Bells on flushers

I used a bell on my Brittanys from 80s to early 2010s. I (we) have killed a lot of roosters across many states. Anyone that says bells scare 'em all away does not know what they are talking about. Bells were extremely effective to know where your dog was in high grass, thick woods, cattail sloughs ... list can be longer. The issue with the bell is ... it goes quiet when the dog goes on point ... SO you need to keep track of where the bell sound is coming from ... essentially constantly.

In the winter the bell clapper would get stuck because of snow build up. Had to constantly clear it some days.

Again - Garmin GPS ... started using one around 2014 or so ...
 
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I haven't had a lot of trouble with snow, but I know what you mean. One cold morning there was a ton of frost on the grass, that frost seemed to migrate into the bell and quite it down.
The locate feature on my SportDog is usually essential in finding the dog once on point.
 
Bob, if you have lost some of your hearing chances are you will have a difficult time hearing the bell, especially on windy days. I used to use beeper collars on my dogs until my hearing got to the point I couldn't hear the beeper. Stay with the GPS to find your dog.
 
Dakotazeb said:
Bob, if you have lost some of your hearing chances are you will have a difficult time hearing the bell, especially on windy days. I used to use beeper collars on my dogs until my hearing got to the point I couldn't hear the beeper. Stay with the GPS to find your dog.
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Thanks for the info. I have no problem hearing a bell. I bought a gps collar only as insurance of losing a dog in the field. GPS on a flusher for actual hunting purposes is not practical. I'd be looking at a screen while the pheasant flies away.
 
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