Deer Hounds & GPS Tracking Collars

sbound

sbound

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On station eight, shooting the second low house.
My group hunts a large tract (several thousand acres) in central Ontario and we run both deer and moose with dogs. Some are great at coming back after the chase... others, not so well. We have had to pick them up sometimes 30 miles from where they started.

We ran across a group last year who were using a GPS tracking collar on their dogs, and could pinpioint to within a hundred yards or less wher the dogs were by using a handheld GPS unit. I see that Garmin has such a thing, and wonder if anyone can comment on their experience in using it, either good or bad.

We are collectively willing to pay the bucks for a good system, so long as it works for the intended purpose. Sure would be nice to spend time hunting and not looking for hounds.

Thanks in advance for any information.

sbound
 
We own 3 Garmin 320 Astro units and 7 collars for our hounds for running coyotes. I love the Garmin astros, It pin points exactly where all the dogs are at all times on the screen. It gets good range, We can track them up to 5 miles no problem, But I think with using 3 units at the same time it limits the signal. We see a lot more coyotes now being able to cut the dogs off better now.
 
Sounds like you need lots of range, I would suggest a Telemetry collar instead. Gps is great and being able to see a dog one the screen is nice but radio telemetry offers more range, more costly and not as easy to use as GPS tho. I use a Marshal field tracker 4000 and it gives me 18 miles range in bushy farm land and 22 miles in flat open country
 
Because of my location I doubt anyone here runs bigger or thicker bush than I do. I have both systems and the radio telemtry system does get better range. For 2 years I ran both systems on my bear hounds--I was concerned about the battery life on the Garmin 320 gps system and the short range. I have since stopped running the telemtry collars--don't need 'em.

The garmin gps system is only about half the cost of a good telemtry system and really works better.

To use radio telemtry effectively requires a certain amount of practice and experience with the unit--not so with the Garmin Astro 320--just read the instructions and you're good to go, especialy if you have any experience at all with a standard gps.
 
You guys are using those GPS trackers in some other country, right? 'Cause, they're like, illegal to use here.
 
looch said:
You guys are using those GPS trackers in some other country, right? 'Cause, they're like, illegal to use here.
Click to expand...

That is supposed to change in the summer of 2014. When I bought my Marshall I was also looking at the astro, I did a lot of pricing and ended up stumbling on to a government web site and found out they are illegal. That being said I would still use one if I had one. Seems like one of those laws that cops wouldent know much about, you know like gun laws lol.
 
Telemetry units will give you far superior range and the ability to use them from an airplane if you dog really goes for a wander! That said, I'm looking at the Astro unit for my dog as a good price track/train combo.
 
I'm not sure on the legality of them. The collars have a gps locater inside them and communicate with the handheld gps unit by radio frequency. That frequency is MURS which as I understand it is only to be used by the Canadian Military. I purchased mine and had it shipped to the border and picked it up there--I declared it at the border and paid my taxes--spent a half-hour at the border in conversation with the border guard--even demonstrated it for him. He was really interested but didn't have a problem with it. Maybe he didn't know?

By the way, I have used them from an airplane, Astro 330 still works better in my opionion. I'll grant you that rechargeable collar might be a problem--so far I've been lucky.
 
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