Do you hunt your dog with a bell?
 

I had nearly lost a Brittany Spaniel that had run off after deer that had been bedded down many years ago and had a Swiss bell on him that I felt kept him from hearing my commands and whistle. Since that day I have never hunted with one again. I have asked friends that say they just love to hear the sound of the bell but don’t think it helps in any other way. I use a collar with the sonar that can be set for constant beeping, point only beeping and tones on command. I find that my dog can hear me all the time, especially when running. Has anyone else felt that a bell on the dog is keeping them from hearing any commands?
- Brett

The bell I use on Grace sometimes prevents her from hearing my whistle and I think it causes some grouse to ‘get outta Dodge’ a little before Grace and I get within pointing/shooting range.

But the reasons to bell my dog in the big woods that I hunt certainly outweigh any reasons not to bell her.





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No I don't use a bell. I read something 30 years ago that said a bell can affect the dog's long term hearing. For reason, the article just stuck in my head. I don't hunt any woods and hunt on the prairie where it is a little easier to keep track of the dog. Although on Tuesday, it took about 3 minutes for Belle to find to me in an uncut corn field. I had no idea where she was.

Ken

i always bell my setters- even though i can't hear one very far any longer, i use a garmin gps tracking collar now for back up in case they get out of hearing range ( 20 feet or so :rolleyes:)

personally - i think whether it bothers the birds or not depends on a lot of factors - over pressured birds get spooky- and some of my setters, as with my Osthaus, would hit a point at full speed and pin a bird right there - I really do not think the bell affected them- Griffin is a slower moving dog and i would not be surprised it give some birds a warning. i can't say i have seen it make a difference in their hearing a command.


side story - i was showing my son around the deer sign (he bow hunts) in one of my woodcock covers and we ran into a couple other deer hunters in the parking area - they were telling me about seeing some guy and young girl hunting "rabbits" with a big white dog wearing a bell - they thought that was the silliest thing they had ever seen. I didn't bother to tell them that was me and my oldest daughter that day , and we moved plenty of woodcock while "rabbit hunting"

I simply can not her a bell anymore. I used the beeper collars for a number of years but am sure it damaged my dogs hearing. Turn the collar on and place it by you neck. You won’t be able to take much beeping before your ears start ringing. I now run my dogs with the GPS tracking collar.
Since my dogs normally are hunting out to 200 yards from me it is really the only option.
Garmin has come out with a new basic GPS system with limited functions which is perfect for many of us that just want to know, where is my dog, and has the ability to correct them.

I used to use a bell, and both of the dogs that wore them went deaf (but they were both old when they went deaf). That's certainly not conclusive, but suggestive. I now use a beeper collar that I can turn on and off remotely. Sometimes I run them on point only if the cover is is such that I can generally see them. I'm sure the more constant ringing of a bell does have a negative effect on a dog's hear (especially if a louder bell). Likewise, I have no doubt that beepers also have a negative long term effect. I have the tracking/training collars, but I don't find them as reliable in letting me know if the dog is on point, and having to look at a handheld device is not conducive to getting to a point in a timely fashion (for me, at least). I've used the beeper collar (and, yes, they do sound like a garbage truck backing up) for so long that I can tell what the dog is doing by the sound -- wether he's coming toward me or going away, and when he's about to stop. I'm sold on the beeper, but I know not everyone likes them.

I'm also convinced that when we grouse hunt in Northern Minnesota, the beeper helps keep wolves away from my dogs.

as with so much of this - this is my opinion only, but I do not think we give enough thought to what a shotgun fired over their heads for several seasons does to their sensitive hearing - i expect more damage is done that way than by beepers -

i had beeper collars for years - that i ran in locator mode - i just had trouble with determining the direction of the sound - that is why i went with the gps collar - it simply says HEY dummy- your dog is 100 yards that way -

true funny story last year, i had the gps collar on Macallan (golden retriever) and was busy at the landing putting decoys and such away - cold day - when i stood up and looked around he was no where in sight - so i whistled - no answer - so i whistled again and tapped the collar - still no response - i brought up the map and it said he was a hundred and sixty or so yards away in that direction - i looked that way and laughed - walked up the hill and there he was - smarter than me - he was warm and dry in the club house where there was a fire going :rotf:

I will probably get a bell for Sherwood. Dad never used them on his brittanies

I have a collar with the beeper and it is annoyingly loud. I don’t switch the beeper option on anymore because when it goes off Grace hates it so much she runs straight to me. And no, she’s not gun shy in the least.





