Journal Entry – Hatfield Forest – Reasons to Track
Warm and sunny – 28C Wind S Light breeze
I had an interesting discussion with the local search and rescue team today. We got onto the subject of tracking. Their eyes seemed to glaze over when I started to talk about tracking skills and why a tracker or small team of trackers could benefit their organisation by becoming more track aware.
Asked why they wouldn’t consider training up a few people as trackers, a female search technician pointed to her handsome looking dog and said “This is why. We have these.”
Now, I have heard of a story where a police dog-handler actually challenged a tracker to track down a human on a follow-up (trailing) of a mile or so. This was after hearing the tracker’s somewhat boastful claim stating that he could track faster than a dog in the right conditions. The story was second hand and I had no idea whether it was true, but it seemed a good time to tell it anyway! This is what I related.
After being briefed the human ‘hare’ set off. Five minutes later the dog and handler were in hot pursuit. The tracker also set off at the same time. The dog immediately picked up the scent of the ‘hare.’ Even the tracker was caught off guard but after a minute, the dog resorted to its usual method of tracking which was to sniff from one side of the trail to the other in a zig-zag fashion and not in a straight line. The dog reverted to type and followed the ‘scent cone,’ of the quarry, which is always wider the further from the quarry. The tracker was still behind the dog and handler but had another trick up his sleeve. He climbed a small tree and spotted the human ‘hare’ standing still somewhat in the distance with an orange plastic bag on his head. The tracker had not only given him the plastic bag, but had briefed him to stand still and wear the unusual head-gear. The tracker jumped down from the tree and sprinted the last quarter of a mile straight to the quarry. The dog was left straining at the leash trying to follow the tracker with the rather unfit handler being towed behind. The tracker reached the human hare moments before the dog. The tracker had won – Just!
Needless to say the SAR technician, who I related the story to, remained unimpressed!
extracted from “Master Tracker” – published by Apple Books
