Gps collers?

[JakeyBaby]

Was wondering if anyone is running GPS collers on their bird dogs? The prices of these things are crazy like every thing else these days, but what's a good functioning colller to keep track of where the dog is? With the bird dog world being so addicting i plan on covering a lot of unknown and traveled ground , so a coller is a must at this point!
 
Thanks Matt

[jmyers8]

I use them on my coon dog and beagle for rabbit hunting. For coon hunting there a must obviously in the dark there out of site for rabbit hunting it's nice to have. Both my dogs are tone broke so one touch of the tone button and they both come back.

I use the garmin alpha with a mixture of the t15 t5 and t15 mini collars. Trust me it's the cheapest investment you'll make to go home with your dog each time and also for there safety for roads or unwanted property. I've heard mixed reviews about the phone based ones. I've never had an issue with my Garmin's after alot of use.

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[Cody191]

Depends on how you plan to train and hunt your dog. I hunt with guys who go all over the country and their dogs range far. They all use e collars and trackers. Some use beeper collars. It notifies you when dogs on point then you follow the screen to your dog. The collars are essential to them guys and they run garmins.

My vizsla and I pound the grouse and woodcock woods of the northeast. He doesn’t range much more than 30-40 yards. I need nothing more than a bell on his collar.


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[JakeyBaby]

Mine is similar as he doesn't range far at all. He will go out when the cover allows him to, but once he loses me completely he will come back to check in. Only being 21 months we are still both learning alot and wanted to add the GPS as a insurance policy that he was coming home with me no matter what. Also to let me know that if he is on point in heavy cover to show me exactly where he is.

[jmyers8]

Besides the point of safety it try gives you a good idea of what your dog is doing. Alot of times when you think your dog is out hunting or being productive it may just be laying in a pile. Not so much if dogs are always in your sight but when there not it can tell you alot.

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[JakeyBaby]

So you run all three t5, t15 and t15 mini.... any particular reason why? I'm kinda leaning towards either the Garmin astro 430 or Alpha 10. More towards the alpha so I don't have to run two separate collers as the Astro is GPS only. Not sure about mini vs. full size either....

[jmyers8]

I use the t15 mini on the beagle cause he is smaller. I use the t15 when coon hunting cause she is bigger and has the tone and shock feature. I use the t5 when hunting in competition hunts for coon hunting. In those hunts your not allowed to have shock or tone features to control your dog. If I was just pleasure hunting depending on the size of the dog I would just go with a t15 mini or full size. I have ran the mini on the coondog before with no issues. She is about 45 pounds and fits good.

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[JakeyBaby]

Makes sense!

[JakeyBaby]

Decided to go with the Garmin Astro 430 and t5x collar. Didn't like the thought of having to fumble through screens to change from Tone,, Vibrate, and stimulation, and only being able to use one at a time. This way I will run thw Astro GPS paired with my 450x collar for corrections if needed. Originally didn't want to have to strap multiple collars on him but , I think it will be the most productive way.

[jmyers8]

Decided to go with the Garmin Astro 430 and t5x collar. Didn't like the thought of having to fumble through screens to change from Tone,, Vibrate, and stimulation, and only being able to use one at a time. This way I will run thw Astro GPS paired with my 450x collar for corrections if needed. Originally didn't want to have to strap multiple collars on him but , I think it will be the most productive way.

Just so you know you dont have to go through multiple screens. The alpha has 3 push buttons at the top for tone and vibrate and the t15 will tone shock and track all In one collar.

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[JakeyBaby]

I don't believe the Alpha 10 does, I'm pretty sure there is a toggle you have to select what you want. I may be wrong as I looked into a bunch of units. I'm sure I could have spent more on a different unit that would give me that capability, but I maxed out at $750 for the Astro 430 and wife is not that thrilled about it! [emoji1787][emoji1787]

[jmyers8]

Great lakes trolling and hunting with dogs is the 2 worst hobbies you can take up if your looking for affordable...

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[JakeyBaby]

Ooo I know! The dog game is crazy from top to bottom , but man Is it addicting! Nothing better then watching your own dog work.

