By Mike Roche
For several years, my guiding experiences in New York have put me in contact with bird hunters using GPS tracking devices on their dogs. The first account came from my good friend who guided a hunter whose dog had a GPS collar with a long antenna, and the hunter stared at his handheld device announcing where the dog was, saying “It is 50 yards to the north,” “120 yards to the south,” or “on point 200 yards to the east.”
That seemed quite foreign to me. The enjoyment of upland hunting, from my perspective, was watching the dogs work and glide through the cover. ‘Back in the day,’ upland hunting with pointing dogs included a bell, often a sheep bell, on the collar. You listened to determine where the dog was and when the bell stopped, it was time to head quickly to where you last heard the bell and find the dog, hopefully on a solid point. One of the challenges of hunting with the Irish setters my father favored was locating the dog in the fall woods. That search sometimes took a while and more than once we flushed the bird before we saw the dog.
There was no question that the constant tinkle of the different bells was a part of the charm of bird hunting in my formative years. Then, technology entered the scene with the advent of beeper collars. These devices integrated a motion sensor, and you could program it to beep constantly and then change tempo when it stopped or to only beep when the dog stopped. These became very popular, and this writer wrote a magazine article “To Bell or Beep, That is the Question” for ”Grouse Point Almanac” (now Upland Almanac) in 1999. For the article, I interviewed a number of hunters who were passionate about both, and it was tradition versus technology.
Over time, the beeper collars became more sophisticated, and correction (electric stimulation) was added and they became preferred by many pointing dog hunters and trainers. TriTronics products were my first choice and they worked well, and the customer service was outstanding. Dog collars break down in hunting season and every day is critical in the mind of the hunter! Tech giant Garmin bought TriTronics and brought huge resources to the marketplace but customer service was not nearly so personal. That led me to move to SportDOG and my experiences with their Model 1875 Upland Hunter and the company’s customer service have been outstanding for over 15 years. When I added a second dog, the unit easily adapted and the controller gives me instant control of both collars. The features include the ability to turn off the beeper with a tone which the dogs learned was meant to have them recall back to me when they hear it. It was perfect for a pointing dog, in this writer’s opinion.
Meanwhile, GPS collars were rapidly increasing in popularity. Hound hunters with packs of beagles or hounds loved them and the range increased to miles. The controllers became GPS map faces and you could see your dog, or dogs, overlaid onto a detailed map. The industry was making great advances in the technology because there was a strong demand. In addition to hunters, many dog owners wanted GPS to keep track of pets, and the collars got better and smaller as the inevitable miniaturization took place. All the while, yours truly was scoffing until my senior French Brittany Dinah lost her hearing. The panic when trying to get her attention and times she was lost briefly were scary. For the first time, the thought of GPS entered my mind. Then, my own loss of hearing acuity also became an issue. A dog would go on point, particularly in thick cover, and my hearing (too many rock concerts and years as a shooting instructor) did not allow me to pinpoint the location. All of a sudden, GPS did not seem so ridiculous.
For the first time, I was talking to others who were also turning to GPS. The handheld controllers could now be programmed to beep, vibrate or both when the dog stopped on point. That meant that the dogs could hunt silently and you could track them if they were out of sight on the handheld and would be alerted by a beep or buzz when a point happened. All of a sudden, the technology did not seem too foreign and could be something this hunter might be interested in acquiring.
After asking others about what brands they used it looked like Garmin, SportDOG and Dogtra were the market leaders. Inquiries to all got me thinking, but it was a trusted retail brand and a very informative conversation with a member of the sales staff of Lion Country Supply in Pennsylvania that tipped the scales. Randy answered all my questions and simplified the choices. Garmin products were the choice and two TT25 collars and an Alpha 10 controller were ordered (with a 30-day return policy) and all I needed to do was pay for them. The technology is not cheap but it is what this hunter does, so we forked over the money.
The surprise was how easy it was to get the technology working. First, the folks at Lion Country paired the collars so setup was a snap. In a short time, the dogs were running, and the controller was set to locate them, tone them, and bring this dinosaur into the future. Now we will see what it is like training on wild birds!
Let me say this about my time in local covers. Never has the understory been this thick! Ferns and goldenrod are as high as my armpits and there is groundwater everywhere! This next week will be telling as more covers are explored, but it really is tough going for both dogs and hunter. We will see what the next few weeks bring as the seasons change!
Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the MaharFish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, has been a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.