateurs.To a non-tracker this may soufid like outrageous boast_lng, but it is based on years of expqrience and sound confi-dence in our men. Daily, routinely, iqr tong distances we fol_low aliens who illegally cross tltp 99laer, tracking t&em totheir hiding places and bringing-them back to the stationwithout raising the eyebrows of fellow officers. lt is our job.Every man at El Cajon does it, with varying degrees of skill.Border Patrolmen at other stations do it and have been doingit every working day for generations. Outsiders ,uy ,.ru"fbut within the Border Patrol it is not considered noteworthyenough to elicit comment.None of us are clairvoyant; none of us are blessed withextra sensory perception. We are not unusual people witheyes of eagles, hearts of lions, and souls of saints. Not one ofus was raised by the shoshone or suckled by timber wolves.We are an unimposing gaggle of bandy-legged, pot-bellied liarsand libertines who have become expert at what we do, bydoing it daily and making a lot of mistakes.The purpose of this book is to short-cut the learningprocess by eliminating those time consuming mistakes. Any_one reading this book who has 20-20 vision (with, or withoutglasses), patience, and enough motivation to practice thesystem outlined herein, can become just as expert as any oneof us.

Why Tracking?

Tracking can be a great aid to any investigation be_cause it is an outstanding information gathering process.Tracks are clues, and they are by far the most plentiiul typeof clue that a lost person or raw viorator wiil reave behind.To the eye of an expert tracker, a bit of evidence will appearjust about every place that the person he is seeking'hasmoved. ln ideal circumstances this means a crue just iboutevery 18 to 20 inches.A common training exercise for beginning law enforce_ment officers and beginning searchers has the initructor drop-ping bits of evidence along a trail and then grading thestudents on the number of objects that are founJ. Thii trairof litter may include such things as a pencil, a gum wrapper,a cigarette butt, a coin, or a matchbook cover. lt is a funexercise and everyone usually has a very good time. However,the instructional value is cojnparable to teaching a person totl


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12 Trocking: A Blueprint For Leorning Howaccurately shoot a basketball by having that person begin bythrowing it into a swimming pool. Over the last eighteenyears I have followed sets of tracks leading to the findingoftens of thousands of people and certainly I have found thingsthat they have discarded or lost. But, on the average, thefinding of this kind of litter only occurs about once in everythree miles of tracking.On the other hand, the information that can be as-sembled by a tracker who finds no other evidence than trackscan sometimes recreate an entire chain of events.

Several years ago El Cajon Border Patrol Officers as-sisted on a murder case in which an attrbctive young ladywas found stabbed to death within fiftyq feet of her auto-mobile which had broken down on a deseqted dirt road. Thecircumstances posed many questtoll. lgA she encounteredcar trouble and while walking to get assistance had she beenaccosted by a stranger who happened to be lurking in thearea? Had she been kidnapped and brought to the area to bekilled? Had she come to the area with someone she knew? Allof these possibilities and many others existed initially. For-tunately the agency having jurisdiction called our El Cajonoffice immediately and requested tracking assistance. Weresponded promptly and within two hours we could tell thefollowing things with a fair degree of certainty:The female had been driving at the time the carbecame disabled. The murderer had been riding as herpassenger. When the car stopped, the female had got-ten out and walked towards the front of her vehiclewhile her passenger, whose tracks indicated that he wasan adult male, had departed from the passenger sideand walked around the rear of the car giving the victiman excellent chance to run had she felt threatened. Themale and female milled around the car a bit thenstarted walking a dirt road towards the top of a hill.During this walk of nearly three hundred yards, the

Why Tracking? l3two people walked on opposite sides of the road,meaning that there was at least a six foot separationbetween them even if they had been walking abreast.However, this was not al ways the case; at the steepestpart of the hill the female lagged behind and crossedover to walk in the footsteps of the male. Again thiswas strong evidence that she was not being coerced.Once atop the hill they viewed the surroundings, madesome kind of decision, and returned in the direction ofthe car. On this return trip they stopped twice prior toreaching the car and had some kind of face-to-face en-counter, a struggle ensued, and then the killing. Themurderer then departed the area to the west where histracks were lost on the grass lawns and paved streets ofa housing area.The information that the trackers supplied did notsolve this case, but it made a great contribution to the eventu-

Why trocking? Becouse of this cherished memory from Sequoio Nationol Forest.


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l4 Trocking: A Blueprint For Learning Howal solving of it. when the young man was brought to triar thisinformation supported his contention that the crime was notpremeditated but had resurted from his rosing his temper attaunts that had been thrown at him during an empassionedargu ment.On other occasions I have gotten a great deal of insightinto the way a person was thinking by information thai Ihave gathered as a resurt of foilowinjhis tracks. The fact thatthe tracks show the person being ioilowed made a suddenturn and took a circuitous route around a parked vehicleshows he had not wanted to be seen by the vehicle,s occu_pants' The fact that the subject departs from a trair andhides, indicates that he probably did not w4nt to be seen byothers walking along the trail. I -At times I have had the track |,val following meetwitn the tracks of another person, th-enumber and plsitionof the sets indicating that a conversation probabiy tookplace. On some of these occasions the second set of trackshave returned to a nearby farm house, thereby providing mewith the opportunity to talk to someone who has seen andtalked to the person I had been following.Sometimes, in following the tracks of aliens who haveentered the United States illegally, I have passed close enoughto a farm house so as to arouse the barking of dogs. 6ysimply talking with the occupants of the house to detJrmineat what time the dogs had been provoked into a similarbarking spree I have been abre to pinpoint the time that thealien passed by.These examples constitute only a few of the ways thattracking can uncover information that would otherwise beunobtainable. often the addition of onry a few key pieces ofthis type of information has been sufficient to ,oiu. u .ur..The tracker does not have to foilow a set of tracks to theirconclusion in order to prove his value; often if he doesnothing more than positivery identify which track berongs to

t&;I!I'grlitts'ifitlir

llhy Tracking? l5the person being sought he has made a tremendous contri-bution.I can remember quite a number of searches that ac-complished nothing for several days and, once the victim'strack was identified, plummeted to a successful conclusionwithin hours. Once the correct track description was broad-cast over the radio other searchers remembered seeing theprint, and a travel pattern quickly emerged that enabled atrail to be plotted to the victim's location.

Why tracking? Becouse of this cherished memory from lndio, Californio,ln many cases tracking will allow you to focus yoursearch in a rather confined area. At other times it can elimi-nate areas that do not need to be searched and often it is atool by which you may disprove, or verify, information thatyou have uncovered through interrogation of witnesses.An example of this occurred a number of years agowhen I arrested the driver of a vehicle who was transportingfive illegal aliens into the United States. lnterrogation of


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l6 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howthese five Mexican men revealed that they had made contactwith this man in Mexico, had made arrangements with him tobe smuggled to Los Angeles for $200 apiece, had entered hiscar in Mexico (two of them having been put in the trunk),and had been driven into the United States in a remote areathru a hole the driver had cut in the lnternational fence.Subsequent interrogation of the driver elicited his completelydifferent version of the story; he had made a rest stop at asmall state campground about forty miles east of San Diego(and many miles inside the United States) and these five menhad come up out of a dry river bed area, lealing numerouscompanions behind, and asked him for a ride io San Diego.The smuggler told his story so convincifrglV and withsuch attention to subtle detail that I began tolilonder if therereally might be more aliens in the area'Mhe hay' stopped.My curiostity was so arouged that after wrapping up the case,I got in my car and drove theforty miles to the campgroundand thoroughly checked the entire area.I discovered not only that there were no additionalaliens, but that the only tracks that came up out of that riverbed were the tracks of two people, a male and a female. ltcould be further ascertained that the tracks had originated inthe campground in the first place and were simply returning,and the condition of the tracks indicated that this had oc-curred more than two days earlier. ln addition to this I foundno tracks of the five Mexican citizens, nor any tracks be-longing to the smuggler anywhere in the area.

Despite the fact that we had a very strong case, ourposition was strengthened at the trial when I was able totestify with conviction to the facts outlined above. The smug-gler's defense was greatly discredited by this testimony andhe was convicted on all counts.Probably the strongest case that can be made for theuse of tracking is the one we regularly present in our traininglectures and which is most easily explained in simple mathe-

IIIllhy Tracking? 17

matical terms: A soldier marching in formation, at attention,travels at a rate of four miles an hour. ln military parlancethis pace is called "quick time" and is admittedly quite a bitfaster than a leisurely stroll. One-half this speed, or two milesan hour, is certainly within the realm of possibility of all butthe very young or the very old. Difficult terrain could reducewalking speed even further, but, for planning purposes, twomiles an hour is reasonable.Assuming that a lost person is walking at a speed oftwo miles an hour, it is theoretically possible, if he has beenmissing for five hours, for him to have traveled ten milesfrom the point where he was last seen. Since he could havetraveled in any direction, you are contending with a circulararea that has a 20 mile diameter and encompasses 314 squaremiles. Since full scale searches are seldom under way until aperson has been missing for at least ten hours, there exists apotential search perimeter having a 20 mile radius, a 40 milediameter, and an area of 1,256 square miles before the firsttrained searcher arrives on the scene.As each hour passes the circle expands and in the tenthhour of a full-scale search (twentieth hour since the victimwalked away) you are presented with a search area of 5,026square miles.The number of people required to thoroughly searchan area of this size is staggering. ln a heavily forested area asearch group numbering one hundred people could takeseveral hours to sweep search a single square mile of this typeof difficult terrain.lf a tracker does nothing more than establish the firstfive steps taken by the lost person he will have establishedthe probability of a direction that immediately cuts thesearch area in half. lf he can maintain the direction of thelost person's trail for as much as a mile, the shape of thesearch area can be reduced from a 360 degree circle to a

rf


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l8 Tracking: A Blueprint For Leorning How

POINT I,AST SEHiI

--oIaIIIaI

Why Tracking? l9pie*haped wedge that is likely to be no gteater than 30 de-grees. This narrow focusing of the search area reduces thenumber of square miles to be searched in the smaller area(5 hours of walking) from 314 square miles to 26 squaremiles and in the larger area (20 hours of walking) from5,026 square miles to 209 square miles.This, of course, is mathematical theory. How does itwork out in actual search situations? lt has been my experi-ence that it holds up amazingly well.ln the preponderance of searches on which I haveassisted, we have, in a short period of time, aimed the searchas surely as you would aim a rifle. With the direction estab-lished, a helicopter has usually been able to fly along thiscorridor, spot the victim, pick him up, and return him to basecamp in a relatively short period of time. What our trackingusually accomplishei is the concentrating of searchers in asmall area with a high probability for containing the victim.On these successful occasions the trackers are usuallythe last ones to come up out of the canyon and be trans-ported back to base camp. Often the exhuberance of the cele-bration is beginning to die down and many times the trackerseven miss out on the satisfaction of viewing the object oftheir search who may have been whisked off to undergo amedical examination. Surely the television camera will havedeparted and the helicopter crew will have finished with theirinterviews.

It is during these anti-climactic winding down periodsthat the trackers and ground searchers slip into quiet re-flection as they become aware of the sweat and begin to feelthe aches and fatigue. lt is a quiet time for relishing successand usually the tracker will have ample reason for feeling adeep satisfaction at what he has accomplished.

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20 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning How

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Awareness TrainingPhase l, Exercise 1It is very important that you understand the basic pur-pose of this book. lt is to teach you how tobecomeatracker.An ulti mate goal, a long range purpose, is to allow youto find a lost person by applying your tracking skill. However,that is not going to happen the minute you put down thisbook because you will not yet have acquired the trackingskill. lf you are motivated to work at it, you will become askilled tracker; if you are not sufficiently motivated we willstill probably reap the fringe benefit of reducing the likeli-hood of your ignorance contributing to the unnecessarydeath of a lost person.Tracking is no more difficult to learn than playing thepiano. However, it is not one iota easier eitherl Eight year oldchildren can learn to play the piano and they can learn to

llhy trocking? Becouse of this cherished memory from palomor Mountain, 21


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22 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howtrack; however, both are going to require dedication to fun-damentals and lots of practice.This book is a blueprint for learning how to track. ltoutlines a progression of field exercises that must be followedin their proper sequence. lf you follow these instructionscarefully you will construct a solid foundation, follow it witha sturdy structure, and cap it off with a reliable roof. tf youskip any of these vital steps you will have a very unsafestructure. lf you simply read the blugprint and do not followits instructions, you will have construcied nothing.Preparation and Equipment )Tracking requires very little equiryhent beyond a pairof eyes which unaided, or aided byr(enses, provide 20120vision. However, experience has sh6wn that some specialitems can be ver/ helpful.Clothing depends mostly on local conditions andweather; wear whatever is normal for the area where you willbe training. Sturdy clothing for brush is obvious. A broadbrimmed hat is handy for shielding your eyes from sun glare,or for shading tracks at mid-day. By deliberately blocking thedirect rays of mid-day sun from reaching the tracks, you cre-ate asituation that allows you to use astandard signal mirror toreflect low-angle lighting onto the shaded area. This low-anglelight accentuates shadows and makes the tracks easier to see.A walking stick is a must. lt should be at least three feetlong and sturdy enough to give support when negotiatingsteep

slopes. I prefer a long metal ski pole that reaches about to myarmpit. when the basket is removed from the bottom of the skipole and two rubber bands, or,,O" rings, are placed on theshaft you not only have a dependable walking stick but youwill have acquired an almost magical ,,tracking stick.,'Every tracker should carry some type of measuringdevice. Some trackers attach a length of metal measuring tapeto their tracking stick, but most simply carry a small metal

Awareness Training 23

measuring tape in their pocket. Stiff rulers or yardsticks areundesirable because they are so unwieldy and plastic rulersbreak too easily in extreme cold.A small notepad and pencil are needed for recordingmeasurements, making notes, and making a drawing of thetrack you are going to follow.Trail tape should be carried to mark tracks once youget beyond the beginning training phase (it also has otheruses on searches). Plastic surveyor's flagging is popular withsome search teams, but my personal preference is strips ofcrepe paper. The fading and deterioration of crepe paperis far faster than that of plastic and allows you to quicklydifferentiate old markers from fresh ones.A last item of equipment is a flashlight. This will notbe needed in the Phase lexercises but could be quite neces-sary if you are putting yourself through Phase ll and phase liltraining in heavily forested areas. Light is vital to vision.

