"RED SETTER"

[Harold Lee Pickens]

On the last quail hunt of the season Doodle managed to cut both ears on the briar. At the truck I put some blood clotting powder on her but she was a real mess. I combed the dried blood off her face and chest yesterday, but she still has a pink tinge.
I do not generally run that .any collars on a got but was messing with the new Garmin 300i. I sure wish it had a beeper locator function. It works fine, just find it to be a pain in the butt, much prefer my Dogtra beeper collar.
I guess I need th get the Fenix watch to sync with the 300i, but that's another 600.

[Garry L Gordon]

Harold, I'm so glad she's okay. Ears bleed profusely, even worse in cold weather it seems.

I run beepers on the collar with my gps/training collar. It's like a bell to me and I can pretty much tell what the dog is doing by the sound of the beeper. The gps is for the worst case scenario of a lost dog for me.

[Chris Pope]

I'm guessing that didn't slow Doodle down much. It's the head shaking that splatters blood everywhere!

I went to the 300i this past spring not realizing the beeper function was only intended for the dog to hear not the handler. So I too run my old Dogtra beeper at the same time on our almost 2 year old Griff. I do like the 300i however.

A possible consideration for the Fenix is to buy a previous model at a MUCH cheaper sale price than the newest Fenix. My wife gifted me the Fenix 5 Christmas of 2018. It still works perfectly and syncs with the 300i.

[John Dallas]

Let me preface this by saying my Labs never had an electric collar on them, so I don't know diddly squat about them, but it is my contention that beeper collars on pointing dogs alerts the game, and may lead them to learn to flush prematurely

[Dean Romig]

I think the same goes with collar bells John.





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[Harold Lee Pickens]

John, I use the beeper as a locator mode only, I don't even know how to turn on the point signal. I hit the locator only if I can't find the dog after the bell stops. That said, I don't really think it bothers the grouse, Woodcock, or quail, but pheasant probably. I do run a bell on my setters for the past 40 + years and have no problems with that-- I don't use a bell on wild pheasant in SD.
ITS a shame that the Garmin doesn't have an audible beeper.
Chris, thanks for the heads up on checking out the older Fenix.

[John Dallas]

Agreed. Only time I know that a collar bell was helpful was when a friend of mine, hunting solo without a dog, slipped, fell backwards, clanked his head and was partially parallized. Lay there for about 20 minutes when he heard a dog bell off in the distance. The bell got closer and closer, and he began to yell for help. Two hunters came over to help. One was an emergency room doc, and the other was an EMT. They were able to call in a team who strapped my friend to a back board and got him out. Today he requirs a cane, but at least he didn't die in the woods

[John Dallas]

An addition to the story above. The man who was injured in this event sold his gun to a member of this board

[Andrew Sacco]

I use the Garmin TT30 and GPS collar and don't have a beeper, I don't like the sound of a NYC garbage truck in the grouse woods. Just a small bell. But the GPS is invaluable for know where my dog is. Not even being lost, but being on point at 70 yards in gnarly thick stuff that GPS has brought me right up to her and there are times within 10 feet I can't even find her, esp. early season. I wouldn't be without one, especially in Maine.

[james whittington]

Harold, I use a Garmin Instinct when hunting,pairs with my 300i for less than 200 bucks. I clip my hand held to my vest and mostly just glance at the watch. It vibrates on my arm if one of the dogs points..... that's great for me because I don't hear as well as I used to.
Glenn

[Daryl Corona]

Agreed. Only time I know that a collar bell was helpful was when a friend of mine, hunting solo without a dog, slipped, fell backwards, clanked his head and was partially parallized. Lay there for about 20 minutes when he heard a dog bell off in the distance. The bell got closer and closer, and he began to yell for help. Two hunters came over to help. One was an emergency room doc, and the other was an EMT. They were able to call in a team who strapped my friend to a back board and got him out. Today he requirs a cane, but at least he didn't die in the woods

Stories like this just confirm my belief that everyone has a guardian angel that watches over them. What are the odds of a doctor and an EMT that just happen to be hunting in those woods, at that time and had a dog wearing a bell. Incredible story John. Thanks.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

James, which Garmin instinct watch do you use? For a couple hundred bucks I'd try that. I was looking at other Garmin watches, the Fenix that were 700-1000.

[james whittington]

James, which Garmin instinct watch do you use? For a couple hundred bucks I'd try that. I was looking at other Garmin watches, the Fenix that were 700-1000.

I have the regular Instinct, used it all day today, it's great ! You can pick it up sometimes from Cabelas for 179 bucks on sale. You would enjoy it ! I only wear it hunting, it's worth the money in my opinion.

[Garry L Gordon]

I bought my Instinct watch to pair with my Garmin collars and it will alert me to points (and texts and calls and emails…). I wear mine all the time and like the step tracking function. I use the app and track calories, steps, heart rate, etc.

[Dan Steingraber]

James, which Garmin instinct watch do you use? For a couple hundred bucks I'd try that. I was looking at other Garmin watches, the Fenix that were 700-1000.

Howard, I picked up a used fenix 5 a few years ago for $300 ish and wouldn’t be without one in the field. It’s a game changer for keeping an eye on where your dogs are.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Just picked up an Instinct solar this morning at Wheeling cabelas. Probably take me all weekend to figure it out, thank God for You Tube videos.

[james whittington]

One other tip, I strap mine around the outside of my long sleeved shirt,or coat sleeve so it is in plain view when I need to look.

[Dave Tatman]

Add my name to the growing list of Instinct fans. Mine is always on when I'm using the Garmin Alpha 100 GPS Collar system on my setter, Beau. And despite that I'm a bit of watch junkie, I would say that I wear my Garmin Instinct 50% of the rest of the time.

Dave

[Chris Pope]

I agree with straping the watch on the outside of my clothing while hunting.
Also, I have had excellent experience working with Garmin tech support. Sometimes there is a long wait in which case I ask for a call-back. But each time I have called, the support person has solved my problem and been very patient.
One other word of support for the Fenix is that the battery life has been remarkable. No other rechargeable battery device I have used has had the battery life of this watch.
When my 5 needs to be replaced I will look into the Instinct because it is much less expensive. I just need to make certain it will handle one of my other addictions...golf. This is why I wear my Fenix 5 100% of the time.