GPS collars for hunting dogs, I need your recommendations!

Jay

Jay

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Today I 'lost' my hunting dog Egon for 4 hours & 15 min!

After we got the first rabbit of the hunt, Egon got on the trail of something & simply disappeared. My godson & I looked for him for over 2 hours before leaving his crate where we parked & driving all the country roads in the vicinity to try to find him. We had just decided to try to follow his tracks when my phone rang & a lady asked me if I was looking for my dog... He had made it 1/2 way from Kemptville ON to Carleton Place ON!!! I honestly don't know how he wasn't killed on the multiple roads he would have had to have crossed OR coyotes OR even a snare or trap...

While I have always run my dogs with a bell & a beeper and today he even had a flashing fibre optic reflective collar, this guy has shown he is willing to range out there & I need a GPS unit on him.

I need & would appreciate your guys recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers
Jay
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^Yes, that is the THANK GOD we found you celebratory ice cream... I don't know how I would explain to my daughter that I lost 'her' dog, she's grown up with Egon... And you can see he is wearing a bell, a fibre optic collar & his beeper collar in this pic lol! NEED GPS ON THIS GUY!!!
 
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Garmin is the standard for hunting gps collars. US models are a different frequencies, have a much better range than Canadian model. I believe much better battery life, but double check that. US models have more features also for same $$.

Facebook Ontario houndsmen group is a great resource for this. Also to find where to buy us collars if you choose to go that route.
 
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I've had Garmin astro 320 unit and dc40 collars for my 3 hounds for 10 years plus. They have been great. It's a US model. The newer models(alpha 100,200) are great too. Used them last weekend, Hounds ran 11 miles or so according to GPS.

They show up on marketplace used if you don't want to order from US.
 
On a side note, I live on 90+ acres in sw Ontario close enough to the big city centres and get random guys pulling up in my laneway all the time telling me they need to go on my property to find their dog. The second most common is bow hunters who shot a deer apparently and are “tracking it”. 100% of the time I tell them to pound salt. My property is posted as private and no trespassing, no hunting. I tell them show me where the dog is and I’ll get him. It’s my property and I’m not going to let people disrespect my privacy just because there’s ran onto it. This started from a guy years ago who asked me for permission to hunt, which I declined, who came back a week later with a mnr guy, claiming I was hoarding deer for myself. I had to promise to fill 18 tags myself to keep random meth heads off my property and away from my back yard. It was a daily occurrence this year of randoms who I didn’t trust who claimed their dogs ran on my land and claimed they had some legal right to trespass so at this point I’m about ready to put up 3km of 6ft fence around the whole thing and when people enter my property to follow their dogs I just call the cops and report them for trespassing.

If you want to let your dogs run free for miles, take them into crown land where they actually can. If you live in the gta and think you can drive an hour out into,the country and set them loose, think again. When I grew up, my grandpa was a farmer and used to shoot dogs if he thought they were a risk to his animals.
 
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To keep things versatile, I might find a way to buy a used InReach Mini, whatever subscription you want, and get it on the dog. I was impressed with mine over 4mos/7000Km (used in the intended way).

I used a TriTronics training collar on my Lab, never used the lightning mode ⚡, but she learned that the vibrate buzz meant 'NO' and the beeping meant 'get back here'.
 
Silverado said:
To keep things versatile, I might find a way to buy a used InReach Mini, whatever subscription you want, and get it on the dog. I was impressed with mine over 4mos/7000Km (used in the intended way).

I used a TriTronics training collar on my Lab, never used the lightning mode ⚡, but she learned that the vibrate buzz meant 'NO' and the beeping meant 'get back here'.
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I got a few spot trackers to plant in trucks, atv’s, outboards, pretty much anything that would be likely to be a target of theft and they work great. There is a monthly subscription though
 
Different type/application here (not hunting) however, I only let my "child" get out so far before call her back and she comes. As Capt William Putney DVM USMC Pacific war dog program said back in the 1940s "dogs don't make good leaders" and we do have to manage them. In our case we manage the distance do they don't get to far away distracted and going further (deer etc) or chased by packs of Coyotes, Wolves or some bright light in the MNR released Cougars (to control Martens around Bancroft??) and the populations grew too much and now we have a growing mess. Having your "child" wear blaze orange is another plus to avoid accidental shooting's & to help find when lost (reflectors sewed on would be good at dusk & please carry a light with extra batteries, even of you start off earlier in the day' "stuff" happens. Your "Childs" role un hunting is different than my application and I would also check with good trainers in your specific dog sport for suggestions

and yes a good tracker GPS communicator is a good plan however, I have no experience in that area and others here seem to be helping in this regard

One fellow we used to deer hunt with lost his hound. The dog also had epilepsy and medication in bottle in his collar, but lost and no one to administer. A very sad end and pledged never to let that happen on my end
 
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I have pondered bear hunts with my little girl, but know all to well her personality and OCD. Your realization is my pure fear. I have no answer for your question but I can literally feel the fear you were going through. Hope you find a good solution. Cheers
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It's a Bull Terrier thing, there an odd breed that won't stop if they set there mind to it.
Is yours a Portuguese ?
 
270WSMXBolt said:
I have pondered bear hunts with my little girl, but know all to well her personality and OCD. Your realization is my pure fear. I have no answer for your question but I can literally feel the fear you were going through. Hope you find a good solution. Cheers
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It's a Bull Terrier thing, there an odd breed that won't stop if they set there mind to it.
Is yours a Portuguese ?
Click to expand...
Egon is a German Drahthaar (wirehair)
 
Silverado said:
To keep things versatile, I might find a way to buy a used InReach Mini, whatever subscription you want, and get it on the dog. I was impressed with mine over 4mos/7000Km (used in the intended way).

I used a TriTronics training collar on my Lab, never used the lightning mode ⚡, but she learned that the vibrate buzz meant 'NO' and the beeping meant 'get back here'.
Click to expand...
I have a Dogtra 2500 T&B collar and have done the same wrt the locate button, the dog knows to come back when the loud rapid beep activates.

Until now, and I'm talking over 30 years, I've never had a dog range out & be gone like Egon did yesterday. So, the beeper collar has been fine with all my pointing dogs. That all changed yesterday & now I'll be putting a gps on him as well...

And for folks curious, we were hunting rabbits on 300 acres of private property located south of Marlborough Forest (22,980 acres of public land you can hunt).

I understand protection of livestock if the dog was culpable in that, but Egon's never shown any tendency towards that.

Anyone shooting hunting dogs should keep in mind that they're pets/family members to...

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