Trocker utilizing tracking stick io determjne step intervol.


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24 Tracking: A Blueprint For Leorning HowVision is vital to tracking. The tops of tall trees in heavilytimbered areas do not allow much direct sunlight to reachthe forest floor. ln this dim light the use of a flashlightgreatly aids tracking.It should be mentioned that headlamps are of no valuein tracking. To be effective your light should be held verylow to the ground; therefore, it must be hand controlled.Selecting a Site \The first thing you must do in loprning to track or insetting up a training exercise for a group of would-be trackers,is to select a suitable training ground. )One of the early mistakes thatw9/made in the develop-ment of our step-by-step teaching.{echnique was to selectterrain that was mildly challenging to our own abilities. Webelieved, incorrectly, that this would be the most excitingand interesting terrain for''novices. What we did not realizewas the great gap between what was obvious to a skilledtracker and what was obvious to rank beginners.The problem is exactly like the one you face in tryingto teach an adult to read. You know that they are mentallymature and cannot be stimulated by kindergarten bookswhich have three word sentences like: ,,See John run"; ',SeeJane run". So the mistake we made in the beginning was totry to start beginners in sixth grade readers. The result wasthat we overwhelmed them. lt was a slow trial and errorprocess, but eventually we learned to teach to the level of

capability of our students.ln the last ten years we have put on tracking seminarsin very diverse locations throughout the United States andhave, therefore, been forced to quickly select an appropriatetraining site from widely differing types of terrain.Since our beginning exercises emphasize the importanceof seeing each track in sequence we have come to be guidedin our selection of a site by the thought that it must be diffi-

Awareness Training 25cult but not impossible. You should be so guided in yourselection of a training site.ln the beginning exercise a set of tracks are laid outacross a field and the student tracker, oi trackers, attempt tofollow them to their conclusion. A practice area should beselected that is flat, has a minimum of vegetation, and isquite firm. lt should however, have a fine layer of sand ordust. School playgrounds, little league parks, and construc-tion sites are good places to start looking for such a practicesite.Managing the Group, Spacinglf it is your intention to conduct this training for alarge group of people you should select an area that allowseach tracking team to move their tracks in the same directionwith about a twelve to fifteen foot spacing between each team.All the exercises in this book can be laid out andpracticed by a single person working alone. However, theaddition of a partner helps, and a team of three people isideal. Many times over the past several years we have at-tempted to train huge groups with too few field instructors.This has forced us to form tracking teams with far more thanthree members. lt can be done but the quality of the learningexperience diminishes greatly with each additional person be-yond the optimum of three. Therefore, if you wish to trainthirty people, you should divide them into ten three-manteams which will require a trainingsite at least 120 feet widein order to maintain the minimum safe spacing betweengroups.lf you are training a large group you should put asingle person in charge of laying out all the sets of tracks. Heshould lay out the practice tracks to be followed by groups

1 ,3 ,5 ,7 ,and 9 wh ile wearing one pair of shoes with d istinctivelymarked soles, then change to another pair of shoes containing


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O .. STUDENT TRACKER X .. FIELD INSTRUCTORAbove drawing illustrotes layout of field exercise showing three sets of paralleltracks with o twelve foot seporotion between sets, student trockers are formedinto three 3-man teoms eoch consisting of o point mon with twcftonkers. A singlefield instructor supervises the pfogrcss of the three trocking teoms.uniquely different markings to lay out the tracks for groups2,4,6,8, and 10. The reason fordifferently marked sotes isprecautionary. lt is very difficult for the track-layer to main-tain the minimum spacing between sets of tracks until he haslaid out these problems a number of times. He is very apt towaver in such a manner that two different trails almost con-verge. lf the trails should join and the tracks are identical, thestudents will be unable to successfully complete the exercise.lf it is your intention to have fifteen feet of spacing be-tween your teams, your track layer must put a thirty footspacing between the first set he lays down (number 1) andthe second set (number 3). He must, therefore, be very care-ful to select a point, across the field near the finish line, thatis as close as possible to being thirty feet from the finishpoint of his previous set of tracks. A common error is to havegood spacing at the starting points but spacing that is toowide at the finish line. This results in sets of tracks that arenot parallel but flare outward so as to cause the higher

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Awareness Troining 27numbered groups to be working tracks at angles that do notdirectly approach the sun. ,//'Direction of the Tracksln the beginning problem, tracks should always beworked towards the position of the sun (even on overcastdays) and with the sun at as low an angle as possible so thatthe slight indentations of the track will cast shadows. lnother words, your tracking problems should be held in earlymorning or late afternoon. At these times the sun is as closeto the horizon as possible and affords the most favorable

The single most important thing to learn about trackingat the outset is to utilize the sun. Try to alwaysposition your-self so that the track for which you are looking will appeardirectly between you and the sun. Caution and commonsense must be employed, of course. You certainly cannot getatop a trail or you will obliterate it with your own tracks.


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28 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning HowTo learn the value of sun angle you should run yourown experiment. Put down a track in the dust, then walka complete circle around it, observing it from about five toeight feet away. The difference in your ability to see thetrack with the sun at your back as opposed to having thetrack directly between you and the sun is dramatic.Also, run the same experiment within two hours ofdawn, at mid-day, and again within two hours of sunset.The way the track disappears with the sun at its heightand reappears in the evening will teach you a lesson aboutlow sun angle that is far more graphic than lcould accom-plish with words.

