Description

Human Tracking Level 1

Search & Rescue Tracking Fundamentals

Speed saves lives. Precision finds the missing.

Human Tracking Level 1 is Greenside Training’s foundational course for locating missing and endangered persons through visual tracking, sensory awareness, and coordinated search operations.

Designed for search and rescue personnel, first responders, law enforcement, and community volunteers, this hands-on program teaches students to recognize signs of human passage, interpret direction of travel, and follow a subject’s movement through urban and rural environments—including low-light conditions.

Greenside’s Index Tracking methodology combines visual science, systematic observation, and practical fieldcraft. Students build individual tracking skills before applying them in team scenarios that reflect the challenges of real missing-person searches.

Course Format

Two days | 20 instructional hours

Each day includes:

• 2 hours of classroom instruction: visual perception, tracking principles, planning, and communication.
• 8 hours of field application: individual exercises, ground sign interpretation, and coordinated search scenarios.

What You Will Learn

• Visual perception: Improve observation, visual acuity, and recognition of subtle disturbances.
• Ground sign interpretation: Detect and interpret footprints, impressions, scuffs, and other evidence of human movement.
• Index Tracking fundamentals: Use measurements and movement patterns to support systematic track progression.
• Sensory awareness: Recognize environmental cues that help direct attention and guide a search.
• Low-light tracking: Apply lighting and observation techniques during reduced visibility.
• Search planning: Integrate tracking into wide-area searches in urban and rural terrain.
• Team operations: Practice tracking roles, communication, coordination, and preservation of sign.
• Field decision-making: Communicate observations, distinguish evidence from assumptions, and respond when sign becomes difficult to follow.

Who Should Attend

Search and rescue personnel, emergency responders, law enforcement professionals, disaster response teams, outdoor professionals, and volunteers supporting missing-person searches.

Prerequisites: None. All experience levels are welcome.

Training Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be better prepared to detect and interpret signs of human movement, establish and communicate direction of travel, maintain track continuity, and contribute effectively to coordinated search operations.

The emphasis is practical: search with greater precision, communicate clearly, and help teams locate missing persons sooner.

Required Equipment

• Note-taking equipment
• Hiking boots suitable for uneven terrain
• Weather-appropriate outdoor clothing; pants and long sleeves recommended
• Day pack with at least 100 oz of water capacity
• Wide-brim hat
• Gloves and eye protection
• Snacks
• High-power flashlight with blue, green, and white light capability
• Measuring tape
• Small mirror
• Trekking pole or 36-inch tracking stick
• Five rubber bands
• Folding camp chair or stool

Register or request a course in your area at GreensideTraining.com.