Bells and Beepers

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Labman500

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Whats your thoughts on the use of bells and beepers when hunting pheasnts? Do they alert the birds. Do you use them in some situations and not others, if so please explain.
 
I use a bell where the cover hides my dog. Whether some birds run when they hear a bell, I don't know. But I do know that some birds sit tight when pointed by my dog when belled. One bird late last season on some walk-in comes to mind. It kept running and my dog kept following and I kept following the sound of the bell for about a hundred yards. The bell stopped, I walked to where I last heard it where I found my dog on point. When I walked up, flush, bang, bird in bag. Overall, never had any difficulty getting birds when my dog was belled.
 
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Yes, they both alert pheasants.
So do big boots, blaze orange, truck doors and, dogs.
With the Astro, I can eliminate that portion of noise delivered by a bell or beeper in a pheasant's field.
Running neither can make a positive difference....it can also make no difference in the end game.
Conditions are too varied in all aspects to make more than that generality.
Fit & Try.

I still run a bell in the ruffed grouse woods for instant communication and a nod to tradition.
I am weaning myself from a point-only beeper in the woods....as there, I do like that helpful crutch.
 
I would sugesst you look at tri-tronics beepers that can be controled by your e-collar remote. I like to hunt without the beeper constantly going off but some cover dictates that I hunt that way (cattails and really thick CRP). If the cover changes while on a hunt you can reach down and turn the beeper on. I've used this for a couple of seasons now and really like the flexability it gives me. I believe other e-collars have the same ability if your not a tri-tronics fan.

Good luck.
 
I would guess any type of noise from beepers, bells etc, will make you less effective in the field but who really knows. Guys have used bells for years and shot many a bird. Now the locator beepers, I can't stand em. Sounds like a backing truck all day. Beep....beep....beep....beep....beep....beep....make it stop!. Part of me getting out in the field is to get away from some of the gizmos in my life and enjoy the peacefulness of a hunt. Is that a hawk i hear or a falcon screeching? over and over.
 
carptom1 said:
Now the locator beepers, I can't stand em. Sounds like a backing truck all day. Beep....beep....beep....beep....beep....beep....make it stop!. Part of me getting out in the field is to get away from some of the gizmos in my life and enjoy the peacefulness of a hunt. Is that a hawk i hear or a falcon screeching? over and over.
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Hear, hear! :p
 
me myself i like to get out of the truck slam the door shut talk really loud to my buddies drop the tailgate let the dogs get way the *&$*&$%$#@ out in the field while im putting on my boots start hollering blowing the piss out of my whistle for the dogs to come back and when im finally ready to hunt have the wind at my back and just start zigging and zagging high stepping threw the heaviest cover possible yelling still at my dogs :D :D :D
 
I bought the Dogtra 2502T&B beeper collars for my Brittanys last year. The first beepers collars I've owned. I only run them in "Point Only" mode. For me I thought they worked great. When one of my dogs would get out of sight and I would hear the "beep" I knew she was on point. Very helpful. But on a couple of occasions I did see one of my dogs go on point and then after a few seconds the beeper sounded and the rooster flushed from the beep before I could get there. So that can happen but for me the positives out weigh the negatives.
 
only a pointer said:
me myself i like to get out of the truck slam the door shut talk really loud to my buddies drop the tailgate let the dogs get way the *&$*&$%$#@ out in the field while im putting on my boots start hollering blowing the piss out of my whistle for the dogs to come back and when im finally ready to hunt have the wind at my back and just start zigging and zagging high stepping threw the heaviest cover possible yelling still at my dogs :D :D :D
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Yep I used to run english pointers as well. I know how you feel!:D
 
I ran pointers for years also. When I was a kid, my dad would tie a 20lb dog chain to his collar for the first field or two. That chain bouncing up off his balls would slow him pretty good. Also saw old guys shoot at them from time to time.
 
Like someone said earlier, the birds can hear the beepers/bells just like any other man-made sounds, but will spook them much less than human conversation (like yelling at dog). I've only used one collar with beeper on a young (non-pointer) dog during training just so I knew where she was in some heavy cover.

The only use of beeper collar on a pointer I've seen was on a wild-roaming Brit that was on-point in another field 1/4 mile from where the hunters were...
That beeper was the only way the Brit's owner could find that dog.
 
only a pointer said:
me myself i like to get out of the truck slam the door shut talk really loud to my buddies drop the tailgate let the dogs get way the *&$*&$%$#@ out in the field while im putting on my boots start hollering blowing the piss out of my whistle for the dogs to come back and when im finally ready to hunt have the wind at my back and just start zigging and zagging high stepping threw the heaviest cover possible yelling still at my dogs :D :D :D
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You must be related to my wife. Bless Your Heart!!
 
I use bells on my dogs...sometimes it makes the pheasants more stickier than other times...it is quite curious how it works with them sometimes...:)
 
Yes, why wouldn't a strange sound, like a tinkling dog bell, make pheasants hunker down? I have heard of blowing a hawk screech whistle to get the birds to stick. I have no experience with it, but it makes sense. A pheasant has three defenses against predators: hide, run, and fly. The easiest and presumably the first choice is to hide.
 
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BritChaser said:
Yes, why wouldn't a strange sound, like a tinkling dog bell, make pheasants hunker down? I have heard of blowing a hawk screech whistle to get the birds to stick. I have no experience with it, but it makes sense. A pheasant has three defenses against predators: hide, run, and fly. The easiest and presumably the first choice is to hide.
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I would rate run first, other than with squeakers.

My guess is the pheasant has a small portion of a small brain devoted to 1+1 and as any season advances the = portion of the equation kicks in.
Doing the math implies quiet-er is good....many times.
Fit & Try.

The hawk scream is by far the most annoying sound with little effect past that annoyance, for me, and far worse than a beeper set on point-only, for me.
Each to their own though.
 
:D:D:D the size of the brain...mmmmm, it really gets me that a bird with a brain the size of a pea can be so dastardly difficult...!!!!!! its a bit like Old George...he is a resident in my local area...the dogs have put him up a couple of times but I will not shoot him...cannot bring myself to be the one to bring his dismise...he is the wiliest old flummoxing bird imaginable...it was he who taught me, to every so often turn back and go back to where you come from as if they can sneak behind you they will...have had success on younger roosters with this...mind you, now that the dogs (and I) are more wiser in the ways of the pheasant we do not have to this so often now...
 
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