Just wanted to tell you a
tracking success story that happened this morning. I took the call for an 82
year old Alzheimer's patient that had been missing for one half an hour (he
had walked off before so they knew to call right away). A somewhat rural
area just East of a Interstate highway near I had to start up the
search and was taking a ton of phone calls but really wanted to start working
the sign! When he arrived I turned
things over to him and started working the last known tracks. They went
across a dirt field then down a dirt road heading North that the son and
deputies drove down so most of his tracks were erased "but not all".
I was able to find a track every 50 feet or so giving us a direction of
travel. The road leads to some ponds that everyone said was his favorite
place to go. The tracks went
"past" the road leading down to the ponds and continued North.
That was a blessing because they were starting to wonder if he fell in
the ponds. One of the deputies said, "that blew my
theory". Everyone was focused on the ponds and the drainage around
them. I just kept looking for the story told by the tracks and blocked
out everything else. Up the road another 100 yards the road ended and I
found one more set of prints leading through a gate and into a grass field.
By then, some more SAR members were arriving and I wanted Due to Patient
Confidentiality, I'll just say, "he seemed in good shape" when the
ambulance picked him up. It may sound like I'm
bragging a little on the tracking assignment.... well.... I am :-) I've
worked very hard on getting to the point I am and I'm glad to see it paying
off. I have you guys to thank for this story. Thank you for
spending the time you do with me and everyone learning the art of tracking.
His family thanks you too. The whole search lasted
less then an hour from receiving the first page, driving to the scene (8 miles
away from where I was working) and standing down the SAR Team because we
located him. |
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