Man-tracking skills for SAR personnel- Usage is on the rise in Europe

No 1 in a 3-part series of Man-tracking in SAR Operations and Investigations

‘One of the most overlooked aspects of tracking is that it fundamentally trains observation’.

The quote, in italics, above and the three below are from Kyt Lyn Walken’s notes on Man-tracking. I’m not a Man-tracker, but Kyt is and she is recognised across Europe as one of the best.  Her experience, qualifications and energy in the field are outstanding^[i].

As a specialist in investigative thinking what I can see is that training in Man-tracking would bring enormous benefits to any search or incident scene operation, as well as enhance the observational skills for any investigator or crime scene examiner.

‘…Operations often succeed or fail based on tiny details, a displaced stone, bent stems, an overlooked boot print, a discarded item, a broken spider web or even slight soil compressions.

Tracking teaches rescuers to slow down cognitively while remaining operationally efficient. It enhances situational awareness and develops disciplined visual scanning habits.

For this reason, many instructors consider tracking one of the best foundational field-craft disciplines for SAR personnel.’

Just think about those quotes; exposing investigators, all police attending an incident scene to a discipline where they learn to ‘…slow down cognitively while remaining operationally efficient…to develop disciplined visual scanning habits.’

This is the introductory and first of three articles on ‘Man-tracking’ and explains the application of Man-tracking skills for SAR personnel and their operations.

Application of Skills

The observations on first response at any incident scene or an investigation   Whether it be by a Search and Rescue (SAR) coordinator, crime scene examiner, or a Detective; it is to look for information and communication from witnesses and the scene, to reveal what has happened.  From the scene those communications will come in many forms, sometimes there may be direct evidence by way of testimony from witnesses.  There may even be physical evidence, objects perhaps found to corroborate testimonies.  From all of these decisions can be made.

We often hear of blood splatter, fingerprints, fibres and all manner of objects found at a scene and categorised as physical evidence.  We also hear of finger and footprints within a crime scene, but what of sign, tracks and other evidence, sometimes/often not visible to the trained eye and therefore perhaps not always considered?

Man-tracking in SAR on the rise in Europe.

In an era dominated by drones, GPS mapping, thermal imaging, and AI-assisted search planning, it may seem surprising that one of the oldest human skills - tracking footprints and ground disturbance - is gaining recognition within SAR operations across Europe. Experienced SAR personnel know a critical truth: technology can fail, batteries die, weather interferes with sensors, and missing persons rarely behave predictably. In these moments, the ability to read terrain, interpret footprints, identify subtle sign, and reconstruct human movement becomes an operational advantage that can dramatically narrow search areas and accelerate rescues.

This discipline is commonly known as Man-tracking — the systematic reading, interpretation, and pursuit of human sign. While deeply rooted in ancient hunting and scouting traditions, modern man-tracking has evolved into a practical operational capability increasingly integrated into SAR teams, alpine rescue groups, civil protection units, and K9 search operations throughout the UK and continental Europe.

The operational role of Man-tracking in SAR

Search and Rescue missions are often complex, resource-intensive operations involving multiple agencies working in difficult terrain, with challenging weather and incomplete information. The Missing hikers, dementia patients, children, climbers, or vulnerable adults may leave behind little more than fragmented clues.

Traditional SAR assets include search dogs; helicopters, drone reconnaissance and high-volume human resources conducting often compromised grid searches with minimal witness interviews.

In recent times thermal imaging, digital forensics and mobile phone analysis have enhanced searches.

However, each of these methods has limitations. Dense woodland, snow, rain, rocky alpine ground, or urban interference can reduce the effectiveness of technology-based systems. This is where man-tracking becomes particularly valuable.

A trained tracker can often identify:

-        Direction, speed of travel and deviation from the trail

-        whether the individual is alone or accompanied (in case of possible, unpredicted aggression)

-        signs of fatigue, confusion, or injury

-        rest points or concealment areas

-        deviation from regular behaviour due to upcoming state of anxiety of panic

Even partial sign — a disturbed leaf, displaced gravel, compressed vegetation, or a broken twig — may help reconstruct a route that no electronic system detected.

