What I learned on ManTracker

I have recently become addicted to a show on the Science Channel called ManTracker. The premise is two people (the prey) are given a map and a compass and dropped in the middle of nowhere. A goal is marked on the map and if the prey can make it to that goal they win. But there is a hitch, a professional tracker on horseback, and his trusty sidekick, are hot on their heels. The tracker doesn't know where the goal is so he has to track the prey and trying catch them any way they can.

Here are the things that I have learned if you want to avoid being captured by a professional tracker.

1.) Don't just walk on the roads. Horses can run a lot faster than you can on a nice flat straight surface. Try jumping on hiking trails or better yet go off road.

2.) Voice carry. - Don't yell or even talk normally because your voice will echo through the canyons and the tracker will have good idea where you are.

3.) Don't leave tracks. - The professional tracker needs tracks to find you. The more tracks you leave the easier you make his job. Try walking on rocks and patches of grass.

4.) Don't smoke. - This is especially true when you are upwind from the professional tracker. Cigarettes have a very distinctive smell, not to mention you probably shouldn't be smoking if you are running anytime soon.

5.) Travel after the sun goes down. - Chances are the tracker has caught up to you by the end of the first day. When it starts to get dark he will find a place to make camp. In the morning the first place he is going to go is where he last saw you. Your best chance is to continue to move until it gets too dark to travel safely.

6.) Bring a second pair of shoes. - He is following your tracks. If your tracks suddenly change it might confuse him for a minute giving you the vital seconds to cross the finish line.

7.) Don't try to outrun the tracker. - When hear the clippidy clop of the trackers horse bearing down on you don't try to outrun the horse on the road. The horse will outrun you. Instead jump into any dense underbrush you can find.

8.) Don't walk along a ridge. - The shape of a human being tends to stick out again the rough shape of the mountain. Instead walk just down a bit.

9.) Never ever split up. - You only have one map and one compass. If you don't have a plan and one of you runs left and the other runs right, one of you is probably going to end up lost.

10.) After getting away don't go back to the road. - I know this seems like a no brainer, but for some reason once he is out of sight you will be overcome with the desire to return back to the road. He is waiting just around the corner.

11.) Don't doubt yourself. - If you think you heard a horse you probably did. If you thought you saw movement behind a tree you probably did.

Follow these rules and you just might get away....at least for a day or two.