tracking collars vs. GPS

jbc67 · Post by **jbc67** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:45 pm

I am looking at getting some tracking collars and was wondering if any of you had some suggestions. Also, I was wondering if anyone has tried out any of the new GPS dog tracking systems, and how they work for ya.

Shorty · Post by **Shorty** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:29 am

Well I don't have a GPS. As far as tracking collars, I'm a Johnson fan. Either the C or D model depending on your needs. Good collar, good service, and about the best tree switch of all that I've tried. Good luck!

pig snatcher · Post by **pig snatcher** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:40 am

I own a wildlife box and wildlife, quick track and johnson collars and have used them for years with no complaints out of them

I have used the gps system once, we turned out two dogs. The first lost his vest which landed antenna down and was difficult to find, the second lost signal and we were unable to track it untill the collar was brought back to the gps unit. So on that one trip I used it, it was worthless.

I think it is a good idea but needs some modifications. Until then my dogs will run there good old radio collars.

Just my experiances.

Copper · Post by **Copper** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 2:25 am

I haven't used the GPS system but the battery life isn't very long so I wouldn't use it without a tracking collar on. Plus they only reach five miles if your lucky. But it might be worth it to know exactly were your dogs are at and were they are headed.

Longspring · Post by **Longspring** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:28 am

The smaller range sold me on keeping my johnsons . A couple miles is no good to me .

dllhoundcompany · Post by **dllhoundcompany** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:22 am

Every thing I have read about GPS is it works in the perfect condition. If your coon/bear hunting well your in tree canopy and will have reception issues. And that is not worth it for me. My brother asked me what the best tracking system for him. Well I told him buy the GPS system from Garmin and it would work for him. Reason he does not hunt coon/bear. He is a Duck hunter and Pheasant and that’s it. His dog is either in the boat with him or walking the fields. The GPS system will work great.

If you have the money go with Marshall you will not regret it. I have it and its perfect. Every hunter has there own personal opinion. Go with one you can afford and works for you.

GPS I think has a few more years before it really ready for the Hound hunter.

Just my 2cents and its been awhile since I check in on this site. Been busy with family.
Looking for guy down south Marty if your around send me a message.

houndogr · Post by **houndogr** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:57 am

I own a wildlife trx 3 and gps. I still run my wildlife collars for backup. I've had the gps since last November, i've had to use the trx 3 maybe 2 or 3 times to find my dogs when the gps failed. I haven't been able to get signal out to 5 miles with it, the best i got was 3 miles with the roof mount. The good thing about the gps is you know exactly where your dogs are. It saved me a lot of walking a few times, knowing that they crossed a road that i could drive.

nmplott · Post by **nmplott** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:27 pm

when I was going to buy a tracking system I did a lot of research on it. I talked to some of the guys who field tested it, tried ti with a buddy and still did not get the range I thought it would, it only gets a few hundred yards regularly and a few miles once in a great while. My buddy uses it as a locator, he puts a regular radio collar on and that gets him in the right direction and then uses that to pin point the dogs. Some of the testers agreed it was prematuraly placed on the market and it requires some modifications for hound use but works great on rabbit and bird use.

Mt. Dog · Post by **Mt. Dog** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:27 pm

I have had no complaints with Johnson Telemetry. Good collars, good service.
Have a friend that has a Garmin GPS system. Works good in open type country, sometimes not so great in sharp canyons, could use a little more range.
He modified to a collar with a weight to keep it upright, works pretty well that way. Kinda fun to watch the GPS screen to see exactly where dogs are and where they have been and how far to the tree.
It's a great idea that needs a little more tuning and I'm sure someday it will be a tool to really help find missing hounds faster.
As for now, I'm sticking to my collars and yagi, besides I still love to follow those hounds anyway!

beaverbill · Post by **beaverbill** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:47 pm

i use both on the dog if 1 goes dead i have a back up

cathuntr · Post by **cathuntr** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:54 pm

wildlife box for hard to find dogs that r more than a couple miles away! tracker box for walking behind ur dogs or dogs that r close to u! and johnson or wildlife collars i think give the best range in the canyon country!

DesertDweller · Post by **DesertDweller** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 9:04 pm

I started with johnsons, tried other brands but I won't buy anything but johnsons anymore...

Mt Goat · Post by **Mt Goat** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:58 am

I found on my GPS unit that even if you lose the signal the arrow on the compus still points in the direction the dog is at, even if you lose the map and or yardage indicator. That said right now we have only been using it backed up with Johnson collars

Next month Garmin is suppost to have their new collars out. Heres a link: http://www.lcsupply.com/Brand/Garmin/Ga ... ar-30.html They say the range has been extended to 7 miles. On this other link from an e-mail I got it says if you order the new collar before August 15 you will get a $50 rebate, Link :

http://www.lcsupply.com/images/email/ne ... public.gif

Larry Lowell

nightowl24 · Post by **nightowl24** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:16 am

i've hunted with three systems, garmin, innotek, and quicktrack....best radio unit you can buy is quicktrack. great range, you can get a great signal through interference, and you can pick up any freq collar. the customer service is second to none as well. if you go radio i would highly suggest the quicktrack, but it is going to cost you some lettuce.

innotek is nice. if you don't have a lot of money i suggest this one. i use it now and i have tracked my dog a good distance with the crappy innotek collars. if you get any other collar your range is the same as most all the other really expensive units. it isn't the easiest unit to work, but once you work with it you can pinpoint where your dog is extremely easily. i've pinpointed my dog up to 5yds of where he was standing.

garmin is my favorite. we hunted in pretty dense areas and we only lose reception when they go in water, then the come right back up. my buddy made modifications to the old collars and he gets great range out of them. our dogs don't go 5+miles so we don't need a system that goes that far. the information that we get after the hunt helps us out so much that it's hard t go against the garmin. my biggest selling point for the garmin is you know where your dog is and where your dog is going. all our dogs were in but one, so we called him. we knew where he was and could tell when he was coming in and when he was going the wrong way. everytime he went the wrong way we were able to call him to get him back on track. that saved us a TON of time.

basically speaking you only need to know where your dog is when you can't hear him. almost all the units with a really good collar will point you in the direction of your dog. you just need to be able to get in hearing distance, again most all of your units will do this. the bells and whistles are the extras. if i were you would look at your terrian(canyons, flat area, dense trees, etc) then i would look at your dogs(close, med, long) and pick the system that works best for your combination of terrain and your dog's ability. if go radio make sure to get top notch collars and you will be fine. if you go garmin you won't get the range of the radio collars, but you get a lot of extra stuff.

broncobilly · Post by **broncobilly** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 1:23 pm

Twice in the last year I have had a dog that couldn't respond, one due to heat stroke, one due to injury. Both times the tracking collar got me in to within 30 or 40 yards, then the bounce got so bad that I couldn't pinpoint it any closer and it ended up taking hours actually finding the dog, even though I was within 40 yards the whole time. When I finally found the heat stroked dog he was still alive, but had already stiffened up and there was no pupil response. I had enough water with me and was able to save him, but I believe that I was with 5 or 10 minutes of loosing one of my best dogs. I didn't find the injured dog till the next day, I also saved him, but it sure could have gone the other way.

Now I use both a radio collar and a garmin. I modified the antenna on the dc 20 and get 3 to 7 miles in most terrain. I am also going to give the dc 30 a try when they come out next month. Since I started using the garmin with the modified antennas, I have not had to use the radio system, but I still have it in case its needed.

Bill

tracking collars vs. GPS

tracking collars vs. GPS

Cost vs Reliably