hunting without tracking collars

[azcoondogs]

How many of you hunt without tracking collars? I have never hunted my dogs with them, sometimes I wished they had them when I misplaced them some nights. I remember the days when I used to go with my grandpa hunting and he ran greyfox and bobs. He would just dump them on the road and still there and listen to them go. When he got ready to go home he just blow the truck horn and they would come back. He end up buying tracking collars and said there handy, but makes you use alot of gas chaseing them around. I cant afford a tracker with kids and all so I take my dogs out run some coon and when I am ready to go home I just blow my cow horn and they come back. Just wonderin if anyone hunts without the collars and trained there dogs to come back to a horn

[HotWheeler]

If you want to hunt in calif you might have to do this soon. I got good homeing dogs just hopethey don't let anybody catch them. It will be hard for anybody to know where I hunt though

[Patrick]

HotWheeler,
Just curious what intel you have on "in calif you might have to do this soon"? I haven't heard anything concerning loss of using what we can now, just failed attempts at getting gps.

azcoondogs,
Your concerns sound right, when we went to using collars long ago it didn't take the dogs long to get where they just expected us to show up and pick them up wherever they ended up. A lot of the homing instinct is not developed when using collars. Training the dogs to come into a horn when you are ready to pack it in (and they are within hearing) has nothing to do with using collars though.

Pat

[TomJr]

I don't have tracking collars but I only hunt from my house so if one is a little slow in getting to me it will find its way home for dinner

I just recently got some shock/training collars and its helped alot, when its time to go home I just tone them and call and start walking and usualy before I am half way home they come running up behind me.

[gak]

I've hunted both ways and prefer using trackers, when running bear your dogs usually end up far from where you turn loose. My dogs will come out to someones house eventually but you never know what kind of people might live there so I like to recover them as soon as possible.