Fall Training at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, Tennessee

  Greetings from the banks of Bradley Creek. We just finished our Fall Class at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, Tennessee. Shout out to the Park service for providing a great training environment.  We were sponsored by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Forensic Institute for Research and Education at MTSU, and The Mountain Trackers Association.  This training provided multiple levels of Forensic Man Tracking. This included 10 juvenile family members of our instructors, 18 Level 1 Basic Visual Man Tracking Students, and 14 Level 2 Advanced Visual Man Tracking.  These students received instruction from our Instructor Cadre that consists of Master Tracker Instructors, Instructors and Assistant Instructors. We also conducted a Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) Instructor Development class for 12 of our current Assistant Instructors.  This training allowed two of our Assistant Instructors to be promoted to Instructor.

  Elections were held at the Association Meeting on September 8, 2025. The following were elected to 3-year terms: R. L. Fuzzy Williams, Director

                                      Shane Clark, Assistant Director

                                      Cory Rhea, Secretary

                                      Leah Underwood, Treasurer

 The following were appointed area representatives: John P. Casey, International Representative

                                                                                    Mike McMahan, East Tennessee

                                                                                    George Dyer, Middle Tennessee

                                                                                    Edward Jinx Lomax, West Tennessee

 Mark Taylor was appointed Seargeant at Arms and Robert Underwood was appointed Chaplin.

Wednesday night we all enjoyed a large fish-fry. We fed approximately 90 students and guest.  The evening lecture was presented by Forensic Anthropologist, Dr. Hugh Berryman.  Dr. Berryman provided information on skeletal remains from past investigations.  This was a very informative lecture.

  The dates for a training session were set for September 29 through October 3, 2025, at the West Virginia State Police Academy in Charleston WV.  MTA Cadre will conduct a Level 1 Basic Visual Man Tracking class for the WV State Police Recruits.

  The dates for our Spring Training session are set for April 12 through 16, 2026, at Montgomery Bell State Park, Burns, Tennessee.  We will be offering Level 1 Basic Visual Man Tracking, Level 2 Advanced Visual Man Tracking, and Tracking in support of Marijuana Eradication.  We will also be conducting an Instructor Development course for our Assistant Instructors only. These classes are 40-hour POST certified courses of instruction. These courses of instruction also carry 4 hours of Adult Continuing Education Credit from the Forensic Institute for Research and Education at MTSU. More