I use it. I don't put dogs down on the ground without it. Even if I'm just free running the dogs, which I do almost every day, there isn't a reason why I WOULDN'T put one down.
I had a dog run into a snake and this helped me get to the dog immediately, 400 yards away.
I had a dog lose track of me and get on someone else's property and thus I was able to find the dog. If I didn't have that Garmin, I'd still be looking for that dog.
But let's look at trials. The last trial I ran Riley in, he was lost at about fifteen minutes in. After the brace, I pulled out the Garmin, and walked back to find him standing on point. 800 yards away. The bird was still there and so was he. This was probably after 35 minutes of standing.
I can't even imagine thinking what would have happened without that Garmin. I can't call him off the bird. So, then what happens? We look for a really long time, and maybe not find him. Because when we found him he was absolutely buried in brush.
The dogs are trained to stand birds. They are trained to stop to flush. When the bird flies they stop.
There have been times when I was hunting and I could see Riley standing a pheasant in heavy CRP cover. No way I find him with out it. I lose him and maybe try to call him in.
Or sometimes they get into stuff like this.
Another thing is that if you are on a multi-day hunt, then you can monitor the miles they have traveled too.
It has nothing to do with handle, I can handle my dogs very easily, really.
Just piece of mind.
Knowing what my dogs are doing and where they are doing it is huge piece of mind.
