Another idea is to place some sort of scent on the boot soles. Whether it’s coffee, or cinnamon oil or scented bug spray, mark the bottom of your shoes so the dogs can find you more easily. I’ve trained my little dog to “Find”. You don’t have to wait for a search and rescue operation, if your dog is trained to find you. Or, help train your friend’s dog. I started by training my dog to “find” my keys. Placed them in a muslin bag with a treat and hid it in another room. Progressed slowly to make it harder to locate the object.
I’ve also read about making a notch or mark of some sort on the soles of your boots so that your group can distinguish your tracks from any others.
A trained cadaver dog can find human remains in an archeology dig that were 6,000 years old, and they were also used to locate old graves from the war of 1812 so they could be tended properly.
Don’t lose hope, but help the dogs out. The cemetery and arch. dig are very concentrated sites, if you’re out in the forest, that’s a much larger area to search. Scent is affected by weather conditions, so keep reapplying it.