ManTracking - Detecting Speed from Tracks

Rebel wrote me to ask "I found your website from the videos on You Tube. I am not into horses, but was looking for tracking information as I am helping to teach classes to Explorer and Boy Scouts. I also serve as a volunteer on a regional Search and Rescue (SAR) Team. Can you explain how to tell how fast the person who are tracking is going? Thanks, Rebel."

Aside from the obvious extended stride length, there are some pressure release clues. Any one of them could be helpful when the others are harder to discern.

Stride length. From a normal walk on level ground to a man running on level ground, stride length can double. From the picture below you can see the stride stick (aka tracking stick) and the tight fitting rubber grommets I use so I can slide them up and down to measure a stride, track width, off set, etc. of any track I'm on. The picture shows the increase in the stride length from a person walking, to walking fast to running. In this case the stride length from the previous toe to the subsequent heel, which is how I measure stride, is 17 inches for the walk, 24 inches for the fast walk and 31 inches for jog - for example. That will change depending upon the hardness of the ground, weight the person is carrying and the degree of slope. It can be also influenced by the physical condition of the person. Tired people will have a shorter stride and get a little careless on foot falls. Toe gouges and trips may be evident.



With the increased speed and force with a person's foot hitting the ground, the disturbance to the ground soil, vegetation and/or rocks can change significantly. The pressure release would be altered because of the change of pressure on the surface has changed.

The pressure release may be hard to discern on hard soil or ground that is covered by vegetation. Torn pieces of vegetation and bruising on stems, stalks and flowers can be discernible. While you may not be able to see tracks because of ground vegetation, you may be able to feel the pressure-release or gently separate the vegetation in order to get a visual idea on the track.

The picture below shows tracks in sand where it is easy to tell the difference in the pressure releases, changed by speed. The easiest pressure releases to read are toe dirt visible on the fast walk and the wave around the ball of the foot that is created by the foot pushing off. At the print at right, where the person is running you will see a more significant wave and less toe dirt as the person's foot are coming of the ground with the knee bent more, therefore reducing the amount of toe dirt thrown forward. This can change in deeper soil or be indiscernible on much harder ground.



A gouge is another pressure release that is enhanced from speed and sometimes weight being carried. On the above print at the right you will see a gouge created by the heel striking the ground more forcefully at a shallower angle. You will sometimes see a ledge opposite the gouge. This is usually evident on wet soil or soil that was wet when the track was laid then has dried. The ledge visible in the heel of the track at left is due to the foot making a more vertical strike on the ground.  

Hope this helps Rebel.  When you are trying to determine the speed of a track (the person you are tracking), you shouldn't make a determination based on stride along or any one aspect of the pressure release, unless that's all you have. You should pretty much take all the signs together to tell you what that person is doing.

Aging Sign and Seeing Shine

I was contacted a few months ago by Texas Monthly magazine to help with an article on Sign Cutting appearing in their regular column “The Manual”. It was a little difficult to discuss or explain sign cutting and tracking over the phone, but Texas Monthly did a good job and the article appears in their February 2012 issue. At least they didn't make me out to be a bigger idiot than I already am.

I was also riding in the desert with a group of ladies (much preferable to riding with men) and we came across Oryx tracks. If you have never seen an Oryx, google Oryx or click here. The Oryx is an African Antelope imported decades ago into New Mexico to provide a exotic game for hunters. The Oryx doesn’t have a natural predator here,...maybe Mountain Lions, so they do very well.

The soil underneath the top layer was fairly moist from a rain about a week earlier, so the toe of the Oryx’s hooves left a very sharp and deep pressure release. Combined with deeper and softer sand a few yards away I estimated that the Oryx prints were about 3 or 4 days old. The ladies were asking question on what I was looking at when determining the age of a track, so I explained that a pressure release softens and rounds over time. Comparison to other parts of the pressure release, the rounding or dispersion of the toe dirt kicked up with forward momentum and the evaluation of the same tracks in different soil will let you determine the rough age of sign.

While the photo to the right are horse tracks rather than Oryx, the single set of tracks on the left hand side of he photo are 7 days old. The horse tracks on the right are fresh. While the discoloration isn't too different or not different enough in lieu of the seven day difference, the tracks to the right depict a large amount of toe dirt and a deeper pressure release because the natural element of the wind has not degraded or reduced that yet. The horse that made the tracks on the left was walking slow and dragging his feet up from the soft sand - see the drag marks leaving the pressure release?

When I was discussing sign cutting with the Texas Monthly writers I talked about losing sign then changing the distance and angle from your eyes to the sign would allow you to see sign you may miss being over the top of it. Sometimes you can look in the general direction the tracks are going then see an obvious shine or color change, which may allow you to jump forward quickly (leap frogging) to save some time or to make up time. If an animal crossed through grass, even a suburban lawn, often the bruising of the grass or dispersion of any moisture will leave a tell tale path visibl from the shine.

You may have to change your distance and angle from the Sun to the tracks to see it. Look at the bottom of the photo to the left and find the disturbed ground, then carry your eyes up to towards the top of the photo and you would see a different in the shine or texture of the ground caused by the displacement of the natural ground.