Laying Out the TracksThe track-layer begins laying out the first - practiceexercise by marking a straight line in the dirt across his pathas a starting point. Just forward of the line he should make acircle in the dirt about eighteen (18) inches in diameter. Heshould scuff the area within the circle until it is loose enoughto leave a distinct impression of his track, then placing hisright foot within the circle (this beinghis first step) he walksnormally in a straight line for about fifty (50) or seventy-five(75) yards (one hundred would be berter, but it is usuallydifficult to find a field that long). At the end of his walkhe should mark his finish line then circle away from thetracks and staying at least thirty feet from, and parallel to,his original route, return to the starting area. lf thetraining is for a large group he must return by a route thatgives wide berth to ALL the practice sets of tracks.ldentifying the TrackOnce the tracks are laid out the training is ready tobegin and each three-man tracking team should take a posi-tion at the start of a set of tracks. Once at the starting pointas much time as necessary should be taken to study and

Aworeness Training 29

Group of student trockers ot their starting points,properly identify the track. Slight, subtle differences betweenvery similar tracks have meant the difference between successand failure on a number of searches, as well as many law en-forcement cases with which I have been involved over the years.The track of your quarry must be examined carefullyand often. Subtle cuts or marki,ngs may not appear in onetrack but may be discernible in another, therefore, identi-fying the track must be a continuous information gatheringprocess,Study the encircled track carefully. You shouldmeasure its length from the rear of the heel to the tip ofthe toe. Always when measuring tracks, be careful not tolet your hands or the measuring tape touch the ground,thus making more sign. Avoid adding any more confusingmarks to those already on the ground.lf there is a heel, measure its width and length.Measure the sole at its widest point. Note whether the toe is

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A Blueprint For Learning Howvery pointed, moderately pointed, rounded, or blunt. Noteany stitching or nail holes. Note any pattern or design.Take a piece of paper and draw a picture of the track,putting in all marks and designs. lf there are lines or barsacross the track, separately record their exact number,coarseness, and approximate spacing. lf you are working witha partner or as part of a tracking team, practice communi_cating the track description by stationing the other person,or persons, far enough away from the track so that theycannot see it and have them draw the track from yourverbal instructions.

while searching for a lost person. They are the only certainevidence that a person is going to leave behind. They pointthe novice in a direction where the victim was once headed,and they lead an expert tracker directly to him. Being ableto describe these clues to another search team, ten miles

Aworeness Training 31away, by radio, in descriptive terms that leave them with themental picture you possess cannot be overemphasized.I feel that track description is of such importance lhat)devote an entire chapter of this book to its coverage /A sound general rule is to use descriptive comp/risonsthat everyone can relate to, such as: "a dime sized/circle"instead of a "circle that is about 11116 inches in didmeter""bars about the thickness of a wooden match stick" in-of "bars approximately 1/8 inch wide."The value of proper identification can sometimes beof paramount i m portance :One of my most challenging tracking experi-ences began to unfold on the night of July 3rd,1962,when a small Mexican national entered the United

States surreptitiously near Tijuana, Mexico, and starteda walk which. he hoped would bring him to LosAngeles. We cut his track at dawn the following morn-ing and started following it. With a team of trackersalways on his trail and other officers cutting for signahead, we had, by late afternoon, taken the trail over35 circuitous miles to the intersection of Main andSecond Street in El Cajon. At this point our quarryturned west on Main Street and began walking directlythrough the center of the city which, at that time,had a population of nearly 40,000 people. However,the markings on the bottom of his shoes were sounique that we were able to find and identify histrack in the few dirt areas available. We continuedfollowing him directly through the busiest part ofthe city for nearly two miles to its western edge,southwest towards the freeway, then back northon the railroad tracks where, at nearly nine o'clockin the evening we caught up with him and made thearrest.

Trocker moking a drowing of footprint,Footprints are the best clues you can hope to find


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32 Tracking; A Blueprint For Learning Howlmportance of Step lntervalOnce you have found every idiosyncrasy of the rightshoe of your practice tracks, looking particularly for lhethings that make it unique, like cuts or worn spots, youshould look forward about eighteen (.lg) inches and to'yourleft about eight (s) inches for the back edge of the treet orthe next track. ln very hard ground, the curved back edge ofa heel is the mark you are most apt to see. Once the toe ofone track is established in reration to the heer of the succeed-ing track you will have the information needed to determineyour subject's "step interval".

The step interval , or the distance between tracks, isthe information needed to transform your warking stlckinto a handy-dandy track finder.When I was first learning to track, the more experi_enced tracker who was gi.ving me tips, advised ,.io regulatemy stride so as to match the stride of the person t wa! tol_fowing. I was to do this by placing the tip of my right toe atthe rear of my quarry's right heel and step forward'aAlustingmy stride so that the tip of my left toe came to rest at theheel of my quarry's left heel. ln theory, lshould always findthe track I sought just ahead of my foreward foot.I tried this system diligently but found many faultswith it. lt was too easy to mis_step and obliterate the trail.I was too likely to blunder past a sudden turn, etc.Through experimentation I began marking the dis_tances between my quarry's tracks (the step inteival) on awalking stick and holding it near the ground so that its tipwould pinpoint the location of the next track.It worked well for me, so I continued to use it, but Idid not realize what a reaily effective toor it was untir r be-gan encouraging students to use it during the evolution ofour step-by-step learning technique and our two_day track_ing indoctrination cou rse,I have graduaily come to reafize that the utirization

Awareness Troining 33of the tracking stick has probably been the greatest factor inhelping non-trackers become acutely track conscious veryquickly and is therefore one of the biggest reasons our in-structional system has enjoyed such outstanding success.Utilization of the Tracking StickThe correct manner of establishing the marks on yoprstick is to start at a point where your subject was walking nmally and the heel and toe marks of both shoes can be seen:1You start by placing the point of your stick even withthe heel of the forward track, then moving your rubber bandmarker so that it is directly above the tip of the toe of therear footprint. This gives you the correct step interval and isthe piece of information of most importance to you.Once this forward rubber band marker (toe marker) isin place you alter the angle of the stick so that it is directlyover the center of the rear footprint. Placing your establishedtoe-marker directly over the tip of the toe, you move yourrear rubber band marker (heel marker) until it is directly overthe rear edge of the heel of your subject's footprint.You now have the length of your subject's foot shownon the stick (between the heel-marker and the toe-marker),the length of his stride (between the heel-marker and the tipof the stick), and the vital information: the step interval(from toe-marker to tip of stick).With this information on your stick you are now able,upon finding the slightest trace of a footprint, to establishthe approximate location of the tip of the toe of the foundtrack and by pivoting your stick at this point (the toe-markerpoint) and swinging it in an arc, pinpointthe area'where thesucceeding track should appear. ln swinging your stick, it isbest to start with a small arc that initially allows the tip ofthe stick to travel no more than ten inches. lf carefulexam-ination of this area reveals nothing, the length of the sweepcan gradually be increased.


