Human Tracking

You wouldn’t be alive today if you weren’t somewhat aware of your surroundings - that is your Natural Awareness.

The ability to find, interpret and follow tracks or sign left by human passage is an essential skill for persons interested in being attentive and responsive to occurrences in their surroundings.

Natural Awareness Tracking School teaches human tracking (aka man-tracking) and signcutting skills to search and rescue, law enforcement, military and other government organizations.

Everyone has the ability to sense their environment.

Natural Awareness’ goals are to

1. Make you more aware of tracks and sign
2. Improve your ability to interpret tracks and sign
3. Increase your senses while on task
4. Educate you on what to do once tracks and sign have been found
5. use tracking to help find the missing person or other person of interest
6. Practice tracking scenarios day, night and in all weather conditions

See a List of Our Clients.

Our instructors have taught or currently teach the tracking courses for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Search and Rescue program. Any class can be molded to suit the students’ needs at your location. Each class uses professional classroom presentations and superior student-to-instructor ratio field exercises to teach individual and tactical approaches to finding, following and interpreting tracks and sign by addressing and practicing the following topics:

• Tracking tools
• Signcutting team tactics
• Aging tracks and sign
• Footwear Identification
• Action Indicators
• Animal tracks and sign
• Signcutting at night
• Backtracking for clues
• Various ground covers
• Logbook guidelines
• PLS/LKP approach
• Find-scene preservation
• General awareness: use of all senses
• Management of signcutting resources
• Detection and management of evasive subjects
• Pros and cons of using modern technology in tracking
• Visual tracking integration w/ other search resources including canine teams

Who benefits from tracking?

Everybody.

Natural Awareness Tracking School structures its classes to introduce a wide variety of knowledge and practical skills that the student will have with them indefinitely.

Whether you are interested in practicing tracking on a regular basis or simply attending the course for an introduction to tracking skills, your awareness will be expanded to new horizons.

The search volunteer, military operator, canine handler, law enforcement officer, incident manager, hunter, land owner and outdoor enthusiast will all benefit from participating in a tracking class.

Most of all, Natural Awareness Tracking School instructors understand that clue awareness and tracking are integral skills necessary for successful search missions.

Tracking is not the be-all or end-all of searching, but it is an important tool to have at one’s disposal.

What is the best resource for finding a lost person?
“Whoever finds them first” – Greg Fuller