Bird hunting question...

so theres the debate over the old hot collars and i also see some of you guys have flasher lights or similar on your dogs collar...

Couple of questions...

Do you not like dogs going out of sight ever..?

And have you seen the tracking gear we use... or our mates in some cases

Ok, so its illegal gear now... but there is legal gear coming soon...
Im asking this because if you were in heavy gorse pasture or similar broken cover and your dog got scent and only went 50-60m out of sight and locked up on the bird... but you recalled it because it was getting out of sight.. would this not confuse the dog?
The gear im talking about is the gps tracker... a snail trail of dog movment over a topo map, direction arrow, distance and even a dog on point alert after your selected time of dog not moving... this gear rocks, its tells you everything... is anyone using it or have you even seen it

I got pinged for bringing one in . Dc40 is actually designed for bird dogs , has a feature to mark covevs (quail) and another feature when you dog goes on point ( stops moving ) . Got mine sent back as I told them what it was for and not for pig hunting , they gave me the benefit . Tell me more about the new one coming out please, is it garmen ? . Have seen the dc30 and was well impressed , wished I'd had one when I chased pigs

My mate has the 220 and the 30's. The 220 does the same but the 320 and 40's have more features
No not garmin... NZPHA
Heres a link... nothing firm yet but not far away, sounds like there is plenty going on behind the scenes
Dog master is doing something too... but wont have the topo map i think
Still a few over priced 40's about if you want to hunt one down over here

Sorry was the astro 320 , the collars are dc,s 30 /40 . Just for interest sake only what do they sell for ( the over priced ones) ?

400- 800 ive seen them offered for... the odd second hand ones too...

That's ok price , if someone was in the market . I was gutted not to get mine , do you no why they got on to them being imported? . Happy camper where bringing them in and undervalueing them so they didn't have to pay gst / duty. Customs had no idear they where allegal until they contacted garmin nz to get a costing on them . They got a hundred the week that mine come in .

Blind eye for a while but it killed the beep beep market... so a bit of a squeal in RSM's ear did the trick...something like that... my mate got a single collar in 3 mnths before that shit hit the fan... 190incl post

Back to the original question.

Generally I like the dogs to stay within sight. My goal for their range is to have them cover as much ground as possible without going out of sight. Often in the course of hunting they are out of sight for a limited amount of time such as when they go over a dune ahead of me but that's about it. My dogs wear remote activated beeper collars so I can quickly locate them within their practical range.

Unlike pig dogs, the bird dogs in NZ don't range too far because pheasants are little bastards, even with a staunch, steady dog with a good nose, the birds will often run on the dog so it pays not to leave your dog standing on point too long.

In the US, I ran huge running dogs and they wore GPS collars and before that radio tracking collars but that was on bobwhite quail which hold very well for dogs.

For bird dogs in NZ they just aren't necessary.

Down south in the braided rivers the cover is high and thick . So you try and huntan area with low fringes . The birds ( quail) can be anywhere . Most of the time you can't see your dog, it sucks . The ideal is to flush them to low cover . On most occasions easer said than done . Quite often you have no idear where your dog is and the dog is pointing , it's so frustrating to walk past and miss out. So a gps would be ideal . Also to keep tabs on a young dog keen on tracking a hare when he's not supposed to .

The beeper collars are easier to use and quicker/more precise to locate your dog if they are within a few hundred yards. Not to mention more compact and much less expensive. They also have a function where they activate when the dog goes on point. GPS collars are only worthwhile for huge running dogs. Bells are also a good option.

Sounds like I need to find out a bit more and where to get one ? Have you got a brand or model I can search thanks .

I get all my gear from Gun Dog & Hunting Dog Training Supplies, Tritronics Innotek collars, Electronic Collars

The unit I run is 2 dog set that's both an e-collar and a beeper (Dogtra 2502 T&B) but you can get beepers by themselves. I generally recommend either Tri-tronics or dogtra. A popular setup back home amongst grouse hunters is to hang a bell off a beeper collar set on point only mode.

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...50697098_n.jpg

Thanks for that . I did a search and just for interest sake ,came across a hawk screamer collar . A setting you choose when dog points more than 5 seconds , it screams buy the sound of it . I'm guessing that stops birds running ? . Would that work in nz you think . I'm thinking chuckar in open Mackenzie country , the little buggers can run like mad .

Ok, cheers for that, didnt realise the birds would run/walk on the dogs... i know jack squat about bird dogs and hunting, might have leave my mutts at home and have a walk with someone this season coming and see whats its all about

well do a hunt this season Moonhunt