In the past, tracking was a matter of life and death. If you didn't know how to read tracks and signs you did not eat. Boys were taught tracking skills at very young ages. Now days, many people think tracking is just finding a set of tracks and following them. There is much more to it than that.
Animal tracking is an educational process.
These are just a few events that can be learned from tracking. Following an animal's trail not only brings you closer to the animal physically, but also helps in the ability to understand the animal itself. If you spend all your time looking for the next track, you might have increased your ability in finding the next track, but you have learned almost nothing about the animal. This does not mean that finding the next track is not important, but it seems the true meaning of tracking has been pushed aside due to all the hype about finding the next track. Another very important skill in tracking is being able to identify the animal that made the tracks.