Do you hunt your dog with a bell?

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Mills Morrison

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

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





.

[Tom Flanigan]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

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





.

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.

[Dean Romig]

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.





.

[Ed Norman]

[QUOTE=Dean Romig;258645]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.

Dean, I started using a seperate beeper collar on my brittany. When I first would turn it on, he couldn't even go potty without it going off, he hated it. The breeder suggested turning it on after he went potty, then for only a couple minutes at a time. Each time I turned the beeper on, I said "go find them" finally he understood that when I turned the beeper on he got to go hunt and not be called back all the time. Now after he goes potty, I call him over and as soon as beeper goes on he tears out into the woods almost breaking my finger. I always say "go find them" when I turn on his beeper. Hope this all makes sense.

[C.O.B.]

The beeper function on my collar only goes off when the dog is on point.

[Big D]

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.

[Mike of the Mountain]

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.

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by Mike Koneski

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 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.

[Gary Laudermilch]

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.

[Elk Hunter]

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.