In practical SAR operations, tracking is rarely used as a standalone capability. Instead, it functions as a force multiplier that integrates with canine teams, terrain analysis, intelligence gathering, and operational command systems.

Man-tracking and European geo-morphology

European SAR environments present unique operational challenges. The Alps, Pyrenees, Scottish Highlands, Scandinavian forests, and Central European mountain systems combine rugged terrain with rapidly changing weather conditions.

Unlike desert environments where footprints can remain visible for long periods, European tracking often requires advanced interpretation skills, because sign may be fragmented, moisture-degraded, contaminated, or hidden by rubbish or forest litter.

This means European man-tracking places strong emphasis on ground sign interpretation, terrain probability analysis, behavioural and psychological prediction.

Integration with operational SAR decision making and scene preservation benefits

The discovery of tracks leading from or into an incident scene and the connection or proven relevance of those tracks and other evidence to the incident can prove or disprove the hypothesis regarding that case at a very early stage.

From an SAR perspective the information gained from that expert opinion regarding tracking communication can also be used to allocate or justify the deployment of search and/or investigative resources from a decision-making perspective and feed into the decision-making process of a structured professional judgement.

Simply put, in mountain rescue environments, the tracker’s role is often not simply ‘following footprints,’ but reducing uncertainty of decision making for command teams.

For example, identifying a single confirmed direction of travel may eliminate several square kilometres of search area and save critical operational hours. One of the most important modern developments in SAR man-tracking is its integration with K9 search teams.

Search dogs are extraordinarily capable assets, but environmental conditions can reduce scent retention and scent availability. Heavy rainfall, temperature shifts, wind patterns, rocky terrain, snow cover, or aged tracks can complicate canine deployment. This partnership between tracker and dog handler has become increasingly recognized within specialized SAR circles internationally.

Research and operational experience from Australia and North America have shown that combining tracking with canine operations can significantly improve search efficiency. Similar operational interest has grown steadily across Europe over the last decade.

The benefits

Tracking skills provide a low-technology, field-resilient capability that remains functional even when communications, visibility, or electronic systems degrade.

This is one reason why practical tracking instruction has begun appearing more frequently in specialist training environments throughout Europe.

Modern man-tracking is not simply about identifying footprints. At advanced levels, tracking becomes a form of behavioural analysis conducted through terrain evidence.

For SAR personnel, this matters enormously. In fact, missing persons frequently make irrational decisions. Children may hide silently. Elderly subjects suffering cognitive decline often move in surprisingly direct lines before collapsing. Injured hikers may abandon trails to seek shortcuts or shelter.

The tracker therefore studies not only the ground, but also the psychology of movement.

This fusion of observation, terrain interpretation, and behavioural prediction is what distinguishes professional man-tracking from basic footprint following.

A Case Study of Man-tracking in the UK SAR environment

(Image: Loch Naver – Sutherland Highlands of Scotland)^[ii]

Finn Creaney and the limits of Visual Man-tracking

‘When death’s dark stream I ferry o’er,

A time that surely come;

In Heaven itself, I’ll ask no more,

Than just a Highland welcome.’[iii]

Introduction

Few missing-person cases have captured the attention of the tracking, bushcraft, and search-and-rescue communities as profoundly as the disappearance of Finn Creaney.  It highlights the extreme conditions and difficulties of tracking in the Scottish Highlands, as well as presenting discussion on the differences between the signs left by an experienced outdoorsman compared to those of a novice hiker.  More importantly it highlights the need for having an experienced Tracker on the ground at first response.

