CSI - WILD STYLE

No cover yet, but MANHUNTER is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com!

And below is me doing a spot of manhunting myself, along the shores of Lake Cowichan with my tracking partner.

Using tracking poles that we marked with small bands to indicate
footprint length, and stride — once we’d established it — we managed to
track 3-hour old sign that our instructor had left on a windblown
(freezing cold) pebbly beach that was already contaminated with
hundreds of other tracks.

Inch by inch we moved along the sand, identifying the sign left by
his Vibram soles, and flagging the prints with bits of tape (you can
see the lime green pieces under my pole) as we went. It felt like CSI
wild style.

We managed to track our quarry over that beach, up to the forest
fringe, and into the woods, making our way through fern and grass and
loam and other forest detritus, reading the story a man left as he
went. I don’t think I’ll ever look at my surroundings in the same way
now. I have learned to see the message in the slight weep from broken
grass, the damp ‘cat’s eyes’ from freshly-broken twigs, the scrape of
bark from a branch. And beyond research, I’d like to learn a lot more
about this art. There is something almost mystical in being able to
read the wilderness in this way, to find someone lost.

We had an awesome instructor, too, who brought the trace to life for
us. In addition to being a Sign Cutter and Search and Rescue volunteer,
Mike Neeland (of the Vibram soles) is a teacher for Universal Tracking Services
which provides provide sign cutting (tracking) education for Law
Enforcement, Search and Rescue, Military, Industrial Security and other
governmental and ‘lawful organizations’ across North America. He was
aided by local Search and Rescue tracker, Tanya (Sorry Tanya, I never
caught your last name).

I learned a ton getting that ‘dirt time’ on hands and knees, and I will find a way to get back for more. This I like. A lot.

www.lorethannewhite.com

MANHUNTER Silhouette Romantic Suspense - November 2008
TO THE EDGE Daily online read, live now
BREAKING FREE, SSE, Thoroughbred Legacy Series, Dec 2008
HER 24-HOUR PROTECTOR Silhouette Romantic Suspense