[fbkeays]

This "go-out" thing sounds way too much like SAR training then AKC tracking. If my goal was AKC tracking, I would not be doing this kind of thing at all. If my goal was SAR or for my dog to take the shortest route to the person/article, then this go-out thing would make sense. But in actually tracking we want the dog to forget about short cuts and focus on the actual path the person took.
In both AKC and schH style training, you want the dog to use its nose to follow the footsteps the person took. Granted in AKC, a little off the actual path and a little air scenting usually won't get you the whistle, but cutting a corner and bypassing actual legs is a huge no-no. In AKC tracking the tracklayer is usually somewhere behind the dog during the test. You don't want the dog to go to the flag, take the scent and then head backwards to the tracklayer. In TRACKING, the goal is the path, not the person. In SAR the goal is the PERSON and rarely the path (unless it is for an evidence search).
I think you have a right to be uneasy about this training if it is for tracking and not SAR.