Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Tracking Collars?

I just know my wife is going to insist on one for our young bird dog. I would prefer just a bell or beeper, but she keeps telling me about Facebook lost dogs! I don't need a combo unit just a tracker. Has anyone had experience with them good or bad in Upland Hunting?

I have a Garmin GPS collar that I put on my English Setter when we go bird hunting. Works like a charm. Go to the Gun Dog Supply website and you will see a wide variety of them. Mine has a range of about a mile and a half. It not only shows his movement and where he is, it will even flash and say "on point" when he is stopped for a certain amount of time. Highly recommended.

We run 36 to 40 pointers and 8 retrievers,bird hunting, use a tracking collar on all of them, even with a young dog you won't need it 99.9% of the time but when you need a tracking collar they sure come in handy. Rio7

I wouldn't run a dog without my Garmin.....

the garmin - really like my alpha. Seldom to never use the training part other than the tone - it's as good as a whistle for telling a dog to "come" from a distance (once trained of course),

I still have an old ATS telemetry setup from when I coon hunted,,,,accurate little bugger but using radio waves is so "old fashioned" now!

Anyone here used the Dogtra Pathfinder? It's much cheaper than the other tracking/training combos as it uses a smartphone for the GPS/remote.

http://www.gundogsupply.com/dogtra-pathfinder-1-dog.html

Getting a tracking collar was a requirement for my old E Setter. Way to much drive and not enough bidability. I've picked him up as far out as a bit over two miles. My other could go without it but I found out hunting grouse with them not only do I know where to look for them but I can follow my own track back out. My little Red Setter doesn't run near that big and I could do him with out it but in heavy cover I get a lot of security from it. Dog's are being bred for more and more independence and range, tracking collar is a good idea.

Looking at the Sportdog 1.0 Tracking only collar. Gundog supply gives it a good review. Anyone using it?

I haven't used the Sportdog unit but I have several years of hard field use on a Garmin Astro unit and I'm very pleased. I've used it on four different dogs in all kinds of conditions and it works fine. If you watch for Cabela's sales, they'll probably have the Garmin Astro on sale again for $499 with free shipping - it's been at that price about 3-4 times since Xmas. Based on what I see for prices at Cabela's with the Sportdog 1.0 and Garmin Astro units currently priced within $40 ($559 vs $599, respectively), and with my field experience with the Garmin, I would recommend the Astro unit. Another big plus IMO for the Garmin units is their ability to accept the property ownership chips from Onxmaps (https://www.huntinggpsmaps.com/). I've used their chips for MT and AZ/NM/UT/CO, and found them to be invaluable in determining property boundaries.

Been running an Alpha 100 with three TT 10 collars for 5 years. I hunt my dogs (GSP) over 100 days every year. I hunt wide open places, timber and big canyons. I just got online and updated all collars and the receiver for free. The service has been great. I like the correction mode because those crazy GSP will hunt anything; such as chasing antelope just for fun. A good zap will stop that; can you spell porqupine? How about rattle snake, black wolf or bobcat. It also has a tone only mode that works great on a trained dog. The cost is pricey, but I love my dogs.

Best wishes

English Cocker here. Never needed an e-collar at all so far.

To address dogs getting lost. In my experience most dogs can find their way back to the truck. To help that out AWAYS leave a bowel of water next to the truck. Hunting in canyon country will test even the best. Lost a black lab one day in logging country, very steep and wooded. He took off chasing deer before I knew what happened. I mean he was gone into the bottomless pit. HOWEVER he lived for the gun. I walked back to the truck and got my 30-30 and fired several rounds. Waited a while and fired several more. Sure enough here he comes just as fast as he could. Gun fire will always bring in my dogs as fast as they can run. We hunt in rough terrain and with out a tracking collar I would have no idea if and when my dogs are on point or where on point they are.