Rich I sent you a PM on the latest Garmin simple function collar. Thought I would also post it here.

https://www.gundogsupply.com/garmin-...us-review.html

I am not acuse ing, but bottom line is your dog was not deer broke. I have had dogs I thought were pretty much deer proofed, and one I couldn't even get stopped with the E-collar. Luckily, I live about a mile from a large public park with hundreds of deer who think you are there to feed them. This is where I deer break my setters, starting them out at about 4 mo old. Deer are such great temptations to young dogs, especially when they jump one up from its bed. It is a terrible feeling when you have lost your dog.
I do use a bell grouse hunting, with a beeper that I generally just use to locate in case I get confused where the dog is( Dogtra 2500 T&B). In Kansas last year, did not use bells.

I have used bells on my setters for years without any issues. I make sure my whistle is a different and higher pitch

I typically do not....I use a Garmin Alpha 100, track and train. It has a GPS built in and vibrates with and audible beep when my dog goes on point also gives me yardage away w/ directional. I've had great success especially during late season grouse when they're spooky with this method. I do use a bell in wild bird trials as a GPS with tracking or training is not allowed unless your dog goes MIA and you declare your dog out of contention. In trials your dog wears a collar but the hand held is turned off. The bell is your only means of tracing your dog and it's location or going on point.

My father always hunted his dogs with a bell, as do I. I use two different sounding bells for the dogs so I know which is which. I find it invaluable to know where my dogs are when I can’t see them. Also, when the bell goes silent, that usually means there’s a point. I’m sure a GPS collar for $600 would be better. But I’m kind of old school and the bell has never failed me.

Joe, I attend the "Old School" as often as I can, and I think there is nothing like listening to the bell in cover. I did long ago switch to the beeper collar and even still use it with the GPS collars. I've found the GPS collars to not always give me an alert, or to take long enough that the birds will sometimes get up before I get the signal. The GPS collars let you know when the dog stays in one area for a while, so you get point signals when the dog stops to drink, when it stops to pee, when it's contemplating nature...you get the picture. After so many years with the beeper, I can tell if the dog is birdy, if is coming or going, if it's moving slow or fast...and, most importantly, if it's on point (and where). I guess one could call beeper collars "Old School" compared to the new GPS technology. Still, that nostalgia producing tinkle sure beats the sound of a trash truck backing up (but it's a kind of music I've learned to appreciate).

I hope the bells go silent for you a lot this year. Good hunting!

I hunt Grace with a bell exclusively these days. I keep an e-collar on her for correction only and never use the beeper function anymore. Grace hates the beeper just like a gun-shy dog hates gunfire and she would make a bee-line to me when the beeper went off so I never tried to correct it and simply chose not to subject her to a beeper any more. Oddly though, she actually likes gunfire and eagerly looks for falling birds whenever a shot is fired.





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From 1941:

The dog in the picture has a hunched back from carrying that enormous bell around all day. I use large bells but...

:rotf: