Running silent

G

GSP

New member
It is the quiet time here in MI, so my mind tends to wander... Got to thinking today about running my dogs sanz beeper and bell.

It can be debated whether a beeper/bell spooks birds or not. But MY opinion based on MY experiences is this: grouse and WC, no effect. Pheasants, spooks em. Especially late season.

I have been fortunate enough last year (and hopefully this year) to find some respectable wild pheasant coverts near by and have found myslef hunting the ditch parrot once again. My youngest dog runs pretty big, well for a shorthair anyway:D. No doubt influenced from grouse hunting with a slew of pointers. He handled pheasants pretty well last year too.

I'd like to run him silent on pheasants this year, but given his range and the type of cover we're hunting, I would NEVER know where he is.

One of my buddies uses an astro in the grouse woods. I was pretty impressed with it overall, but did find that it doesn't EXACTLY pinpoint the dog. And if your dog was on point in HEAVY cover it might still take a bit to find him if he didn't have a beeper on. You also spend too much time looking at the garmin readout for my taste too.

So why wouldn't this work? Run my dog with the astro, no bell, and the beeper off. When the astro alerts me of a point, start walking in that direction and then hit the locate button on the remote collar so that I know more precisely where he is. Anybody try this?

Maybe I'm just trying to justify the purchase of an astro. :)
 
GSP, I used to run bells on my dogs on pheasants. They could really track the dogs and it added a lot of time getting them pinned IF they didn't flush wild from the sound. I hunt setters and they can be 200+ yards out, but recent years I have just run silent. I find that I have trained myself to be a better observer of the dogs and can usually tell you right where they are at almost any time. The birds frequently don't even know we're in the field when they get pointed and .....missed? I've found that my experience is so much more satisfying the less I use crutches. That doesn't apply to the Dogtra collar, but bells, tracking collars, etc don't add anything, they take away. Spend your time or money training your dog to adjust his range by quartering on the whistle and use that on the days he wants to over run his nose or the cover. Usually when you get them to that point, one pip on the whistle will set their range for the whole day.
 
Thanks PD. A valid point. Pun intended.

I just honestly don't know how I would find my dog in some of the cover we hunt. He could be on point twenty yards from me and I wouldn't be able to see him, if I didn't know where to look.

I like the fact that he runs big, especially in the grouse woods. He's honest with his birds so I don't really want to real him in. The Astro combo'd with the page function on my Dogtra just kinda seamed like a slick way to go.
 
Don't see a need for an astro for pheasant hunting, unless your dog runs REALLY big or you run more than a few dogs at once--if you have e-collars with remotely activated locate functions for their beepers.

Been losing my dogs and finding them that way for years now. Sometimes very close to me, if in heavy cover. I will say that a pinned bird will flush once in awhile when I hit the locate on the beeper.

I will say that having taller dogs and/or putting high visibility vests on the dogs helps you keep them in sight longer so you have a better idea of where they disappeared when you lose sight of them.
 
Maybe I'm just looking for another excuse to buy an Astro. I really liked what I saw from my buddy's in the grouse woods last year.
 
I got one of the original DC 20's this spring and plan to do exactly what you are doing. I don't like the sound of the beeper and think it scares birds. I will run the astro on the collar with my dogtra 2500.
 
Let us know how it goes Marty.

One of my buddies has the new DC40 on order and has offered me a smokin deal on his old DC30. I'm going to jump on it.

There is just no way on God's green earth that I can see my dog all the time in the coverts we hunt, especially in the early season before a good frost. A beeper drives me nuts. I always feel like I should be looking for the UPS truck to back into me. :D

I'm really liking the idea of running silent on pheasants. If I can't pin point him with the Astro quickly, I always have the option of hitting the locate on the old Dogtra 2000.
 
GSP better decide quick the end of january is just around the corner but I dont think you will have any problems locating your dog here in kansas:cheers:
 
GSP, I have tried everything you have mentioned. I now have a RoamEO GPS system for my dogs. In my country you are always hunting in hilly terrain. Even keeping your dog fairly close does not help, when they go over a hill. When they go on point they are steady until you flush the bird for them. So having the RoamEO working for me is a very big help. I hunt mainly CRP and it gets very tall, I find it easy to find them even in the tall grass. My unit does not alert me when he goes on point. But when he goes over the hill, I hit the locate button and that does help a lot. By the time I get to the top I know where to look for him..............Bob
 
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im investing a GSP system that is Garmin Astro. my pup that i will be geting is gonna be wearing that for sure. once they go on point, espeically in tall brush, you arent gonna see her move and hard to locate.
 
i do not own a garmin astro yet.. but does anyone know of a GPS that will locate your dog farther than 3 miles? i do want a combination for hunting and if i go for a walk in case my dog decides to chase a rabbit and refuses to listen to me, id have a gps to find her before i lose her.

garmin astro is what im aiming for right now. sorry if i seem like im hi jacking the thread but i dont want to be bashed for starting a new thread when theres thread about it already unlike some folks on here mentioned about using existing threads to post.
 
birdman652001 said:
im investing a GSP system that is Garmin Astro. my pup that i will be geting is gonna be wearing that for sure. once they go on point, espeically in tall brush, you arent gonna see her move and hard to locate.
Click to expand...

Can't go wrong investing in a "GSP" system. :D I'm guessing you meant GPS though...

We were running dogs on Monday and my buddie's setter who is staunch as hell had an unproductive in a patch of ferns. We were running her with a bell. It took us forever to find her. We knew roughly where she was, but couldn't see her. Had to get on our hands and knees and look under the ferns.

No, there isn't a GPS system for a dog that will get you beyond 3 miles. You need the old school types for that. However, the Astro will take you to the last point of contact. So, you should pick the dog up again once you get to that point. Make sense?
 
GSP, The RoamEO is made in White Bear Lake, MN. It is cheaper than the Garmin, but it may not have all the features of a Garmin. They have a website so you can check them out on it............Bob
 
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