How does one help search for a lost hiker most efficiently once an official search has begun?

Assuming they want volunteers, is falling in with everyone else the best (and possibly only) way to go? Could I just show up at the hiker's point last seen on the trail and try to track the missing person, or would I likely be denied access or interfere with more skilled "official" trackers?

Being a warm body in a line search just doesn't sound rewarding enough to take off work for.

Do search volunteers generally stay in a designated camp area, or are they allowed to overnight in the search area?

Have you ever worked SAR? What makes you think you'll be more successful working alone rather than as part of a team with a plan and experience? Someone who knows what they're doing should be organizing the search. Work with the organization or stay at work.

Be already on the roster of your local volunteer SAR team. That's what I'm working on myself at the moment. Depending on the group, once you have the most basic training, you can be a "warm body" whenever it is convenient. Other groups are more regimented and demand a particular level of participation.

Volunteers with no credentials get upset when their help is refused, but there is a good reason. And yes, sometimes they do make the save.

There are certain basic things you need to know before you blundering around a search area leaving fresh tracks and putting scent in the air for the search dogs. Do you know that while a bloodhound will follow the trail of a specific person's scent, other types of dogs track down any human scent in the air?

Do you know that missing person searches are assumed to be crime scenes until determined otherwise, and any clues you disturb could be equivalent to tampering with evidence?

The rewarding part is trying to help no matter whether you're the lead tracker or the farthest point out in a line in the least likely direction of travel. You don't do it for recognition or to be the "hero".

On the other hand, if you own and fly a helicopter with FLIR or something like that coupled with a deep wallet or an inexhaustible source of fuel...

Still, you wouldn't be out there by yourself.

RAS,

Thanks, that is the type of feedback I was hoping for. Here's more of my potentially flawed thinking:

I have some limited training in SAR as a Civil Air Patrol cadet land rescue team member (20+ years ago) which included basic tracking as taught by a few military special ops personnel. I try to keep up on my skills through reading and dirt time. I also have a BA in psychology.

What I'm thinking of is working outside the organization to take an approach to the search based on psychology and intuition rather than conventional search strategies. I know it's a long shot, but as long as it wouldn't hinder other efforts at all, I'm thinking of giving it a try. My guess is that I simply wouldn't be allowed into the search area anyway. And hopefully they'll find the lost person way before I ever get out from my armchair quarterback position.

ohiohiker, rereading my own post, I hope it didn't come across as a flame.


That describes me also, except for the BA in psychology. We also learned tracking, etc. - in the Pine Barrens of NJ, no less.

From what I've heard, many SAR groups have now adopted "unconventional" methods such as man tracking and trying to get inside the head of the lost person.

thseng, didn't come across as a flame at all. Thanks for the reality check and feedback. Interesting that SAR groups appear to be adopting this approach. Any info you have time to PM or email me on this would be much appreciated.

Nicodemus, thanks for the ideas, especially the heli-mounted FLIR. That's especially funny, since I just did a FLIR self-portrait the other day at a science exhibit.

Please do not freelance, despite your training and good intentions, your unintentional and undocumented entrance into the search area could put many lives at risk.

As noted, some of the search dogs, which are human scent searchers, could hit on your presence and cause resources to be diverted to an area, which has a low probability of success.

Your footprints could add an additional “hint” adding to the list of variables that must be eliminated.

If you become lost or injured, you have now added to SAR’s problems and will cause resources to be diverted.

As noted all searches are law enforcement operations, your undocumented presence and the possibility that you disturb a crime scene/evidence could cause a prosecution to fail.

As to the “physiology” of lost person searches, there are manuals and guides written based upon sound, scientific and experience data. With all due respect, they are people who devote their lives to this field of study.

Okay you find an injured lost person; do you have the medical, communication and transportation skills and equipment to really help this person?

If you are really interested in helping, join a local SAR Team and obtain the appropriate training.

My 2 cents-
Pete

If you feel that you have special abilities or qualifications, I would suggest contacting the local SAR organizations and discussing with them how best to make use of these skills.

As far as using psychology and intuition to (presumably) try to predict where the lost person might be, there is a considerable literature on this, I believe. SAR organizations will normally try to build up a profile of the lost person. Children under 5 will typically behave in one way; teenagers will typically behave another. Is the lost person an experienced outdoorsman/woman? a hunter? hiker? backpacker? risk-taker? All of these will likely influence the type of search.

If you study up on the psychology of lost persons, then you may reach a level of expertise that will be of value to a SAR organization. If you walk in without doing any background research, assuming that a BA in psychology is all you need, and get interviewed by someone who really is an expert in this area, you will most likely get relegated to the role of "warm body".

Check out the NASAR bookstore, especially their books "Fundamentals of Search and Rescue" and "Advanced Search and Rescue" - I believe one or both of these has a section on the psychology of lost persons.
http://www.nasar.org/garmin/default.php?cPath=19&parent=9

You might want to see if you can get a copy of "Lost Person Behaviour" by Kenneth Hill. See Professor Hill's home page at
http://husky1.stmarys.ca/~khill/
or at
http://www.sarbc.org/k-hill.html
(Hill is a Professor of Psychology at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who has a particular research interest in Search and Rescue.)

Check with the National Assoc. for Search And Rescue. NASAR. http://www.nasar.org/nasar/
Lots of good info there, and they can help you find a team in your area.
Appalachian Search & Rescue Conference (ASRC)
http://www.asrc.net/asrc/DesktopDefault.aspx