Man-Tracking—How to use light to your advantage, by David Scott-Donelan

The main reason we are able to see tracks is because light from the sun casts a shadow in the imprint of the sole pattern on the ground. It follows then that footwear with a deeply cut sole pattern will cause deep imprints on soft ground and therefore cast more distinct shadows, and shallow sole patterns will create less distinct shadows.

The time shadow effect. Note that the shadow effect is more prominent in the early morning when the sun's angle is low. As the sun moves higher in the sky toward the midday, the shadow diminishes until it can no longer be seen. As the sun drops toward the horizon throughout the afternoon, the shadow reappears. Therefore, the optimal times for tracking are early to mid-morning and late afternoon.

It also follows that the lower the sun angle relative to the footprint, the more distinct and obvious the shadow will be. As the sun rises to its peak, the shadow in the print will become less distinct until at midday, with the sun directly overhead, it disappears completely. With the passing of the day, the sun, moving down to the horizon in the west, will cause the shadow effect to reappear, making the print visible again, as illustrated.

The cross-section of a plain, un-patterned sole. Due to a lack of sharp edges, this sole does not cast any shadows.

With this in mind, the optimal time for tracking is from early to mid-morning and mid-afternoon to early evening. The worst time is from shortly before to shortly after noon. As combat trackers we must never let this influence the follow-up, which must go on nonstop irrespective of the time of day, until contact with the quarry is made. Tracking is a little more difficult during the midday period, but if the tracker sticks to the basic principles progress will be made. Bear in mind that your quarry may want to stop and rest during the heat of midday, giving the tracker the opportunity to cut down the time/distance gap.

The tracker must learn to take advantage of the sun's angle and look for the spoor from a position where the prints are between him and the sun. This way the shadow effect is maximized and the prints are easier to see. To illustrate this, place a line of prints on clear, soft ground and walk around them in a circle. You will see that at certain angles the shadow effect is greater and the prints seem to stand out. If you look up you will see that the prints will be directly between you and the sun. By tracking from this angle, even if you have to look back over your shoulder, your progress will be better and faster.

As has already been stressed, operational trackers must keep the follow-up momentum going in an aggressive way whatever the light conditions. Very often there will be no sunlight at all, or the trail will pass through shaded areas, making the tracks difficult to see. Tracking is still possible in these conditions, and with practice you will overcome these temporary handicaps.

If pursuing armed and dangerous fugitives, under no circumstances should tactical trackers operate at night. Search-and-rescue tracking, however, can be carried out in the dark using flashlights, lanterns, or car headlights as a substitute for the sun.

Source: This article was adapted from Tactical Tracking Operations: The Essential Guide for Military and Police Trackers, by David Scott-Donelan, founder of the Scott Donelan Tracking School (TSDTS). Copyright © 1998. All Rights Reserved. Excerpted with Expressed Written Permission. To order your copy of this manual, point your Internet browser here.

David Scott-Donelan is a Rhodesian Special Air Service (SAS) veteran with nearly 30 years of active, counter-insurgency, war-zone service in Rhodesia, South Africa, Mozambique, and South-West Africa/Namibia. His service included an assignment with the famed Selous Scouts, commanding a remote Bush Warfare & Tracking School.

In 1994, he founded the Tactical Tracking Operations School (TTOS) in Arizona, which remained an internationally-recognized tracking venue while under his stewardship.

In 2010, Scott-Donelan founded The Scott Donelan Tracking School (TSDTS), offering a wide variety of variety of professional man-tracking courses including three levels of combat tracking for military personnel; tactical tracking for law enforcement personnel; non-hostile man-tracking for search-and-rescue personnel; and basic tracking for civilians.

Like his other business ventures—including heading up the US Army Combat Tracking School at southern Arizona's Fort Huachuca for several years; and developing the US Marine Corps Combat Hunter Project, which consisted of training US Marines in Day and Night Observation, Combat Profiling (now called Human Terrain Analysis) and Combat Tracking—TSDTS quickly became an internationally-recognized visual-tracking venue for elite military and law enforcement units including US Army Special Forces (SF), Marine (USMC) Force Reconnaissance, Navy SEALS, USAF EST, and police SWAT, SOT and SRTs.

TSDTS-trained trackers have successfully tracked down insurgents, criminals, and fugitives; collected evidence/intelligence crucial to the apprehension and prosecution of criminals; detected IEDs (counter); captured and killed enemy combatants; and reclaimed weapons caches in operational theaters around the globe.To learn more about TSDTS, or schedule training, click here.