Technology

[al baldwin]

Perk technology sure is a big help as one ages, save a bunch of gas & stress for all ages. Yes it helps one become lazy. In this steep brushy country it can at times help with trash issues. Recall a young hound that split from the pack & was working a track in a very rough canyon. I watched on garmin as another hound traveled about 400 yards checked the track out. never opened, turned and headed back to the spot where the dogs had started a very old cat scent. Next time that young hound reached a place where I heard him good, hit him on seven and ended his track. I had driven around from the place where that old cat scent was started to reach a high point that enabled me to tone all the dogs & watch as they all headed in the direction I was calling from. It took considerable time for those dogs to reach me, coming from two directions to reach me. Without garmin I would have never known where the dogs were at. Hope you can get a garmin, used 220 & Dc 30 be bought for about 100.00 a piece, if one is patient & keeps checking the internet. Even an old washed up duffer can learn to use one enough to figure out whats happening at times. I am living proof. Good hunting. Al

[TomJr]

Well trained a few dogs without any tracking or shock collars but that was a few years back. I can't run as fast as I used to so it would be hard to get in front of a deer race to cut them off without collars. I trained several dogs with just shock collars and that made it a lot easier on me. I now have Garmin and its great! I like being able to walk along a trail instead of being right with the dogs going over all the rocks and busting brush. I think its age slowing me down not laziness...

[david]

[david]

Perk, in a discussion on technology, I can't help remembering One of the times I was near the Florida Georgia line. You may have been there. I think it was Bookie that said "some of these areas back here are very remote. It hasn't been that long ago they got electricity and civilization. And some of them only got electricity"

I wish I could make that fit the discussion.

Well in my mind it does. Hasn't been that long since some of us got garmins and logic.
And some of us only got...

[scrubrunner]

I was not a good enough houndsman to teach my dogs to come when I called them before the modern technology, I didn't know a running Walker could be trained to do that, in 40 years of hunting I'd never seen it. I have owned a many a 3 day dogs, in about 3 days they will be back to where I turned em out. I have been within feet of them running and wind up days later getting them, trips back to the woods looking for them. Worrying about them the whole time. Have drove thousands of miles looking for dogs that I really didn't even know where to look.
Lost at least 1 dog a year, never to be seen again with no idea what happened to it. I have only lost 2 dogs in the near 10 years I've had beep beeps and I knew gators got them.
I don't turn out a deer dog without a beep beep and a garmin and don't turn out a fox/cat dog without a garmin.
Now I know exactly where they are 24-7 and can make them stop in full cry and come load up.
No sir, I never want to go back to the old days before modern technology.

[mark]

I think the guys that hunt in big country with lots of drainages and mountains with real sporadic roads appreciate the technology a little more. I cant count the times ive read on here about running with the dogs and keeping them in hearing. I have wore out quite a few pickups in my hunting years trying to keep within hearing of the dogs and there are places around here that is impossible to do even in a pickup let alone on foot. I agree that the savings on fuel and wear and tear on a pickup that the Garmins pay for themselves pretty quick if you hunt much. The greatest invention in hound hunting since the locate tree dog.

[Tanner Peyton]

To answer your questions Perk, I'm gonna say yes and no.

I have to assume at some point in time carpenters we're having this very conversation as power tools started to over come hand tools. I suppose you give a guy a radial arm saw, laser level, or nail gun he's gonna do better then he would have with the older hand tools. Now does that mean he can build a house... naw, but the tech does make him a better carpenter then without and thus allows him to produce a better product. Maybe now he can build a spice rack or something where as before not so much. Hahaha

Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is that some fellas use technology as an opportunity to kick back and produce the same things they always have but with less effort. Others, use the tech as an opportunity to put in the same effort they always have and produce a better product then before. And some guys this as an opportunity to do something they may, for what ever reason, werent able to do prior to the new methods.

Now I'm gonna be the first to say that there's nothing like a hand made chest of doors. And lord knows i can't make a set with out power tools. And I'm in awe of the fellas who can.

With out technology I wouldn't be anywhere near the dog man I am in the amount of time I've put in. Also, I feel as though I might not deserve to be where I'm at and if the technology was taken way from me I'm not sure if I'm gritty enough to make it as a hounder.

[mrburneisen]

I don't know if tech has made me lazier as a hunter, being only 30yrs old I have little experience running dogs without tracking collars. When I was 12 years old, I got my first taste of hound hunting, beagles and rabbits My dad's buddy John had a pair of beagles named Sam and Sally, and I was lucky enough to get to go. I clearly remember those dogs getting out of hearing range and being told to leave my shotgun with my dad and run to catch them. Those dogs did come back, but I remember how worried John was. I could hear the panic is his voice as he yelled for my dad to send me after them. I don't think I would have gotten into hound hunting without radio collars/garmin. In the mountains where I hunt I lose signal a lot, but knowing if I get to a mountain top or at least close enough to get a signal I'll be able to find my dogs gives me a lot of piece of mind. I ran cross country and track in high school, and a 5k race is a walk in the park compared to tracking bear hounds in the mountains of Western NC. I can't always stay in hearing range of my dogs due to limited roads and no atv's being permitted in the National Forest, so my radio collars and garmin give me peace of mind. I'd like to think I'm as tough as Daniel Boone, and could track my dogs through blowdowns and mountains, but if you took away my radio collars I'd probably have a pair of beagles instead of Plotts and Walkers.

[dhostetler]

Perk, you must be the toughest hound guy in North America to be able to keep up with ypur dogs like that.

A certain part of hound hunting was forever lost with the invention of the garmin but I would never hunt without it again. Couple weeks ago I was camping in Idaho and one morning my Alpha went tits up after about 30 seconds of considering hunting without a garmin I decided that is a very bad idea and drove 2 hours to cabelas and sat in the parking lot and waited till they opened and bought a new one.
I agree the quality of dogs probably has gone downhill because of garmin and there are more hound guys involved in the sport because of it. That being said even with the beeper boxes I would lose dogs for days spend lots of money on gas etc. looking for lost dogs.

[dhostetler]

Garmin equipment is not nearly as durable as the old wildlife materials. It takes more maintenance changing broken antennas, keeping software updated and if it you are hard on equipment like I am you need a new handheld every 2 to 3 years.