An experienced bushcraft instructor, outdoorsman, and co-founder of Wildcat Bushcraft, Finn disappeared on March 25, 2022, after being dropped off near Loch Naver in the Sutherland District of the Scottish Highlands. His intention was to complete a planned solo journey toward Golspie. Despite extensive search efforts involving Police Scotland, search-and-rescue teams, helicopters, specialist searchers, volunteers, and years of follow-up investigation, no definitive answer has emerged regarding his fate.

As a visual man-tracker, Kyt found this case particularly significant because it highlights both the power and the limitations of ground sign tracking. Cases involving inexperienced hikers often leave a trail of mistakes, discarded equipment, panic indicators, or obvious route deviations. Cases involving highly competent wilderness professionals are different.

Finn Creaney was not an average walker and that distinction matters.

In visual man-tracking, the most valuable location is often not where a person disappeared, but where they were last unquestionably known to be.

According to available information, Finn was dropped off near Loch Naver on the B873 road on the afternoon of March 25, 2022, to begin a planned route through remote Highland terrain.

For a tracker, this location would represent the Point Last Seen (PLS).

The first question would be simple.

Can we identify and isolate his track-line from all others present?

This is easier said than done; a roadside drop-off point is rarely ideal as such locations often contain:

• Multiple historic tourist and local footprints.

• Vehicle disturbances

• Animal tracks

• Wind erosion and weather degradation

Unlike a crime scene, nature does not preserve evidence, and every hour reduces available information.

The Highland environment: A Tracker's nightmare

The Scottish Highlands present some of the most challenging tracking conditions in Europe.

Many people assume wilderness equals easier tracking. The opposite is often true!

Track retention depends on substrate, where excellent tracking surfaces can include mud, damp sand, fine dust, snow and clay. However, poor tracking surfaces include heather, peat, moss, rocky slopes, scree and dense grass.     

Large portions of Sutherland consist of surfaces that either record very little sign or destroy sign quickly. A boot crossing heather may leave no visible impression whatsoever.

The tracker is then forced to rely on hard to detect ground or vegetation disturbances only, such as bent or discoloured changes to vegetation, compressed plant stems, displaced moss, or disturbed ground litter.  However, these indicators are extremely fragile and can easily be erased by rain, wind, wind and even sunlight.

Experienced Outdoorsmen leave usually less sign

One of the paradoxes of tracking is that skilled wilderness travellers like Finn Creaney are often harder to track than novices.  Experienced outdoorsmen move efficiently, their foot placement is deliberate, their route selection is logical and often their interaction with terrain is minimal.

A bushcraft instructor develops an instinctive ability to move through natural environments while causing limited disturbance. Perhaps this is a natural evolution as they follow the way of learning to walk softly in the wilderness? 

Consequently, the very expertise that makes someone safer outdoors can also make them more difficult to locate through visual tracking methods.

Whereas beginners frequently drift off route, stop repeatedly, create unnecessary disturbance and even leave obvious indicators.

Water: a track destroyer

One aspect of the case frequently discussed within outdoor communities is the possibility of water involvement. Years after Finn disappeared; reports emerged regarding the discovery of a backpack near Loch Naver. This led family members and investigators to consider whether a water crossing, or water-related accident may have occurred, as from a tracking and search perspective water is often the point at which a track-line ends and footprints and other sign stops.

A tracker may successfully follow a subject for miles only to reach a river, loch (lake) or stream crossing. 

The challenge becomes determining did the subject cross the water feature or travel the bank, and if they did enter the water was it intentional or an accident.  Without fresh sign, those questions can become impossible to answer.

Popular media often portrays tracking as the pursuit of visible boot prints. Professional trackers know better.

In a case like Finn's, searchers would also examine moving ahead of the presumed route and searching for fresh evidence crossing a natural line as well as vegetation flattened under body weight and potential mud transferred onto rocks.

Many observers view the absence of evidence as mysterious; trackers tend to view it differently. Sometimes a complete lack of evidence is exactly what certain environments produce.

