An introduction to Counter-Tracking…. The art of the scout

As we have already looked at the skills of the tracker in a previous post, I thought it would be valuable to look at counter tracking, this is a skill in and of itself, as a scout you have to become skilled in tracking, however most modern trackers are all but lost when it comes to counter tracking, mostly because they have not needed the skills.

If you find yourself in a wilderness self-reliance situation, most times we want to make our spoor and sign as big as we can, drag our feet, break branches, leave fire pits open… do everything we can to help those who may be trying to find us.

However, there may come a time when we don’t want to be followed, we may find ourselves in a foreign country, when an event may force us to remain concealed from view for our own safety, we could find ourselves at home on a simple hike when we come across people who may not have our prolonged good health in mind… or we may find ourselves in a kidnap situation where we have managed to escape, so we don’t want to make it easy to be found by the wrong person.

The ability to counter-track hostile elements could play a vital role in ensuring your survival. Counter-tracking simply means the knowledge and ability to disguise or remove your tracks while moving across the earth’s surface, thereby effectively preventing pursuit.

Counter-tracking is a rather difficult skill which is physically and mentally demanding. Points to keep in the back of your mind:

1- Avoid obvious routes, lines of drift: choose ground that is difficult to track on.

2- Rest stops, avoid obvious locations: big bushy/shady trees, this is the first place a tracker will look. When you finish your rest stop, restore the vegetation, etc. to its original state, also avoid urinating or defecating at or close by this location, same goes for fires… these simply confirms to the tracker you have been there.

3- If you need to expel waste or light a fire to boil your water or cook, find a large rock, carefully lift it out, dig down in the depression left by the rock, putting the spoil on your tarp or even your shirt, do what you need to, and carefully refill the hole and cap with the rock and replace the leaf duff carefully and get out of dodge…

4- Weather is also a factor, wind and rain will destroy your spoor. However, walking through the rain in an area with an active population will only serve to draw attention to yourself, since a local person would seek shelter until the rain subsided, but storms are good weather if you need to put time and distance between you and the tracker.

5- Crossing an obstacle: creeks and streams, stop and observe & listen for 10 minutes at a bend or area of deep shadow. Tracks and trails: 1) use grass to obscure the prints, 2)tie some sacking over your boots or use a couple of pairs of socks, 3)throw your blanket or sleeping mat over the trail.

6- Use a stick to fluff the grass & vegetation back into place.

7- Disguising tracks: most books and manuals will tell you all sorts of ways to do this, from tying tour shoes on backward to tying the feet of an animal to your boots… none of which work on an experienced tracker… how many 2-legged cattle have you seen? However, the Australian aboriginal people have a member of their society called a Kurdaitcha (Ker-dai-cha) man, a ritual "executioner" in Australian Aboriginal culture. The word specifically refers to the shoes worn by the man, woven of feathers and human hair and treated with blood; these leave no sign to be followed by a tracker, as there is no easy definable shape.

8- Footwear: the best thing to do is carry more than one set of shoes, different tread patterns my confuse a tracker for a while if they are changed at a location with a lot of traffic, or you can make your own pair of “Boots, Clandestine” as used in Southern Africa, this is easy to do, just get a pair of light weight, flat soled boots or runners and remove the tread pattern using a wire wheel on a bench grinder, then glue on some neoprene rubber and round off the edges. I had a pair of black Convers canvas ankle boots modified like this while in the military and they worked very well, they leave an indistinct spoor and are very quiet in the bush. (Many thanks to “Barry” for teaching me that trick…) Remember, look at the sole of your boots, those grippy Vibram soles are a Christmas gift to a tracker!

9- Grassy areas: as you enter, using a zigzag pattern for the first 30-50m, straighten the stalks as you go, once some way into the stand, continue as normal, then when you start to approach the other edge repeat the zigzag and stalk straightening exercise.

10- Sandy areas: this is the most difficult area to hide your spoor, you will have to accept that you will leave sign of your passing, the best option is to disguise the trail somehow to look like another animal, firstly wrap your shoes in heavy cloth or animal skin, then by walking on your toes at the same time twist your foot and flick it back, while doing this take short steps… I don’t like this method, as it’s quite tiring and to be honest impractical over a long distance, but may fool an inexperienced tracker.

11- Bushy areas: take care to avoid leaving scuff marks in the leaf duff, pick your feet up and put them down as flat as you can, make sure your kit doesn’t leave scuffs on tree trunks or that it doesn’t pull vegetation along with your advance, try to move through gaps only. If your area has a high traffic volume, try to wear the same footwear as those who frequent the area, in the military this means wearing the same tread pattern as your enemy.

12- Paths and roads: if you come to a black tar road or paved path, use it to your advantage to break the trail. On hard ground, remove your footwear and go barefoot if your feet are hard enough. This is also the place to change your footwear if you need to. Remember to use the same techniques to enter and exit as you would for grassy areas.

13- Direction changes: do this frequently, this is most effective if done on hard ground, try to make your direction changes are abrupt, 120 degrees or more, as this will make the tracker take more time when he loses your spoor.

14- Fences and railway lines: use the wire or tracks/ties to hide your spoor by climbing up onto the lower strands and moving along the wire for a moderate distance, again try to do so on a hard standing area before you come to soft soil or sand.

To be good at counter-tracking , you need to become a good tracker, since your knowledge of tracking will help you understand what to look for and what to avoid while moving over the earth’s surface…

This has just been a basic introduction to the skills of countering the tracker, hopefully you will look at this and think about what you do to counter a rapid follow up.

Some examples of “Clandestine” footwear:

(South African Military/Police issue Anti-Tracking boots)

(Walks with fluffy bunny feet... a commercial item sold for "military use only")

(Sole pattern for SADF issued Anti-tracking boots, note stipple pattern)

(a Pair of "Over boots" made of heavy nylon and thick felt carpet underlay, SADF Issue item)

These are just to give an idea of how you could modify or make your own "Clandestine" boots...


Safe Trails…



Karl