Do you hunt your dog with a bell?

[Brett Hoop]

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.

[C.O.B.]

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.