ever run hounds without tracking collars

[stymie]

has anyone ever run their hound with out collars?
did hounds come to truck??

[david]

Stymie, beleive it or not, there was a time not long ago when tracking collars on a dog would have been science fiction. And some of us thick headed ones held out for a long time even after they became potentialy affordable. You will lose a dog from time to time. That was just accepted as part of the game. I never lost one for good, but always got it back within a couple days. Those were a tough couple days though.

Used to be a dog without a strong "homing" instinct (to go back to where he was let out of the truck) was a cull, and they were eliminated from the gene pool. Now, people dont even know they have a dog without homing instinct, so they certainly are not going to cull them for that. My guess is that there will be more and more dogs without it.

If you want to hunt without the collars, get yourself a hunters horn and spend some time training your dogs, especially pups, to come to it. There is a way to train them that coming to the horn is not optional, and they will show up quickly if they can hear it. (and they can hear it sometimes when you can not hear them). If you want to do that, send me a pm.

Also, make sure you have good clear name tags on their collars. Say, "please tie up" on it along with your phone. you can also add the word "reward" if you are willing to give a few bucks for the help.

We have been without the collars a lot longer than we have been with them, so you can certainly learn to opperate that way if you want to. There will be a lot more of those times when you are asking your self why in the world you do this sport, but you can do it and raise up some fine hunting dogs. Any of your old time hunting heros did it. You can too.

Trash breaking and good voice control is essential.

[Hound 1]

I know some old timers that did it, I have forgot to put them on or pull the magnet in the snow, and just followed the track out, and a couple times bear hunting and luckly they were close enough that I could hear them. If your hounds leave the tree to come back and sind you that is not good, better off running collars.

[rich h]

I started bear hunting with hounds back in 1968, mostly hunting alone. Not many roads back then either. Didn't get telemetry until 1979 or 1980.
What a blessing.

Before telemetry you would not want to hunt in high wind...you'd never hear the dogs. Had one dog that spent days in a coyote trap. Unable to save him when I did get him back. Could have found him if I'd of had telemetry back then.

Its kind of an untold story how many dogs were saved because they had a beeper collar on...

[Mr.pacojack]

Very well said David, I am right along with you there. Guess that makes us old timers

[larry]

Just saved myself an extra night in the mountains because of em. Headed back to the truck at dark after following em all day. One dog spent the day and night out, but I knew where he was and where to keep looking because of the beep, and he showed up quite a ways from the starting point, and I sure wouldn't want to not know where to look for him. It also told me that the dog was in the same place every hour til 8:00 am the next morning. Wind was blowing and mountain acustics can throw barks all over the place at times. If the dog hasn't moved, it will help you to determine what the hell it might be doing as well. Did the other dogs show back up torn up? Is there a chance the dog might have died? The tracking system can give you a good idea what is going on, and what to do about it. I have to much time and money tied up into em to not keep tabs on em if I am not with them. Get a tracking system

[Kevin D]

Used to be a dog without a strong "homing" instinct (to go back to where he was let out of the truck) was a cull, and they were eliminated from the gene pool. Now, people dont even know they have a dog without homing instinct, so they certainly are not going to cull them for that. My guess is that there will be more and more dogs without it.

Trash breaking and good voice control is essential.

In the pre-tracking collar days, a good dog was judged as much on its ability to be found at the end of a hunt as it was at catching game. I never did cull for a hound's lack of homing skills, but then again I didn't have to.........sooner or later they disappeared on their own and removed themselves from the gene pool.

I was hard headed enough back in the early days to resist getting tracking collars. "Trashing collars" it what I used to call them. Like David said, trash breaking, voice control, and the physical ability to stay with the dogs on a race was all that was needed.

It took me a while, but eventually I swallowed my pride and bought me a tracking system and I've never looked back. Anymore, I wouldn't even consider letting a dog out of my kennel without one.

[FullCryHounds]

Back in the 80's when I started, there was several guys that I ran with that didn't own a tracking collar. I know one of the guys still didn't use them up into the mid 90's. We would put our extra collars on his dogs for him.
I wouldnt' put a dog on the ground without one today.