The photo above shows one week old and two week old horse tracks. In the one week old horse tracks, A depicts the degraded walls of the pressure release caving in and gravity displacing that soil to the bottom of the pressure release; B shows the still evident pressure release of the frog of the hoof; C shows the deeper part of the pressure release indicating direction of travel; and D shows the degraded toe dirt after substantial displacement by the wind.  The two week old track is heavily filled in by wind blown sand and gravity.  The wind even blew some small sticks that settled into the pressure release, however the deepest part of the pressure release is still visible indicating direction of travel.    

Tracking - Dragging Sign Cut Areas

I have previous wrote about cutting sign and using areas such as road or natural lines of drift to facilitate locating disturbances, color changes, flat area or any regularities outside of nature that would indicate something has traversed that ground. Dirt roads, the shoulders of roads, open areas, natural lines of drift, fencelines and slopes are all good areas for sign cutting. Fencelines can catch pieces of clothing and give away transit. And if someone is climbing a fence there is a good chance they will leave a heavier pressure release as they come down across the fence. On slopes, it is very common to see a gouge (indicating downhill movement) or a scuff (indicating up hill movement).

Many tracking applications can be enhanced using drags or otherwise preparing areas for sign cutting. The biggest use of sign cut drags are to smooth out any previous sign (animal, man or vehicle) and put a timeline on when the sign cut area was drug therefore give the tracker another way to indicate the time or age of any sign he subsequently cuts in that sign cut area. Additionally, cuts along this sign cut area can be performed more quickly and sign located easier after that area has been drug.

The Border Patrol primarily uses tire drags, which are tires placed on the ground in a triangle type shape, and connected together by drilling through the tires and using steel cable. Sometimes flat or channel iron is used, either between the rows of tires, or along the side or front to stabilize these drags. And if you ever want to get a glimpse of hard work, try drilling holes through steel belted radial tires! Here’s a hint – radial ply tires are easier to make tire drags with.

I have used a simple broom to brush out previous sign at foot trail and vehicle road intersections so I could rapidly determine if there was any transit, or in this case, trespassers or potential poachers. Use of any drag or brush-out will by itself create flat spots, regular patterns, color changes, and it’s own unique disturbances, however the change to the pattern will be much more easier to see.

On a search and rescue for example, once a timeline has been established and projected fastest movement routes of the person(s) being tracked determined, someone will normally run a drag across the roads, sides of roads or natural lines of drift past the projected movement timeline (in a perimeter fashion) so that these sign cut areas can be checked after that to determine if the person being tracked has crossed. This is a valuable tool to reduce the search area as pretty much all search and rescues are exercises in the efficient use of minimal resources, so minimizing the search area enhances chances of success.

When I was on horseback patrolling areas for trespassers, archeological thieves or poachers I would often use my lariat rope and a stout Chamisa bush to drag a section of dirt road or animal trail so future sign cutting in that area would be quicker and let me know what has passed through giving me a timeline.

All along the Southwest border with Mexico you could probably fill up a book with counter tracking tricks that illegal immigrants have tried. Everything from using brooms to brush out sign, tying carpet or other material to their feet, wearing horseshoes nailed to wood and then strapped onto shoes,....the list is practically endless. The only advantage of attempting to cover your sign like this is that natural effects such as rain and wind may obscure the sign more quickly than if it was left alone. So each counter tracking technique will have a weakness. Whether it is brush marks from a broom or brush, carpet fragments or a regular design from the carpet making a very unique pressure release, or the really odd gait (usually too wide or too long) of what seems to be a horse.

Tracking - Aging of Sign

One of the harder things to do in a climate that lacks noticeable changes, such as desert environments without moisture or substantial winds, is the Aging of Tracks. There are various factors and components of nature that will help in the Aging of Tracks which would provide discernible changes observable to the tracker  usually in degradation of sharp edges and the changing of the color. Some of these natural factors include:



Moisture such as Fog or Dew - will usually fluff up the topsoil (as the soil absorbs moisture and expands) and make the track appear spongy.

Rain will wash away tracks beginning with the sharp edges, however compressed tracks may leave darker areas where the moisture ran to the lowest part of the compression. Light rain may dimple or pock mark the pressure release. Rain can deliver a timeline for the tracker.

The Wind will erase gradual edges and soften sharp edges. Take note of your environment and judge accordingly.

Heat. Dries out the moisture (providing discoloration) in the ground and combined with gravity, cause the edges to crumble.

Gravity. Causes sharp, regular edges, alongside the compression of tracks/sign to deteriorate over time.

Thumb Test. The tracker, using his thumb, presses down into the soil to produce a sample that he can use to judge age of the track compared to the impression, edges, and coloration of his thumb print.

Cold. Slows down the aging process by retaining moisture.

Animal Tracks. Consider the animal traffic in the area and apply it to the analysis of evaluating the age of the sign.  In the desert during the hottest months, often lizard tracks across other ground sign indicate that the ground sign was presented no later tha the early morning hours, providing a time line to the ground sign. 

Print A at Right is 36 hours old. Note rounding or smoothing of edges defining the track. Light wind has made distinguishing print marks of the footwear very difficult to read.

Print B is 4 hours old. Note the print has retained the sharp edges of the track. With a light wind and time, this track's sharp edges will round and the depression caused by the pressure release will fill in.

One of the best things you can do is to find an area that will not be disturbed, lay your own sign each day and check the changes as it relates to the weather and environment.