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34 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning How Awareness Training 35by-step training will recognize it.A fact well worth mentioning at this time is that entirefootprints only appear when the ground is very soft. A com-plete, easily identifiable footprint only shows in dust andd so easy to track through that your grandmother couldo it. Expert trackers seldom see footprints but do theircking by following partial tracks, flat spots, scuffs, andvegetation. These slight indicators are what the tracker

ls "sign"It is impossible to say how far a tracker might have tolow sign before he finds a full footprint that reveals therkings that positively identify his victim, but when these,full tracks are found, they should be uniquely marked. Mostof us at El Cajon draw a circle around the track. SomerMountain Rescue Association teams prefer to encircle it withrocks or trail tape. As longas you make it obvious, we cannotquibble with it, just mark it well.

lllustratlon shows tracks morked to indicote left or right prints, Trocks ore circledwhen they reveal enough identifying marks to constitute o "positlve moke",

ip.r#pl"',#illir "' ^'; I fl..1iffi:*,t*?i;l,l$1,lll|, i "t'' 'o' I Rr AR vavrr R sr I Arei*iL"iAri'' p lnl"tl'*:-" p"7/^,, 12


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36 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning HowRealize that the footprints and sign which you arefollowing will not be the only ones in the area. People, whohave attended our two-day indoctrination course at El Cajon,or have heard my lectures at Search and Rescue Seminarsshould remember my emphasizing the point that the prob-lem in finding a lost person is never the absense of sign, butthe maddening excess of it.Many times in searching for lost persons, or in trackingaliens and smugglers who have entered the United Statesillegally, the best of us have had another trail blend into theone we are following, then branch off. We may follow thewrong one for several hundred yards before we get a positiveidentification and discover it's the wrong track.We must then go back to our last "certain" track (theone we circled) and start again, being careful not to take thewrong fork a second time. This is the reason we mark thepositive tracks well and the reason we work better in teams

o f th ree.The Three Man Tracking TeamWhen three of us are following a set of tracks and aconflicting trail joins the one we are following, we split andfollow each. Whichever one of us discovers that he is on thecorrect trail advises the others to abandon their trail and re-group on the correct one. This is apt to be done many timeson a trail, particularly if it is in an area which has had agreatdeal of foot traffic.

ln our basic tracking classes we like to group threepeople on a single set of tracks. The designated leader of thegroup works as "point man", a position that puts him slightlyforward of his two "flankers". lt is his responsibility to fol-low the set of tracks and maintain order by seeing to it thatneither flanker gets ahead of him and thereby in a position toobliterate the tracks. He must be particularly watchful forthe "cheaters" in every beginning group who do not have the

patience to look for thealways looking ahead forto creep ahead for a better

(oe o? aC)

lllustratlon shows storting position for members of the three mon trocking teomond indicotes their oreos of viewing responsibility,The first responsibility of the flankers is to watch tothe side for another incomingtrail and to be sure the trail thegroup is following does not make a sudden turn. Theirsecondary responsibility is to assist the point man in findingthe next track. lt is wise to rotate the flankers up to thepoint position. Working the point position is very fatiguing,so to keep the team fresh, each person should take his turn.The major things accomplished by the three mantracking team for beginners is that it builds confidence, and

lessens the chance of error. What three men agree upon ismore apt to be correct than what one man decides byh imself.Tracking is done most efficiently as a team effort andwe try to develop the appreciation of this fact in our trainingexerc ises.

Awareness Training 37subtle tracks. These people arean obvious track and keep trying

vantage point.

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I38 Trocking: A Blueprint For Learning How

lnstructor indicoting with pointer the correct pivot point (toe-markei point)"or

Aworeness Troining 39flat spots, small rocks pushed into the dirt, and small rocksuprooted from their natural beds and scuffed forward in thedirection your subject went.Of these clues the most important are flat spots. Onlyhooves and something man-made will leave flat spots. Smallanimals will scuff and move pebbles, but if there is aflatareaas big as a nickel it has to have been made by a hooved ani-mal or a man.lf the ground is so hard that you are not sure whetherthe flat spot was caused by a man or a hooved animal, testthe ground to see whether your own weight will flatten it in asimilar way. lf not, then the flat spot had to have been madeby something that exerts a lot more weight per square inch offoot area, hence a hooved animal.Get your nose to the ground and look for anything!!!!!Do not, under any circumstances skip a track! Just be-cause you can see a big obvious track a little bit ahead, donot jump up to it! My half-blind, idiot Aunt Clementine canfollow big obvious tracks. She has never learned a thing fromthem and neither will you.The extremely difficult tracks, the subtle ones, theones you have to hunt for half an hour are the only ones thatteach you anything. When you are forced to dig for the mostminute hint of a track you are on your way to becoming atracker.When we say step-by-step, that is exactly what wemean. Find every track, not 106 out of 107. There is nopremium on speed in learning to track. The important thingis the self-discipline of making yourself stick with it to findthe tough ones.Keep in mind what it is that you are trying to accom-plish. You are not trying to find a lost child in the wilderness.You are trying to learn how to track so that you may havethe skill to find that child at some time in the future. ltwould be foolish to insist on finding every track in an actual

point mon's troching stick. Trocks proceeding to left ond all tracken properlypositioned so thot trocks ore directly between themselves ond the sun.What to Look ForYou have now been told how to lay out the beginningproblem, how to identify your victim,s track, and how to utilize the tracking stick to find the approximate location of thenext track. You have been told why you must mark thetracks either left or right and why you must remember whichtrack you are looking for. You have also been told why youshould undertake this exercise as part of a three man trackingteam. You have been told very little about precisely what tolook for. This, of course, varies greatly, depending on terrain.ln the beginning problem, you are supposed to be working onflat ground which is free of vegetation. Therefore, you shouldlook for the curved rear edge of the heel, the curved point ofthe toe made evident by the propelling push of the walker,

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Students seorching for extremely subtle tracks.search when there are obvious ones a few feet ahead. lt is justas stupid and foolish in the learning situation to follow onlywhat you have always been able to follow and to skip overthe magnificent lessons that will teach you what you need toknow. Realize, that in order for a person to become a skilledtracker, superior eyesight, though helpful, is not an absolutenecessity. As in looking at material written in a foreignlanguage, the trick is not in "seeing" it, but in interpretingwhat you see. A great deal of sign is seen by the rank be-ginner and disregarded as insignificant because he has notlearned to glean its meaning.You should now lay this book aside and read no fur-ther until you have gone into the field and practiced this be-ginning problem at least three times for a duration of fromtwo to four hours on each occasion.

Utihzing Sun AnglePhase I Exercises, Continued

ln the preceding chapter you were presented with themost basic tracking exercise. lt was designed to: (1) Teachyou to carefully identify the track to be followed. (2) Utilizethe tracking stick in order to find the most obscure tracks.(3) Mark tracks so that you remember whether you are look-ing for a right or left track. (4) Learn the effectiveness andconfidence building value of the three-man tracking team.(5) Develop the good habit of looking for every track.(6) Break the bad habit of looking only for obvious tracks.(7) Learn some of the things that constitute foot-clues (sign).lf you followed instructions and practiced the be-ginning exercise diligently you probably amazed yourself atthe amount of sign you were able to see. Probably you hadno idea how much visible evidence you have been ignoring

