who runs without tracking gear?

[Yaak attack]

Bent, after what happened to you at Sunlight, I hope you use tracking gear. I still have that black and tan Lionman hat you gave me when I came down and picked up Lonnie's white cat.
Mel White said he caught one in a culvert today. Cat bit his dog in the neck. 18 staples, and punctured the housing for the electronics. Another dog saved by a tracking collar. I really am suprised by how many people will hunt without using it. I know we all did at one time, once I used it I could never go back. Marshal, Garmin and tritronics has allowed me to keep a few hairs on my head. With all those land sharks out there It just makes the thought of leaving dogs out unappealing. I spent more to repair one wolf chewed dog that I have spent on three complete set of tracking gear.

[Emily]

I'm no lion hunter--just bears and coons and an occasional bobcat--but I think a lot of the decision depends on where you hunt and what is out there. Where I am out east, the biggest risk is that some well-meaning person picks the dog up, collar or not. There are no wolves here, although some of the coyotes around here are as big as wolves. There aren't many roads, either.
I try not to turn loose without collars on, but my hounds occasionally get out of the yard on their own, and I occasionally dump them on a hot track near home without their tracking collars. I'm confident they will come home when hungry enough if I can't find them.
I don't dump them on a hot track without collars when they don't know the area. Even those of us that started hunting when electronics were available know we need to know how to find our dogs without the electronics because the electronics occasionally fail--either because we didn't charge the batteries enough, or because of rough terrain, or some other malfunction or human error. I know my dogs will stick near my coat if I leave it out for them--but there are times when they can't get back to it for one reason or another.
There have been times when I was using a beep beep collar that I spent hours looking for my hound on the wrong side of the ridge because of bounce, went home in tears, and found the dog curled up on the front porch waiting for dinner. There have been times when my dogs had a beep beep on and the guy I turned out with had Garmins on his, when we could get signal on only one or the other. There have been times when I was just listening to the dogs and went up the wrong ridge because of the echos.
I can't fault a guide who is after a B&C cat for a client in an area his dogs know well for not using equipment that could save the dogs' life. I'd charge that client plenty extra, though. As someone above said, the tracking equipment has more than paid for itself in vet bills and emotional wear and tear on me. The dogs love to hunt no matter how they're collared. Its up to us to be the brains for them. I like to give my dogs whatever safeguards I can, but the real commitment is to finding the dogs no matter what. I know and trust mine, and if they don't come back there's a reason and I'll find them at whatever cost to myself.

[switzie]

I do have wildlife box battery are all dead on the collars haven't been able to send them in yet. Did buy a new DC 40 coller I use it when somebody hunts with me with a garmen. Hoping to get a garmen january. It does bother me because been seeing a pair of wolf tracks in my hunt area.

[Big Horn Posse]

Brent, I have the DC 30's and DC 40's and like the DC 30's better, but both are a far cry from the old telemetry escpecially in the canyon country like you hunt in. No bounce and you can pinpoint them exactly. You can also tell if they are trashing or not by watching them. I also like the fact you can see roads that you might have not known were there to get into them easier. Much easier on the knees lol. I was up in your part of the country a few weeks ago. It was like going home again. Didn't find anything, but seen your tracks from the day before. I have been hunting areas we used to hunt up above where I used to live in 2003. Haven't seen any of the old guys around. Where did everyone dissapear to? I would love to go hunt with you again one of these days. Miss the good old days.

[Yaak attack]

Here is the rest of the story. The outfitter found his dog after nine days. The lion caught and killed his dog not far from where they turned out. He fed on it and was long gone after nine days. The young dogs never did line out. With collars you could have found the dead dog took the young dogs and ran him off thkill That way you kill a dog killer and you your client kills a cat and he does not have to come back a third time. They claim the collar would not have saved the dog so tracking collars are still not going to be used,

[Rookie]

We don't

[Bdog]

Yaak

If you can afford some type of recovery system I would recommend it because any system is better than nothing. I too have hunted with and without collars and have lost dogs because I couldnt find them for a multitude of reasons. However, collars have saved my dogs and others, many, many times IE: traps, bluffed, picked-up and hurt to name a few. I will not turn my dogs out without a gps and a telementary collar on them even in snow because I hunt hours from where I live. Two weeks ago I found one of my buds dogs after several days out in freezing weather, stuck in a bobcat trap. For the new/young houndsmen just starting out I have seen several guys on here donate older collars or sell them cheap just to help out. If you are young and just starting out I might donate an older collar if you pm me and I feel you are truthful.

Just my two cents
Bruce