New GPS tracking system on the market

[Steve White]

BIG J- I hunt in the same area you do from time to time. Had very little problem with range at all. May not be able to track a dog from your cabin that is sitting up at MJ's, but have not found a box that could do that anyway. After a bail out in the last 45 mins of legal hours. Went on foot in the middle of bear square. Hoping for the best. Of course it did not work out that way. Really was surprised a bit to be able to track them 2.3 mile away as they played near riley. Even had no problem with the dogs as they went into the bootjack Yet just a few days before could barely track a dog in the middle between while up high by the oak study. Had to get on top of my box with the quicktrack all the way up to get a beep. No signal at all from the the road on east side. You know what a pain that piece is!! Dogs were hung up somewhere right around where the creek keeps you from getting all the way through. My dogs were not in there. So it was just a guessing game the whole time. Them boys from TN will most likely have some Garmin stuff soon I bet.

I tracked and ran all over that area this past kill season. As that was the only tags I had. So put a real good test on everything I had. Best distance I got was when we ran a wolf from the oak study down to turcott. Now that is a long cruise to get to them. Especially the way turcott is right now. Talk about tooth rattling!!

Always fun hunting in the federal isn't it!!!

[BIG J]

The best range I got was with the Mag ant. of my marine and the collar hanging on the dog kennel post up about 6 feet. in the early spring w/ no leaves. I had up to 7-8 miles intermittant and finnaly 14 at the top of one of the highest hill we have, called the high ground. (The highway goes over the top) Yes this is not your normal hunting condtions but it was good to know driving to that hill I could get alot more range.

[Ike]

Guess I better find one of those long range antennas after making a little test hunt the other day. My dogs left out up over a cedar ridge and I lost them just under a mile, drove out on top and picked them up 1.2 miles at the furthest point. Sorry but with the factory antenna a mile is a long way.......

ike

[BuckNAze]

You will definetly want a long range antenna, the factory one on there is really worthless unless you're just coon hunting

[Steve White]

It does all depend on a lot of variables. All of which I have posted many times.

Just yesterday though I seen something that floored me a bit. I have been using the stock rubber ducky when walking into the dogs lately, or on the sled. As it fits nicely in my pocket that way. I had just got out of the woods walking out a track. I checked the Garmin to see where my one partner was. I did a double take. Then radioed him to verfiy his location. He did, and I said Holy )*&^%!!! I checked again. Asked him if again if he was moving up a certain road. Yes, was again the answer. Now he wanted to know what was up. From in my truck I was tracking his dogs in the box at 2.6 miles. He looked at his and told me where I was sitting. Was by far the best I have ever seen from the factory rubber ducky. This was a pretty clear day. Partly cloudy, and high clouds.

Now the day before in the same exact area. Clouds were real low. 3" of snow had fallen the night before. Lake effect snow was falling with high winds. Had a hard time tracking much over 1.2 with the longer rubber ducky. had to switch to the portable long range antenna for the first time this winter.

See the difference?? Atmospheric conditions played a huge part in radio communication! Also noticed on these days with our VHF radios both truck and hand held!! Would have been the same with the beep beep stuff. As all radios are affected by the atmoshpere. Part of why us old CB'ers could talk all over the world with the skip. A real pain to try to use a CB radio to hunt with all the skip!

I listened to another group of hunters today having tracking problems. With the beep beep stuff. They could not get much more than a mile. At one point the dogs were 1.3 miles from them. They could not get a beep out of the dogs. They guy with the Garmin knew where they were. These were 219 collars. So perhaps that frequency was being blocked by the atmoshpere today. I did not notice anything today. As I hunted alone, and never got more than 900yds from the dogs.

I will say this about today. The dogs had caught the yote, and were bayed solid. I could hear them pretty good from where I was at. They were just inside of a swamp across the clearing from where I was at. It was 897 yds to the dogs from there. I went down the road to where I was 387 yds from the dogs. When I got out of the truck. I could barely hear a dog at all. Even at 100yds in the thick popple slashing/swamp hole could hardly hear them. So WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS!!! Without the garmin. I would have walked the 897 yds to the dogs where I could hear them the best. Double the walk in knee deep snow! Thank you Garmin!!!


No radio in the world is not without it's issues, but than again neither am I

[hounddawger]

I checked out that site and I beleive that I'll stick with my garmin. I can use my garmin for much more than tracking dogs. That unit looks pretty cheesy to me. and who wants to run home and down load all that information on their home PC to see what your dogs are doing anyhow!!!!!

[coop74]

I run a garmin in New Hampshire.
Mix of terrain so I would not say line of sight.
I did have to buy the long range antenna.
I have never lost track of dogs with this system.
A couple of other guys have them and like them.
My partner ran my two dogs with his old system, I spent the whole next day looking for them seems his batteries died at the same time.
Very rare yes but the old systems don't give you battery strength.
Tree switch I found to be very sensitive.
Put it this way, I did not sell my old system, I put Mr. 12 Guage to it.
I had never made it to a bear tree with my dogs with that system.
Guys with better systems such as fish and game told me about the trees.
Buy the time we found the dogs they had pulled off the tree, were roaming in the road.
Not anymore, I love my Garmin.

[larry]

Hey Steve, you ever figure anything out on piggybacking tri tronics to Johnson??????

[BIG J]

I piggybacked Johson to tritronics. You have to have an exp tritronics. Good things is that it works bad is that you lose a lot of collar space. you can't tighten up the collar on a small necked dog. You slide the shocker down to the ant. Another bad is the shocker rides up on the side of the neck, But it still works! You also need to fasten the antena of the Johnson somehow to the rest of the collar. The shocker makes it stick out. This is what I did and it seemed to work.

[Steve White]

Like Big J said. It works with the exp collars, but not on small necked dogs so well.

[doghunter]

Any new news on the Marshall stytem

[Houndhead]

Any new news on the Marshall stytem

Not since yesterday!!

[dandavidson]

I just purchase one, I havent had a chance to test it yet, but will update you when I test it out.

Dan

[doghunter]

dandavidson

I look forward to your report.

I hunt mostly from a truck and was wondering if you hooked it up to a lap top in the truck that has mapping if it would report in real time on the map(like the garmin).

I also wonder if we would have the same problems with burnning them up like the Garmins because they operate on the same frequency as Garmin (MURS).

if the gps range is better than garmin, I can hook it up to lap top and get real time tracking/larger screen and they dont fry this would be the system to go to.

I am holding out until October running Garmin with a Telementry collar as backup hopeing Marshall will come out with their telementr/gps combo or Garmin will come out with a new unit that will not have all the current problems with range and frying them.

In around october when all the hunters come back into the woods I expect my unit will loose range and get fried just like every other year and i will be back to depending on my telementry collars.

[Dads dogboy]

Doghunter,

I doubt that Mr. Davidson has a Marshall GPS System!

Marshall's website does not discuss it. My sources will not discuss it. A friend in NC who is buddies with Dennis (Marshalls new Hound Rep) can get no new info.

Come by Camp for a visit!

CJC