Tracking Humans

Some time ago, I told you about drag roads and drags.  For the Old Patrol, the drag road was where sign was usually "cut".  Signcutting, however, is just the first installment of tracking.  Once you find the sign, the next job is to tell how fresh it is.

The photo to the left shows foot sign on top of a "running W" tire tread sign and parallel to a "straight line" tire sign.  If we know that the "running W" was on the drag road no more than two hours ago, then the foot sign can be no more than two hours old.

People who don't want their sign to be cut across a drag road will often attempt to brush-out their foot sign.  At the bottom part of the photo to the right, you can see a crude brush-out.  The remedy here, of course is to see what known tire sign is covered by the brush-out (to determine the sign's age) and simply follow the brush-out until it turns into foot sign you can identify.

It is helpful for a tracker to have a general familiarity with the area.  This is especially helpful when tracking Tonks: if they're headed in one particular direction, you can accurately guess where they're headed.  For example, a popular truck stop on the Interstate Highway.  Sometimes, however, the tracker may not have knowledge of the area.  That's when it's always best just to stick with the sign.

Tracking humans is not always as easy as it appears on the drag road.  Often, the tracker may not have seen actual foot sign for several hundred yards.  What then?

To the left, you can see "rock sign".  The rock to the left is in its natural position whereas the rocks to the right have been depressed into the soil.  As long as the depressed rocks are along the sign's route of travel, it's a safe bet that the sign you've been following is the same sign that made the depression.  You simply keep on the same azimuth and be on the watch for confirming footprints.

Foot sign isn't the only sort of "sign" that a tracker follows.  Sounds, odors, light, shadows and animal movement are all sign for the experienced tracker of humans.

One night, Actor was tracking a group of six Tonks through a lemon grove when his flashlight batteries gave out.  A gentle breeze was blowing from the 3 o'clock position to the last known route of travel and it was pitch black inside the grove.  Actor was impressed with the almost overpowering scent of lemon blossoms as he kept on the Tonks' last known line of travel.  Then, ever so slightly, Actor smelled the unmistakable odor of unrefrigerated hot dogs from his 3 o'clock.  The Tonks were no more than 25 feet away and were all hunkered-down under a lemon tree.  After he had made the apprehension, the Tonks told Actor that they had planned to stay under that tree until morning when the Patron would show up in the grove and (hopefully) hire them to pick lemons.

There are probably a few Agents in the New Patrol who have learned the art of tracking humans, but in the Old Patrol all of us had to learn it.

Deo Vindice