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I42 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howand stumbling over (and obliterating) for all these years andif you learn only this and proceed no further towards yourgoal of becoming a tracker I will feel satisfied that my efforthas been worthwhile.The next three exercises are designed to: (1) Reinforceand refine what you learned in the first exercise. (2) Developgood habits through repetition. (3) Teach you ro utilize thecorrect sun angle.Exercises 1 through 4 present the students with a solidfoundation for learning to become a tracker and constitutesPhase I of your training. These exercises present the basicsand have come to be known as our step-by-step teachingmethod. Since there were so many people involved in policework and search efforts who needed to be introduced tothese basics, we have focused all of our energies.over theyears on teaching only to. this level of beginning student.The result has been that we have whetted a lot of appetitesand made large numbers of students track aware but have notprovided them with the guidelines to proceed to the limitof their capabilities. The phase ll and phase lll sectionsdevised for this book should adequately fill the needs ofthese serious tracking students.This Phase I training in track awareness, the step_by_stepmethod, is something I have been involved in developing andteaching for about ten years. This standard two-day courseconsists largely of salty stories, lies, tales of derring-do, aslide show, and two half-day field exercises. ln addiiion tothis I have written several articles on tracking, the section ontracking for a manual on law enforcement, and the course ontracking that is to be included in the curriculum at our newU.S. Border Patrol Academy. Throughout all of this I extolthe virtues of our step-by-step technique of teaching tracking.My purported purpose for all of this is supposedly to turnout legions of skilled trackers and surely, to some degree, thiswill be accomplished. However, this is not my real purpose;

Utilizing Sun Angle 43my strong underlying crusade is to cause every person whoenters a search area to become acutely clue conscious so thatthey will not do more harm than good.Every person who enters a search area is a potentialclue destroyer and as such is a potential killer.As a tracker, I know from much experience how oftena good tracker can solve the mystery if he is not precededinto an area by a group of well meaning clue destroyers.Since track consciousness is clue consciousness, sincetracks are the only clues that you can be certain a lost per-son will leave behind, and since they will be by far the mostnumerous of the clues left behind, it is arrogant of a personto believe he is a competent searcher if he has made no effortto acquire some skill at finding tracks.The exercises outlined in this and the preceding chap-ter are designed to quickly teach you how to see and inter-pret sign. However, we have discovered that it goes beyondthat and creates in you an awareness that carries over intomany other things. lt actually greatly increases a person,spowers of observation and if there was no other reason thanthis one, I feel it is sufficient justification for a person, in-volved in search and rescue work or law enforcement, to in-vest the time and energy necessary to learn something of theage old art of following sign.Definitions and Terminology

There are several definitions that should be learned inorder to follow a tracker as he fondly discusses his art. Anumber of terms that we are going to be using in this booksound similar but actually describe operations that areuniquely different.First you should realize that,,signcutting,, and"tracking" are distinctly different operations which dependon the finding of "sign". "Jump-tracking', is neither sign-cutting nor tracking but is a novice's inept attempt at both;

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A Blueprint For Learning How Utilizing Sun Angle 45

Clue Destroyer


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46 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howand "step-by-step tracking" is more than anything else, ateaching technique.Exploring a dictionary will do very little to help youunderstand what "sign" means to a tracker. You will findsome descriptive words such as "mark", "trace", and"vestige", which do apply, but what a tracker means is:"sign is any evidence of change from the natural state that isinflicted on an area by a person's passage."A careful scrutiny of the dictionary will gain younothing in your search for the word "signcutting". lt is apure word in that it has meaning only to practitioners of thetracker's art. lt simply means: "looking for sign in order toestablish a starting point from which to begin tracking."Tracking means: "following someone, or something,by stringing together a continuous chain of their sign.""Step-by-step tracking" is *a disciplined teaching techniquewherein the tracker sees each step in sequence and proceedsno further than the last visible track. lt is a standard that anexpert will strive for at all times, but in actual tracking opera-tions is not always possible to attain. ln an actual trackingsituation an expert tracker tries to find some visible clue ateach point where his quarry might have stepped. However,under arduous circumstances, even the best tracker must ac-cept small gaps in his continuous chain of evidence. The keyphrase is "small gaps"."Jump-tracking" means: "finding a big obvious foot-print, then proceeding along the indicated route of traveluntil another obvious track is found." The distance betweenthese tracks is often extreme, fifty feet is common, severalhundred yards is not uncommon. A great deal of guess-workis involved, a large portion of luck is needed, and practicallyno skill is required since the tracks found are of the obvioustype that almost anyone is capable of seeing.ln signcutting you are not trying to follow tracks asyou do in tracking, but you are trying to find just one or two

Tutilizing Sun Angle 47

very visible tracks as you do in jump-tracking' The principaldifference between the two being that the process of sign-cutting should NEVER be done by walking the same direc-tion tIat your subject would be walking' Signcutting is doneby walking a path that would intersect the path of your sub-;""t u, apfroximately right angles'.lt is-done in an area whereihere is little chance that the tracks of the "cutter" could beconfused with those of the subject, and it is done by pickingterrain where sign should be easily seen'I have several dear friends in search and rescue workwho, though they are not trackers, have gone to great lengthsto popularlze tracking as a rescue tool' They felt uneasy withthe word "tracking", so by fussing with it a little they came upwith the more descriptive term "man-tracking"' lt made mefeel a little uncomfortable because it is not a term a trackerwould use, but I let it slide' Then as more amateurs wereattractedtothelearningoftheartlbegantoheartermslike"signs of man", "signs of track", or simply "signs"'None of these are genuine terms' They are not thewords or phrases that a real tracker would utter' I have hadthe privilege of tracking and talking tracking with grizzledmountain men from the High Sierras to the Great Smokiesand have been pleasantly surprised to find we speak the samelanguage. Tracking is an eons-old art and entitled to theaigiitv of its own terminology' What I do is "tracking"un"oldoitbyfollowing..sign''.lnthisbooklintendtomake every effort to avoid the vulgarizing of tracking'scolorful and tradi tional termi nology'Phase I Exercises with Changing Sun Angleln all Phase I exercises you should lay out yourpractice set of tracks in a straight line on level ground' Thisallows the walker to move at a steady, even gait that pro-duces a relatively constant stride' Knowing the walker'sstride and the distance between his tracks allows you to mark

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48 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howa stick with these distances. When this stick is held near theground and properly utilized it will usually pinpoint the lo-cation of the next track.The site of Phase I exercises should be chosen so as tobe largely free of vegetation, heavy rock outcropping, andmiscellaneous ground cover; the purpose being to eliminateas much of nature's camouflage as possible. The subtle evi-dence that a human foot leaves on the surface of the groundis hard enough for the beginning tracker to find without theadditional distractions of ground cover.The tracks in the first exercise were aimed directlytowards the position of the sun because tracks are mosteasily seen when they appear directly between the viewer andthe light source.Lastly, the initial exercise was to be run very_early inthe morning or very late in the afternoon so that the sunwould be at a low angle. That was because light which ap-proaches the ground at a low angle causes an accentuation ofshadows that makes all indentations in the ground easierto see. lf you worked at the beginning exercise on at leastthree occasions and devoted as much as two to four hours toeach outing, you should have established some good habits,sharpened your eye, and become comfortable with the track-ing stick. You should now be ready to deal with the problemof changing sun angle. Exercises 2 through 4 alter nothingexcept the direction of the practice tracks in relation to thesun. Before going further the complete Phase I exercisesshould be listed; they are:

Exercise .Slope . Vegetation .Time of Day.Direction of TracksNone Early morn- Directly towardsing or late sunafternoon

