Dave's Tracking Info

Night Tracking

I do a lot of night tracking. It is a great time to track since we are able to control the lighting.
By attaching a flashlight to the bottom of a hiking pole, we can cast great low angle light on the track.

Tracking with a headlamp on your head is even harder than noon tracking.

with headlamp on head ...	with low angle light ...

Tracking Lights

Important features when choosing a tracking light:

Bright
Even beam pattern
Battery life (Lithium performs better in the cold)
Weight
Price

If you are not using an LED light, it's time. LED lights are better in EVERY way.
Some will complain about blue-white light. That just means they have not tried the new generation of LEDs.
Below our my favorite tracking lights.

LockBlock

The best way to attach light
Battery Junction - LockBlock

Coast LED

Very bright (100 Lumen)
Very even beam
It takes 3 AAA batteries
Home Depot - Coast LED

Fenix P1D

Very bright (95 Lumen)
Very lightweight
Lasts 3 hours on 1 Lithium battery
Fenix - P1D
Light-Reviews.com
Battery Junction - Fenix P1D
Lighthound - Fenix P1D

SureFire G3 LED

Very bright (80 Lumen)
Lasts from dusk to dawn on 3 Lithium batteries
SureFire - G3 LED
Battery Junction - SureFire G3 LED

Tracking Sticks

A tracking stick is very important for finding the next track.

Mark track length and stride	Tracking stick will focus your search for the next track

A ruler on the hiking pole can be useful.

Tracking Photos

This is actually from one of our searches last year. We tracked the subject all night down the "shortcut" and were able to take a photo of his actual boot.