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If you hunt thick cover a bell is invaluable in immediately locating your dog.





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Rick has a great point. Not only does shooting harm the dog's hearing, but how many of us "experienced" hunters also have some hearing loss? And we are not experiencing the muzzle blast that the dog frequently does. Come to think of it, I used to shoot a lot more over the two dogs I mentioned that went deaf. There were more birds then, and I tried to take more than I do now.

Rick's story of his dog that knew where the warm clubhouse was reminds me of the dogs that I hunted with bells. I know this is hard to believe, but when they went on point and I could not locate them, I would toot the whistle and they would jingle the bell (without breaking point) so I could find them. I know this sounds like a tall tale, but my wife can attest to it.

I'm sure that all of my dogs have been smarter than I. They just couldn't drive themselves to the field...thank goodness! Otherwise, they would probably have left me at home.

I have heard and read that before, and it was from other bird hunters than yourself.






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All my dog training experience has been with flushers and retrievers, so I am singularly unqualified to talk about pointing dogs but...
It seems to me that the Beeper collars have taught the grouse to run. Although I have never had an electric collar on any of my dogs, if I was to put one on a pointing dog it would run in silent mode all the time and have the pointing notification vibrate on my GPS. I like things quiet in the woods.

I use a bell on all our Setters. Help keep track of them in cover. I use locater collars w/o the run/rpoint turned on. If I need to locate a dog in the thick stuff I just hit a button. If I want them to come back I just hit a button. Not a big deal as they don't get out far, I keep them inside of 50 yards.

I run bells all the time and rather loud ones at that. I have not had a dog go deaf prior to old age. I also use a gps collar. I can hear the bells and can tell what the dog is up to just by the cadence of the bell. However, my hearing does not allow me to tell direction very well. So, when the bells go quiet out comes the gps for a quick check on location. It works very well for me. I just enjoy listening to bells traversing the cover.

As for bells spooking birds, I do not think so and I hunt pressured birds. The dog has to stay off the birds.

I hunted chukars for years and lost my first Britt for up to 20 minutes at a time when she was on point. I would generally find her when we heard or saw the birds flush. I finally went to a beeper collar and could then find her fairly quickly if the wind wasn't too bad. For those of you that haven't hunted real wild, not planted, chuckars in steep, rugged canyon country you have missed one of hunting's real challenges. I've spent up to a hour slowly climbing up a canyon wall only to have the birds flush and fly back down to where we started. It's been said you hunt chuckars the first time for sport after that it is for revenge. I'm going to look for a picture of our chukar hunting spot and will post it if I find one.

Bell it is, I've always liked the bell, our boy is tone trained with his collar so a beeper collar is useless. I think the next dog we'll catch up with the 21st century!

I saw you mentioned this other day when talking about training your dog and meant to commend you on it. I think this is the best use of employing a beeping collar I have ever heard put into practice. I don't like listening to beeping collars all time. However, train a dog to hear that noise combined with a whistle trill like used with a retrievers would be a great way to hunt with a rangey dog or hunting in tight hilly cover. I think whistle helps them locate you quicker.

I like using the bell on dogs. It is a great way to locate them as they move and you can tell how they are moving in real time by action of the bell. For years that is all that we used was a bell. If we did not hear the bell we would start looking for the point in last direction we heard the bell. Later on we had a dog that was really good and was quite deliberate and stealthy when he scented birds way off and that bell might not hardly make a noise. Started using a hawk call on the caller for when he would go on point. Wild birds that hear a hawk call will freeze up and maybe hold a little tighter.