[Cody191]

The dog thing doesn’t have to get crazy. I shot an awful lot of birds in my life over a well trained dog with no collars. Yes if your ultra competitive they give you an advantage. I hunted Saturday with my dog with a bell and my buddy with 2 setters with alphas. We had our 6 birds by 9:00am. My vizsla pointed 4 out of the 6 less than 30 yards from us. His dogs were way out. Yeah it’s cool I guess when your handset tells you your dogs on point but in reality training is way more important. If you need to confirm your dog is hunting and not laying down you got a problem there. It’s like anything, technology is just making up for our shortcomings . Growing up I never had an issue shooting deer with a bow, and I smelled like stale beer and cigarettes from all the old timers at camp playing cards all night. Now we think we need special clothes and sprays and electronics. Really we just need the ability to sit still, be quiet, read the sign and shoot straight.


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[jmyers8]

The dog thing doesn’t have to get crazy. I shot an awful lot of birds in my life over a well trained dog with no collars. Yes if your ultra competitive they give you an advantage. I hunted Saturday with my dog with a bell and my buddy with 2 setters with alphas. We had our 6 birds by 9:00am. My vizsla pointed 4 out of the 6 less than 30 yards from us. His dogs were way out. Yeah it’s cool I guess when your handset tells you your dogs on point but in reality training is way more important. If you need to confirm your dog is hunting and not laying down you got a problem there. It’s like anything, technology is just making up for our shortcomings . Growing up I never had an issue shooting deer with a bow, and I smelled like stale beer and cigarettes from all the old timers at camp playing cards all night. Now we think we need special clothes and sprays and electronics. Really we just need the ability to sit still, be quiet, read the sign and shoot straight.


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I agree but for coondogs that will go over a mile looking for a coon when there not moving a tracking collar is a must have. Or a dog that decides it wants to chase deer it sure is alot easier to get them back.

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[JakeyBaby]

I also agree, but this whole tracking collar idea came to me two weeks ago while pheasant hunting. We were sitting by my truck done for the day, when I guy came walking up to us asking if we had seen a dog? Had been missing for a while and no clue where it was. Even though I am very very confident in my training and my dogs obedience, I couldn't imagine coming home and telling my kids and wife that I lost our dog. Hell she as already told me that if I don't come home with him then don't bother coming home myself! I don't really see it being a step up in that fact of getting more birds killed, and hell I personally love listening to nothing more then that bell, then silence!! I also use him to track deer so thought it would be cool to go back and see the tracks. Either way I will feel much better putting him plus more dogs in the future on the ground knowing I know where they are at all time.

[jmyers8]

It sure beats laying out a flannel or coat and hoping they are there the next day. You can also get the topo maps when hunting different areas that is nice.

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[Cody191]

I totally get it with hounds. Them things can end up in another country. Especially coyote dogs. I guess my point was just that bird hunting doesn’t have to be crazy expensive to do well. It’s just easy to fall into the gear hype these days. I’m not immune. The money I got into fishing equipment is ridiculous. And there’s plenty of days I don’t do well and look at all that crap and I’m like for what. I could go buy a ribeye and save money.


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[skinny420]

I've ran the old beep beep trackers with the antenna. The sportdog tracker. The Garmin 230 and 240 and now the astro. It's really nice to know where your dog is. And in training a tracking dog a lot of times I can see where they made a loss and get them back on track. I run foxhounds and without them I'd never know exactly what there doing. Plus let them loose in the big woods and they go over the mountain and it might be 45 min for me to drive over close enough to pick them back up. No question it helps me get the dogs back and I've shocked them to keep them off posted property or to stop them from crossing busy roads and it really helps to get in front of a coyote if you see the dogs working down a creek or snowmobile trail you can get to where you can shoot the coyote and catch the dogs. Without the tracker a lot of nights tying up dogs to trees and letting them bark to call the lost dog back or searching and listening for lost hounds. Bird dogs I've never owned but since they are quiet you could loose one and never find it easy enough to make me want to spend the money.