Keeping track of your dogs

GPowers

Member
I just back from a great trip to SD. On the last day I hunted I was chased down by a truck on a back road, the guy asked if I saw his Pointer?? He was hunting a corn field and I was in the public land next to him. I said "No sorry I didn't see another dog" and he raced away.

Then not 10 minutes later, I park in a hunting area and I'm looking at my maps and the layout and semi driver comes up on me super slow. I'm thinking what the heck...am I in the wrong area or something???? Nope he has a young black Lab female sitting in the seat next to him. He asks if it's mine and I say no and see that she doesn't have a collar or anything on.......

I know I would be sick to death in either situation! Get good GPS collars for your pointers if youre running dogs in that big Country! Make sure you have tags and collars on your Labs or write your number on the shock collar!

Those guys must be sick to death if they didn't find their dogs... I hope they did!
 
I just back from a great trip to SD. On the last day I hunted I was chased down by a truck on a back road, the guy asked if I saw his Pointer?? He was hunting a corn field and I was in the public land next to him. I said "No sorry I didn't see another dog" and he raced away.

Then not 10 minutes later, I park in a hunting area and I'm looking at my maps and the layout and semi driver comes up on me super slow. I'm thinking what the heck...am I in the wrong area or something???? Nope he has a young black Lab female sitting in the seat next to him. He asks if it's mine and I say no and see that she doesn't have a collar or anything on.......

I know I would be sick to death in either situation! Get good GPS collars for your pointers if youre running dogs in that big Country! Make sure you have tags and collars on your Labs or write your number on the shock collar!

Those guys must be sick to death if they didn't find their dogs... I hope they did!

one guy lost his dog cause he was too lazy to train it and the other dog got left in the field cause it didn't get trained and was no good. just guessing of course but in Kansas it happens all the time, dogs get left in small towns or the city park hoping that someone takes them in, kinda sad

cheers
 
If I didn't have another Lab coming at the end of the year I would have taken that female Lab in a second... she was beautiful and I'm sure very trainable!

3 is the limit where I live and I have money down on another Red.
 
I know I would be sick to death in either situation! Get good GPS collars for your pointers if youre running dogs in that big Country! Make sure you have tags and collars on your Labs or write your number on the shock collar!

I'd be worried too. I have really enjoyed the additional info my Garmin Alpha provides. I think a lot of guys don't invest the right amount of time in training. and just think that their dogs will "just figure it out." That's a great strategy for losing your dog. Training and the right tools, even if its as simple as a bell or collar with tag on it makes all the difference.
 
I just picked up an Alpha. Last week I had my 11 yo lab out. I did not think at 11 she would now start to act like a dingbat. She started trailing a pheasant and then she was gone. I have a 6 month old Brittany that was running on a leash but I had let her off and she was staying close till she followed the lab. 90 minutes of looking and I head back to the spot where I last saw them and there they were. I really do not know who was happier to see who. This has never happened before in 23 years of pheasant hunting. So two ot days burned for a Alpha. When I got the dogs my son called me on his cell phone saying he did not know where he was. This is a state area and any direction you go you either hit river or road so I was not worried about him. I had figured that the lab had gotten hurt and the brittany was hanging with her. I dont know why I went back to where we lost them but I am glad I did. I did not realize that they find their way back. Couple valuable lessons learned and now my son has some respect for the woods.
 
I just posted about the Alpha in another section, beeper collars. The Alpha is great for locating your dog.
 
Microchips

Everybody should have a microchip in their dogs also.

Stuff Happens in the field, either close to home or far away. And you never know when it will happen to you,

NB
 
Micro chips work. One of the first things I do. I picked a golden off the street one day that was knocked out by a car. Took him to my vet and he found the grateful owner. Dog wasn't seriously hurt.

I had a poker game one night and when it was time to go one guy couldn't find his dog. He took off his shirt and laid it by my front gate. Next morning the dog was asleep on his shirt. Magic.
 
Micro chips work, but there can be a long waiting time with that back up strategy. Still it is an absolutely great back-up.

The Astro works well and there are times when dogs and owner get separated (high dense cover, birds running, high winds, etc...). It is nice to follow the collar and sometimes shoot a rooster over point rather than start yelling or worrying that the dog is missing.

Most of my dogs have disappeared at one year of age (once each) for a period of time. I often believed it happened early fall and was probably their first hot deer trail. Every dog returned to the vehicle and was there before I got back to it. They likely circled back and chose to follow my scent to the truck rather than continue looking for me.

The Astro collar let's you see what is going on - long before you get that far.
 
As I stated in my previous post, my dogs wound up back where we got separated. I have seen other dogs wind up in the parking lot sleeping under their owners car. My question, is it the general consensus that they use their nose to find their way back to a car or in my case back to the spot we got separated, or do they have a good sense of where they are and how they got there? My son has asked me this a few times and my answer is always "I really do not know" well at least I am honest if not smart.
 
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