Consider a scenario involving:

• Remote terrain

• Mixed vegetation

• Water features

• Variable weather

• Significant time delays before discovery

Under such conditions, tracks can disappear astonishingly fast. Within days, a track-line may be unrecoverable. Within months, even a skilled tracker would struggle to identify meaningful ground sign. Years later, recovery becomes almost impossible.

The absence of footprints today does not mean footprints ever existed; it simply means nature had time to reclaim them.

Lessons for the Search and Rescue Community

The disappearance of Finn Creaney offers several important lessons for trackers and SAR personnel.

1. Early ground searches are critical

The first 24–48 hours often determine whether track evidence survives.

2. Water features demand immediate attention

Water crossings can terminate otherwise excellent track-lines.

3. Track preservation matters

Potential sign areas should be protected from contamination whenever possible.

4. Skilled subjects require different assumptions

Experienced outdoorsmen may travel farther, faster, and more efficiently than average subjects.

5. Tracking is time sensitive

Every hour degrades evidence therefore Tracking is a race against nature.

Conclusion

The disappearance of Finn Creaney remains one of the most compelling wilderness missing-person cases in recent British history. Despite extensive searches and years of effort, definitive answers remain elusive.

From a visual man-tracking perspective, the case illustrates a fundamental truth: Tracking is not magic. It is the interpretation of physical evidence left by movement across terrain.

When that evidence survives, a tracker can reconstruct astonishing detail about a person's journey. The Highlands are beautiful, vast, and unforgiving. They preserve some stories for centuries and erase others within hours. Perhaps that is the most important lesson from the Finn Creaney case: not that tracking failed, but that nature sometimes removes the very clues upon which tracking depends.

_____________________________________________________

The UK presents particularly demanding tracking conditions.

Frequent rain, peat land terrain, mud contamination, livestock movement, dense vegetation, and heavily trafficked public footpaths create an environment where sign is often subtle and short-lived.

Yet UK SAR teams increasingly recognize the operational value of tracking fundamentals, especially in rural searches involving missing walkers, vulnerable adults with suicidal tendencies, children, and individuals in mental health crisis or diagnosed/undiagnosed pathologies.

Tracking skills are especially valuable during the early “golden hours” of a search, when fresh sign may still be recoverable before contamination increases. Several UK-based SAR organizations and instructors have therefore incorporated field sign awareness into broader search training programs.

________________________________________________________________________________

Written and prepared by Valentine Smith APM of www.footprintsinthewilderness.com.au on 25/06/2026, based on notes and material provided by Kyt Lyn Walken, The Founder of ‘The Way of Tracking’ (European leg of Hull’s Tracking School, Virginia, U.S.)

^[i]Kyt Lyn Walken, is the founder of ‘The Way of Tracking’ (European leg of Hull’s Tracking School, Virginia, U.S.) and is among the professionals contributing to the spread of man-tracking instruction in Europe.

As a professional man-tracker and instructor specializing in the reading, interpretation, and pursuit of human sign. Over the years, Kyt has worked extensively with civilian, volunteer, and rescue organizations throughout Europe, helping introduce practical tracking methodologies into SAR environments.

Her operational and instructional experience includes volunteer work with SAR teams in the Alps and training collaborations involving:

Protezione Civile units in Italy

Secours Alpine (French Switzerland)

RED Dog (German Switzerland)

West Mercia SAR Team (U.K.)

West Cornwall SAR (U.K.)

Man-tracker Germany (Germany)

Associazione Nazionale Alpini Soccorritori

SAR teams in Slovenia

Busqueda y Rescate Murcia (Spain)

Her work has particularly emphasized the integration of man-tracking with search dogs and wilderness search operations.

Kyt has also written extensively about the operational value of tracking within search and rescue contexts, highlighting how terrain interpretation can support missing-person investigations and reduce search uncertainty.

^[ii] Loch Naver from Grumbeg, Ben Klibreck in the distance – Image by Sylvia Duckworth Shttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

^[iii] Robert Burns Poems 1787 vs 173 Burns poems and songs Oxford University Press 1969