I have used a small Swiss bell from the beginning with my Springer. Primarily a pheasant specialist. The cover we hunt it's typically either woods thick with green briar and multiflora Rose or switch grass that's often higher than your head. I use the bell on an E collar that allows me to either tone or stimulate. I can't hear the low tone the collar emits beyound 25 feet or so, but he can. And he is trained that when toned that means for him to check in with me. He is verbally Hup ( stop and sit in Spaniel speak) trained, as well as whistle trained to Hup, turn, and come.
The bell helps me keep track of his location, as most of the time I can't see him. Fairly regularly we get out with another friend that also hunts a Springer and he runs a bell of a different tone. If it's not too windy I can hear the bell out to about 30 yards. If I can't hear it I know I need to bring rein him in. I don't think it's effected his hearing yet because he can hear a cheese wrapper from 50' over a blaring TV program.
On the Setter pup I run a different set up of an E collar that beeps which has multiple modes, but I set it to only beep if I push a button. It has a high and low volume switch, and I run it in low. It also offers a huge range for levels stimulation. I again run a Swiss bell on this dog for keeping him located primarily, but also because where we hunt grouse and woodcock there are a lot ( read too damned many) wolves. Their are some of the opinion that bells or a running beeper may help with wolves. And also some folks think bells spook grouse. I don't doubt that they do, especially birds that have been pressured, but I'll take the chance to miss opportunities on a few each day, to know where my dog is all day.

In addition I use the Garmin Alpha 100 while the GPS is important the data collection for distance and pace along with perimeter alarms have helped me with training and training decisions.

I have always used a bell and for the last 10-15 years included a beeper collar set on point mode. My hearing is worse than my shooting these days and the bell is hard to hear. The E collar has a locate function but that can be hard to hear as well. As others have mentioned picking the direction of the bell, beeper, or locate function can be problematic.

My grouse hunting is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is both big country and wolf country. I think by keeping your dog as close as possible and the combination of the bell and a locate function it might keep the wolf at a distance.

In another post I mentioned a perfect storm of failures. My hearing aid batteries died, the E collar died and it was snowing and very windy. Ike who was just a year old at the time disappeared for a couple of hours and horrible things went through my head. At that given moment I'd have given $1000 for a GPS collar to know where he was.

I hunted him on a pheasant preserve where I could keep him in sight more and didn't use the bell. He hunted closer and was more attentive. Did the absence of the bell allow him to hear me better? I don't know.

I'm not a tech person but I'm going to look for a KISS (keep it simple stupid) GPS collar.

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:

I’m with Dean on this one. I have always used a brass bell since I had my first bird dog at age 14. I even use it on huns and sharptails in Saskatchewan. I tried a beeper collar years ago but hated the beeping sound. It’s unnatural and it does sound like a big truck backing up. I imagine that they are annoying to dogs.

I have had many bird dogs over the years and never had one go deaf. I also like the tinkle of the brass bell. It is a pleasant sound and not loud like those that sound like cow bells. To each his own, but I’ll always use the brass bell.

You can always run a strip or two of electrical tape around the bell to adjust the tone to your liking

Yes, that would work but I never liked the cow bell sound. The tinkle of the brass bell is nice. I always liked that best.

My setter,Sophie, tinkles in the field.

I am in northern lower michigan, my wife and I rescued a brittany nov. 2017, so this was his first season. Its so thick where we hunt that I use the bell for distance control. When bell is almost out of hearing, I tone him then a "hep" at the same time. Now when I say hep, he will quarter back the other way or towards me. I only use a beeper early in the season when I can't see him. I have a garmin with toner, and shocker and gps, I lost him once, I went and got the garmin the next day. We lost him for about 45 minutes, and that was heartwrenching.

Where in the state are you? I'm centrally located. I lost Ike as a year old pup in the U.P. for a couple of hours last fall. I experienced the trifecta of errors as my hearing aid batteries dies, the collar batteries died as well and the wind was blowing about 25 MPH with horizontal snow! I'd have given anything right then for a GPS collar.

I'm just returning from three days in Georgia hunting quail and I didn't use a bell but thats a whole different game compared to grouse hunting. We will have a new collar for this fall.

I know of few things more sickening than losing one's dog. In over thirty years it's happened to me only once, and that was enough. Thankfully, I found my dog waiting for me back near the truck after stumbling around the bluffs of SE Minnesota until well after dark. GPS collars all 'round now.

The thoughts that go through your head is amazing and unsettling. My mother in law was literately dying and I was in the U.P. on a day by day basis and I could just picture the conversation. "Rich Mom passed away today so come home". "I can't Ike is lost in the wilderness and I have to look for him". or "I lost Ike and have searched for days, he probably got eaten by a wolf".

Fortunately it all worked out.....this time.

This is all very interesting as we were looking to buy a bell for Sherwood today. Maybe GPS instead

I've always used a bell but will add the GPS. IF the batteries fail or the collar fails for some reason the bell will always work. It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.