Utilizing Sun Angle 49Exercise .Slope 'Vegetation 'Time of Day'Direction of Tracks

Flat None Early morn' 45 degrees to 90ing or late degrees awaY fromafternoon sunNone Early morn- 90 degrees to 135ing or late degrees awaY fromafternoon sun

3. Flat

4. Flat None Early morn- 135 degrees to 180ing or late degrees awaY fromafternoon sunln the preceding chapter you were encouraged to workon Exercise 1 at least three times before going further. Youshould now do Exercise 2three times before moving to Exer-cise 3 and continue that pattern until each exercise has beendone three times. ln doing these exercises you should in-crease the angle slightly each time, in other words Exercise2a at an angle near 45 degrees, Exercise 2b at an angle near60 degrees, and Exercise 2c at an angle that approaches90 degrees.ln this group of exercises you will learn to positionyourself so that the track you are seeking will appear be-tween you and the light source. This is extremely important

in tracking. On hard surfaces correct sun angle often makesthe difference between seeing a track or not seeing it. lt doesnot matter if the sun is obscured by fog or dense clouds, thetrack will always be easier to see when it is directly betweenyou and the true position of the sun.You will learn to use caution in these exercises' lt isobvious that you cannot position yourself wherever you wishor you will end up atop the tracks and obliterate them. lt ispossible, however, to stand to the side of the tracks and look

I

1. Flat


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TRACKSTO RIGIITOF TRACKER 2- \\N^ ...1..-- tt#'^lt;t': '."" t a J..' ,r.-- t ,(r,

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TRACKS I\,IOVINGDIRECTLY AWAYFRO]\4 SUN

TRACKERLOOKING BACKOVER LEFT SHOULDER

..t.H-''.t..1!lnl-d.. . :-...9.'. . -rRACt(S /\10VtNGDI RECTLY AWAYFROM SIJNTRACKER POSITIONEDON RIGHT SI DE OFTRACKS IN ORDER TOLOOK TOWARDS SIJN

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Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning How

across them towarA, tf,i ,r-n. 't you are attempting to followtracks that run 180 degrees away from the sun (as will be thecase in Exercise 4c) you should stand to the side of the trailand look back over your shoulder. This closely approachesthe desired angle for efficient viewing.Exercise Variationln the foregoing exercises (2 through 4) you will bedoing nine field exercises for from two to four hours each.lf the training site you have selected is too easy you willfind yourself being bored by the lack of challenge. Do notuse this as an excuse for skipping parts of the training. Repe_tition is absolutely necessary for developing good habits.Try some of the following tricks to bring the difficulty ofthe problems up to a challenging level.

1 . Have the track-layer wear a flat-soled shoe thatis devoid of distinctive marks. This robs you ofthe lines and geometrical shapes that catch

Utilizins Sun Angle 51

Trocker followinq trocks with heod turned to best viewing ongle'


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52 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howthe eye.2. Have a light person such as an eighty poundchild lay the tracks. The reduction in weight re-duces the damage inflicted on the ground.3. Have the person laying the tracks *"uiu u.rysoft shoe such as a moccasin. Sign is caused bya soft surface being marked as a result of collid-ing with a harder surface. Usually the weight ofan adult's body propelling the hard surface ofa shoe into the ground produces an adequateamount of sign. However, if the shoe is very softit will do some of the yielding, thereby reducingthe amount of visible damage inflicted on thegrou nd .

MotivationYou will notice that this book has so far been surpris-ingly devoid of brilliant inside tips that wilr turn you into aninstant expert. rt contains not a single "smart pili" that willallow you to acquire the knowledge without doing the work.As mentioned before, it takes a sorid groundwork of funda-mentals and plenty of proctice to be an accomplished tracker.Let's hope you are still motivated to give it a try. Butif it sounds like a lot of hard work, and you rationalize yourlaziness by telling yourself that you never wanted to be atracker anyway,let me leave you with this one thought.We need you in search and rescue work, but if yo, 1r.going to come into a search area with your big feet andyour biS vehicle tires, destroying all those clues wetrackers need to save a life, I would prefer that you stay thehell away! Too many times we have foilowed a set of tracksup onto a dirt road only to see them disappear under a ton ofwide-tired jeep tracks, and too many times we have followeda set of tracks down into a drainage to find it go under thetracks of a swath of line searchers.

Utilizing Sun Angle 53Too many times? lf it had only happened once thatwould be too many times.We are all human beings and we make mistakes, but ifpeople should die as a result of our mistakes, we have someresponsibility to our fellow man to put forth the effortneeded to prevent those mistakes from being repeated.


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SignWhat to Look For

When a rank beginner hears someone mention tracking,he immediately envisions a person following footprints. ltshould be obvious by now that if there were complete,visible footprints in evidence, tracking would be no problemat all. To become a tracker you must learn to follow sign.As mentioned before, sign can be defined as any evi-dence of change from the natural state that is inflicted on anarea by a person's passage. This evidence can be lumped intotwo broad categories, Conclusive Evidence and SubstantiatingEvidence.Conclusive Evidence is a bit of sign which, standing byitself, with nothing else to support it, can conclusively be saidto have been caused by a human being.Substantiating Evidence is a disturbance which could

55


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56 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning Howeasily be caused by something other than a human being andmust be found in combination with several bits of such evi-dence before it can reasonably be determined to have beencaused by man.Since the particular things that constitute sign varygreatly in different types of terrain and since the specifics ofwhat you look for in a Mexican desert are of little value to astudent in the Rocky Mountains, I have felt the need, forseveral years, of finding away of generalizing about sign. Forabout three years now I have been trying to analyze what mymind and eye are searching for when looking for sign. Aftermuch inward scuffling, I have come to realize,that regardlessof terrain, there are four basic things that catch my eye.These characteristics of sign are:

1 . Flattening - A leveling of rocks, twjgs, leaves,2. Regularity

or dirt caused by the flat sole ofa shoe pressing the ground un-der a person's weight.An effect caused by straightlines, circles, or other geometri-cal shapes being pressed intothe ground leaving marks thatare not normally fou nd inn atu re.A difference in color or texturefrom the area that surrounds it.Evidence of recent change orrearrangement.Let us now look at some examples of sign, and placethem in their proper category.

CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCEFlat Spots ( Flattening)Of all the faint disturbances that may be visible onhard ground, nothing says "man" more positively

3. Color Change -4. Disturbance

;e"",_.::lW*4Regulority

Sign 57


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58 Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning How.,At

I

Sign 59than flat spots. Animals, birds, reptiles, insects, and windblown objects are continuously making a profusion of markson the ground that add confusion to the task of the tracker,but only man made objects (shoes, tires, rifle butts, etc.)and hooved animals can make flat spots.When a flat spot no larger than a nickel is seen on theground it may not be immediately discernible whether it wascaused by a hoof or a shoe, but a simple testing of the groundwith your own foot will give you the answer.All hooved animals exert considerably more weight persquare inch of foot surface than does man. Therefore, byplacing your own foot near the flat spot in anormal walkingmotion (do not stand on one foot and stamp or twist thetesting foot) you will reveal whether you leave a similarmark. lf the ground is so hard that you left nothing asflattened as the flat spot you found, then it may be presumedto have been caused by something other than the person youare seeking.Buried Pebbles and Small Sticks (Flattening)When pebbles or small sticks are pushed below theirnatural bed it generally means something very hard, such asshoes or hooves have stepped on them, Since animal paws areusually softer than the surface of the ground, they will do the"giving" when contact is made with pebbles or small sticks.lf the ground is soft enough to allow paws to impressthese hard objects into the ground, it will be soft enough toreveal the whole outline of a shoe or hoof. Again, check tosee how much of your own track is revealed.Rear Curve of Heel (Regularity)The rear curve of a heel is probably the piece of con-clusive evidence that occurs most commonly. ln manyinstances, it will be the only bit of distinctively human evi-dence a foot will leave on hard ground. This is because in

Color Change


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Flottened oreo with buried pebblesnormal walking, on level ground, the entire weight of thebody is transferred forward with each step and focused, atinitial impact with the ground, on the small rear edge of theheel. lf an indentation is going to be inflicted on the groundat all, it is most apt to occur by this striking force. Theuniformly curved indentation that results from this impactis very noticeable to a person with very little tracking ex-perience. By the time a person has about 40 hours of track-ing behind him he will be spotting this indicator very quickly.Tip of Toe, Toe Digs (Regularity)The weight of the body being shifted forward coupledwith the "pushing-off" action of the propelling foot causesa digging action that leaves a distinctively uniform inden-tation in the ground.The only problem with the "toe dig" is that it is not

Sign 6l

Curved line drawn in dirt outlines barely discernible reor curve of heel. Above theleft side of the heel is a flottened oreo contoining an impressed pebble.as noticeable as the two preceding items of sign and it seemsto take several hundred hours of tracking experience beforethe eye becomes trained to spot it readily.It is one of those obvious clues which non-trackers,and beginning trackers see clearly, but lacking experience, failto interpret correctly and thus disregard as being unimportant.Bent Grass (Flattening, Color Change)Human beings and hooved animals push grass down-ward in a similar manner, but there are several ways of tellingthe difference.Since a man's foot is longer than that of a hooved ani-mal, the length of the pusheddown area will be longer. Thewidth of the pushed-down area will be widest for cattleand horses, somewhat less for man, and narrowest for deer,sheep, goats, etc. The most telling clue, however, is that the


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Toe dig in lower right of photo, heel impression upper left.sharp frontal edge of hooves tend to crimp the grass towardsthe middle of the pushed-down area while the smooth soleof a man's foot will not.Bruised Stems and Stalks (Color, Flattening)Stems and stalks of green vegetation which have beenstepped on or kicked may return to their upright position inless than 24 hours, but the bruises inflicted may be visible,upon close examination, for several days. Often these bruiseswill be slightly flattened, telling you positively that the bruisewas caused by man. Small animals seldom bruise vegetationat all but certainly cannot flatten it. Hooves which strikewith enough force to bruise will nearly always cut.Picking Up Mud (Color Change, Regularity)"Picking up mud" is a tracking term that does notmean the walker periodically scoops up a handful of mud to

Sign 63

!

::

Close up of flottened bruise.


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Sign 654 Tracking: A Blueprint For Leorning Howamuse himself. Mud tracking is too simple to dwell on, ex-cept in those cases where the walker is picking up mud on hisshoes. ln this case we are presented with a fairly difficultproblem. What happens is that the walker enters an areawhere the soil has a gummy, claylike consistancy that sticksto the shoe. At the outset the walker will try to stamp it offor periodically clean it off, but he soon realizes the futilityof this endeavor due to the fact that new mud starts ad-hearing to his shoe immediately" The walker soon resignshimself to this nuisance and continues walking until he hasa large pillow of mud attached to each foot.These blobs do not resemble footprints but they doleave their marks at regular stride distances and in a normalleft-right walking sequence. The marks that are left on theground alternate between tiny patches of surface-dirt thathave been removed (picking up mud) to chunks of mud thathave fallen off once the weight has increased beyond themud's adhesive power to hold it to the shoe. On these drop-pings you will often find the flat and uniform characteristicsof the wearer's shoe.Shine (Color Change, Flattening)Shine is the most subtle bit of conclusive evidence,and unlike any other type of sign except grass trails, is fareasier to see at some distance than up close" ln dirt, shine iscaused by the almost imperceptible flattening of dirt par-ticles by the foot which creates a reflective surface that isonly visible with an oblique light angle. The angle at whichthe light hits the tracks and is reflected into your eye is allimportant. That is why six or seven subtle footprints may beseen at a distance of thirty feet while you are unable to seethem immediately in front of you, or beyond that pointwhere the sun angle reveals them. Only by approaching thesetracks will the succeeding ones be revealed. The same phe-nomenon occurs with less obvious grass trails and with trails

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atelyanglesun)

66 Trocking: A Blueprint For l-eorning Howacross dead dry grass. Looking closely at the ground immedi-in front of you does not produce the necessary lightso you may have to look ahead (in the direction of thefor distances as much as several hundred feet.ln actual situations I have stood on hillsides and seengrass trails through a meadow a half mile away which wererevealed by such a subtle change of color that they wereabsolutely impossible to discern when viewed at a distanceof less than one hund red (1 00) feet.As a general rule the most difficult tracking you wiliever encounter will be on flat ground and this is the area thataffords you the greatest opportunity to look ahead at greatdistances for that precise sun angle that will reveal "shine""Under these circumstances you need to be very cogni-zant of the fact that the surest way to see sign is n.ot alwayswhen it's one foot from your nose. When tracking gets verydifficult it is very wise to look at great distances. Sometimesyou will tre shocked to see how obvious the trail is whenviewed from the correct angle.Transfer (Color Change)When a person walks from one type of terrain toanother there will often occur a few steps when materialfrom one area is transferred to the other. When a person hasbeen walking through mud and then enters either a grassy,rock covered, or paved area he will usually clean the mud offhis feet immediately thus giving you at least a few steps toindicate the direction he has chosen to travel.Similarly, if a person has been walking on a dustytrail hc will transfcr a few dusty prints onto a flat pavedarea. Rarely will such transf'er be visible on the unevensurface of rocks and even if it does it would have to occur inan area so dusty that tracking would be very easy and youwould have little need to be so carefully scrutinizing rocks.Water also can be transferred to rocks or soil but will

Sign 67

Tronsfer of mud onto Poved rood'only be visible on an extremely fresh trail. I have never en-countered a situation where water transfer remained visiblefor as much as a day.Animal Droppings, Human FecesI suspect that all those reading this book have checkedenough times in their lives to see if the toilet was flushingproperly to be quite familiar with the sizes, shapes, andcolors of human feces. Sizes and shapes o

93944230 tracking by jack kearney ex u s border patrol officer

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