G.A.I.T. General Track Features: Aggregate Substrates

I'm not particularly fond of the acronym, but it's what we've got, and it's just cheesy enough to be memorable. Use this list to study tracks during practice and recognize the features until they become natural for you to spot. Obviously do not to bring it as a reference to a real tracking situation.



Guild of Advanced Interpretive Trackers (G.A.I.T.)
General Track Features: Aggregate Substrates (Revised)

After Concentric Line, look for: CCC BAT BLIGHT BRAT when Tracking through detritus and other matter.

• C = COHESION (when blades of grass (especially damp ones) stick together by water molecules and compression)


• C = CREASE (A dedicated fold in a leaf, stem, or other matter)


• C = COMPRESSION (overall or general pressure in shape of foot (or other object) in substrate and detritus)



• B = BREAK (typically found in dry material, a break caused by compression)

• A = ABRASION (friction that causes damage to matter, most common between stones or other matter against stone.)

• T = TEAR (can be in any material, but caused by opposing frictional forces or rooted matter getting caught in a shoe and pulled apart)


• B = BEND (a non-dedicated fold (less than a crease) in a leaf, stem, or other plant part, or a leaf (such as grass) bent away from the node)

• L = LOFT (the relative way the substrate depresses (negative loft), lifts, springs back, or “fluffs” after recoil or pivot)

• I = IMPRESSION (like a compression, but an indentation found in a plant stem or leaf caused by something like a stone in the substrate or shoe tread after compression)

• G = GLAZING (when drops of dew, rain, or blood, etc. are smeared upon a surface such as a leaf)

• H = HAZE (dust or discoloration caused upon a plant leaf by pressure or friction (not damage, as in an Abrasion))

• T = TRANSFER (substrate or matter moved from one place to another by adhering to shoe)


• B = BIAS (directionality indicated by the bending of matter from its normal state caused by compression)

• R = RANK (an alignment of plant parts or blades of grass so that the flat sides face the same direction showing dulling or shine)

• A = ADHESION (the substrate particulates that stick to the bottom of matter following compression)

• T = TWIST (leaf attached basally to stem twisted from its natural position against stem)