Covering Your Tracks – Pt. 1

[hawgrider]

There may be a time in your future when it becomes necessary to evade detection while on foot and on the move. If SHTF forces you to strike out cross-country, or to abandon your vehicles at some point, you will be leaving a trail of your route with every step that you take. The more people there are in your group, the ‘brighter’ that trail will be.

I’m not referring to concealment while in camp or at a lay up site. Those issues are addressed in other articles in The Prepper Journal. Instead, this series will focus on two things:

Developing an awareness of the sort of activities that reveal your presence on a trail, and
Techniques that will hamper the ability of someone to track you while moving through various types of terrain.

Effective application will, at minimum, slow down tracking efforts of a group behind you. The less aware they are of your presence, the safer you will be. If a group is aware of you, but cannot pin down your route, they may abandon efforts to locate and overtake you.
The Risks

There are numerous reasons for being concerned about tracks that you or your group may leave:

Other groups may very well be taking the same route, even if only temporarily, to reach their destination.
Your rate of travel will be determined by the capabilities of your group. That is, you will be moving at the speed of the slowest individual.
Health and stamina issues may force more frequent rest breaks than you anticipated.
Security risks that are in front of you may force frequent breaks in travel.
Any group in trail of you may be traveling at a higher rate of speed.
You will not know the size, capabilities or intentions of a trailing group.
Bandits may be working in your area. At some point, this may become inevitable. They will be on the hunt for vulnerable groups. If they pick up your trail you may become their next target.
You can be tracked at night.
You may be in trail of group whose size, condition and capabilities are unknown. Information contained in this article can provide tools to help you assess some of that group’s composition and potential threat level. That knowledge will help you determine whether you can risk overtaking a group,

http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2015/03/31/covering-your-tracks-pt-1/

[hawgrider]

http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2015/04/02/covering-your-tracks-pt-2/

[hawgrider]

Minimizing Your Trail

We have, thus far, introduced five different types of sign that can be used to track and locate a group on the move. Without trying to throw you a curve, there is a sixth type that just is as damaging, or more so. That is, the ability to visually locate you. If I see you standing on a ridge line or moving through open country, it matters little that I haven’t picked up your trail (yet). Because I saw you, I can now move in your direction and cut for sign. This means that your route movements and manner of dress are just as important as the physical sign you are depositing along your route.

There are many things you can do to lower your profile (visibility to others) and to reduce your tracks while on the move. Part 3 will address the physical sign and Part 4 will deal with your group’s visibility profile while on the move.
http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2015/04/06/covering-your-tracks-pt-3/

[Innkeeper]

Excellent thread Hawg!

[OSFG]

I would love to do a thread on the electronic signatures folks leave....but to do so would certainly cause me security issues.....if it has a battery...you are being tracked...uhh yep..that is clean enough....

[Pauls]

I would love to do a thread on the electronic signatures folks leave....but to do so would certainly cause me security issues.....if it has a battery...you are being tracked...uhh yep..that is clean enough....

If you aren't being tracked you can be.

[hawgrider]

Dress for the occasion

There have been some great discussions on TPJ about the benefit of blending in with the crowd (the ‘gray man’ concept) after a SHTF incident. The general scenario is that you are moving through an urban/suburban environment with nothing more than your wits, determination and a Get Home Bag, and that your objective is to simply get home to your family as quickly and safely as possible. You may be surrounded by many people with the same objective. If you are dressed out in full camouflage, carrying 40 pounds of gear and a pump-action 12 gauge shot-gun, you will undoubtedly draw unwanted attention to yourself.

http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2015/04/08/covering-your-tracks-pt-4/

[hawgrider]

Additional Thoughts

In this final segment we will examine three topics that merit special consideration. If you have (or plan to have) a group that you would hit the trail with, these subjects will be worthy of serious discussion.

The Fallacy of Setting Arbitrary Schedules

If you are traveling on foot, I can virtually guarantee you will not reach any camp site that you preselected for that day. Such goals are difficult enough to achieve if you are bugging out with vehicles, but motorized transportation at least gives you the advantage of bursts of speed if you have to detour. You may be able to make up lost time by driving faster or a bit longer.

http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2015/04/10/covering-your-tracks-pt-5/