Um, well, nearly 30 years of grouse hunting and it hasn't been a problem yet, even on the most skittish of Ruffs, the southern Ontario variety. I've spent an average of 21 days afield for grouse the past three decades, so I like to fool myself that I'm getting a vague handle on them. The past four years I've spent 128 days hunting grouse according to the log book. And that's not like 128 days on which I hunted grouse, I mean 128 days where all I did all day was hunt them.
Maybe it's your dog flushing the birds?
If beeper collars spooked grouse then they sure wouldn't be as popular as they are with grouse hunters, would they? You'd think guys would cotton on to that shortcoming pretty quick. If you don't hunt with one, how on earth would you know?
As I said, with a proper upland dog that ranges as far as it should and works as it should, a bell and collar is pretty much necessary. Yeah, when I've gotten tired of the beeping I'll turn it off, but that sure makes it trickier to find the dog holding a granite steady point on a bird. Not impossible, but trickier. You can pretty much narrow down the bearing from where you heard the bell last, and I know how far out she works, and when you're within 20m or so late season you can see her blaze vest. But it makes it harder.
If you enjoy hunting your way, that's fantastic. That's the whole point of the thing. That's all that matters. Again, my only point is that hunting that way with a retriever is like driving a screw with a hammer. Any day afield with a dog is better than a day with no dog, but it doesn't mean you're using the best tool for the job. That is all.
Always amazes me how retriever guys have to convince everyone they have the best dog for all jobs when that's not even something the breeders that develop them claim.
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