# Visual Tracking / Signcutting / “Mantracking”

> How do you find a lost person from a single scuff in the dirt? In these three pages of workshop notes, two US Border Patrol trackers’ teaching is passed on to a search and rescue dog team: the five signs of a footstep, how to swing a tracking stick to find the next heel print, and how one track can shrink a search circle to a slice.

Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/lyon-visual-tracking-signcutting-mantracking/

## Citation and access

- **Authors:** Nancy Lyon
- **Year published:** n.d.
- **Journal or source:** Workshop notes, N.E. K-9 SAR (search and rescue), from a tracking workshop taught by Bob Dubay and Ben Batchelder of the US Border Patrol, Swanton Sector
- **Full citation:** Lyon, N. n.d. Visual tracking / signcutting / “mantracking”. Notes developed from a tracking workshop taught by B. Dubay and B. Batchelder, US Border Patrol, Swanton Sector. N.E. K-9 SAR, New London. 3 pp.
- **Access status:** Publisher link only
- **Where to find it:** https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Visual+Tracking+%2F+Signcutting+%2F+%E2%80%9CMantracking%E2%80%9D+Lyon

## Tags

- **Species:** Humans
- **Tracking:** Track measurements; Tracking; Tracks; Tracks and signs identification; Trailing
- **Data type:** Protocol or guidelines
- **Observer qualification:** Not needed
- **Discipline:** Human tracking

## Detailed keywords

- **Species:** People as the quarry (lost or missing people in a search). No animals are discussed, apart from search dogs mentioned as a way to find the person once track and direction are known.
- **Location and habitat:** No study site. The instructors were from the US Border Patrol, Swanton Sector; the notes were prepared for N.E. K-9 SAR, New London. General outdoor ground: dirt, rocks, twigs, grass and low shrubs.
- **Topics:** search and rescue (SAR); visual tracking, signcutting and “mantracking”; narrowing the search area from the PLS (not spelled out in the notes; in search and rescue usually “point last seen”) to a pie slice in the direction of travel; five characteristics of sign (flattening, regularity, colour change, disturbance, transfer); using a low sun angle or a flashlight held close to the ground to see tracks; path of least resistance; people aiming toward something; drawing and measuring the footprint (heel to toe length, width across the ball of the foot, length and width of the heel); describing the print by radio; the tracking stick (step interval, foot length, stride) and swinging it in an arc to find the next heel print; marking sign with crepe (toilet) paper on small twigs; disturbed dew on grass and low shrubs in early morning; tracking teams of a signcutter and two flankers; handing over to planes or dogs once track and direction are found; protecting tracks as evidence. Inconsistency in the notes: the footprint measurements are numbered 1, 2 (a, b) and then 3, so the heel measurement sits outside the list it belongs to; the tracking stick section says the stick records three measurements but numbers them under 1 and then starts a new 2.
- **Statistics or models:** None
- **Data type:** Protocol or guidelines: three pages of training notes, undated (the PDF file was made on 23 January 2002). No new data.

## Synopsis

### 1. What they did

These are short training notes, not a research paper. Nancy Lyon of N.E. K-9 SAR (a search and rescue dog group) wrote them up from a tracking workshop taught by Bob Dubay and Ben Batchelder of the US Border Patrol, Swanton Sector. In three pages they set out what visual tracking (also called signcutting or “mantracking”) can do in a search for a missing person, what to look for, how to measure and follow footprints with a tracking stick, and how a small tracking team can work.

### 2. What they found

As workshop notes, they give teaching points rather than findings.

What tracking offers a search

- Clues to direction, time and the type of shoe.

- A way to aim the search: a track can turn the circle drawn around the PLS (the notes do not spell this out) into a pie slice spreading out in the direction of the sign.

Five characteristics of sign

- Flattening: rocks, twigs and dirt levelled by the weight of the foot.

- Regularity: lines, circles or other geometric shapes pressed into the ground by a shoe or foot.

- Colour change: in soil, plants, twigs or rocks, for example a snapped twig, a turned leaf or scuffed soil.

- Disturbance: stones, twigs and plants knocked out of place.

- Transfer: material carried and dropped by the sole of the shoe.

Seeing and following tracks

- A low sun throws more shadow and makes tracks easier to see; at night, a flashlight held close to the ground helps.

- Most people move along the path of least resistance, and tend to aim toward something, so look for what might draw them.

- Draw the footprint in detail and measure heel to toe length, the width across the ball of the foot, and the length and width of the heel, so the print can be described by radio to searchers ahead.

The tracking stick

- The stick records the step interval (from the back of the front heel to the toe of the back foot), the length of the foot (marked with two elastic bands) and the stride (from the tip of the stick to the second band).

- To find the next print, hold the stick at the second band over the back edge of the last heel print and swing it in an arc, looking for the next heel near the tip. Stride changes with terrain, but the next print should be near the arc.

Marking and teamwork

- Mark tracks and signs with crepe (toilet) paper tied to small twigs pushed into the ground at the heel; a line of marked tracks can show the direction when the sign fades.

- Grass and low shrubs show passage and direction especially in early morning, when the dew has been disturbed.

- A team can be a signcutter with two flankers, who work slightly behind and take care not to destroy sign when the signcutter is struggling to find the track.

- Tracks may be evidence, so searchers should take care not to destroy them as they pass.

### 3. What they concluded

The notes end with how tracking fits into a search: once the track and direction are found, the search can be sent ahead with planes or dogs to locate the missing person.

### 4. How tracking was or was not used

The whole document is about tracking people: identifying signs of passage, measuring footprints, following a trail print by print with a tracking stick, marking sign, and working as a team of a signcutter and flankers.

### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

- The tracking stick, with two elastic bands marking foot length and stride.

- Crepe paper markers on twigs to record a line of tracks.

- A flashlight held close to the ground for tracking at night.

### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations)

_These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._

- The notes are a snapshot of how Border Patrol signcutting skills were passed on to search and rescue dog teams, and show how tracking and search dogs can work together: trackers narrow the direction, then dogs and aircraft go ahead.

## Cite this summary

Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: Visual Tracking / Signcutting / “Mantracking” (Lyon, ). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/lyon-visual-tracking-signcutting-mantracking/