[Idcurs]

Untill the mid 80's I though all hound hunters were in great marathon shape like I was.One of my buddies got one and I thought this would never work till we put one on a young tom lion to train with.What a great time we had with that lion in the next few months.Now I am fat like most older hound hunters and never let a dog out with out a tracking collar.I still know of a few that hunt horse back that don't use a tracking collars.I still loose a dogs now and then but not near as often as when we didnot use tracking collars.

[horshur]

Blessing perhaps but....................I have seen where the dogs are turned loose and then the Yagi is attached, box turned on, and they sit or drive and you listen to them God Dammed beeps all frigging day. No thank you.
Also..............they don't have a clue what there dogs are doing or what the cougar has done it is all speculative. The stories defy the imagination.
I heard it said the other day...I don't hunt that country there are not enough roads. He figured there was a road every 5 miles or so. Lazy bugger and if you do the math that is more like a 2.5 mile hike to the dogs if they tree in the middle.
Use of electronic aids make a trophy ineligible for Boone and Crockett.

[Smiley]

Stymie , the cost of tracking equipment will be quickly , especialy now with gas prices , be made up for in gas saved either looking for your dogs or going a long ways away to pick up your dog from some do gooder.
There are to many people out that will pick up your dog and take it home and call from over 100 miles away saying i found your dog it looks like it had not eaten in a week.
Save yourself time and money and be responsible ( as you can ) get the equipment .
Put it this way I spent 75 dollars on saturday on one lion hunt If I had turned out late in the day and had some misshap either a split tree or got on a traveling lion ect... I would have to leave dogs on the mountain ( some places just should not go in the dark to dangerous )
so if I had to go back up and get the dogs I would spend another 75 plus probably miss work well that is half the price of a collar or the price of a used one.

[HoundDawg]

I recently had a dog die about 10 or 11 years old, and that dog never knew what a tracking collar was until he was close to four years old.

So I really haven't been using them all that long. I stood under just as many trees before I used tracking collars as I do now.

Honestly, the only reason I bought tracking collars was what Smiley said. I lost two dogs that got over the top of the mountain, and it wasn't in my backyard. They were gone for six days and the gas money I spent going back and forth probably could have bought me a setup.

My wife actually told me I should buy some tracking collars because they would probably pay for themselves over time in gas money. But old habits die hard, I hate getting the box out and only do it as a last resort.

But my dogs were pretty good at trailing themselves back out and I left many a jacket laying on the ground, and found many a hound curled up sleeping on that jacket the next morning.

I still bring two coats on every hunt, just out of habit. One to wear and one to leave on the ground where Kevin's dogs sucked my pack into an elk race.

So they are handy and nice to have, but I can live without them.

[BigGameHunter]

I let em loose just the other day without tracking collars but I have to admit it was my mistake that I forgot my collars and by the time I realized it I had already found the track. When I first started hunting I hunted without collars not because they wern't around but because I didn't have the money to buy them. I don't lose to much sweat not turning them loose without collars. I like following behind the dogs listening to them work even with the collars on. Many times I end up hiking a few extra miles cause I end up walking instead of taking the roads but like I said, I enjoy listening to and watching my dogs work as much as I do standing under a tree. I do have to say once in a while on those never ending hikes in waist deep snow I cuss at myself, but I must not be to bright cause I keep doing it. Truth be told, I cuss myself anytime I let them go without collars. My suggesstion? Get some collars! But don't call it quits because you don't have them ethier.

Oh yeah.....and all my dogs but one have always come back to where I let them out sooner or later, and that one....who the hell knows where he is now. Not me.

[pete richardson]

i have found some dogs that would have died a pretty slow death if they werent wearing a collar-- found my buddys best dog once- hanging upside down in a fallen tree- another in a well -- sure u can hunt without them -- but i dont want to - even if i find a dog dead-- at least i know and can stop looking--

have had tracking collars for 27 years-- in that time i lost 2 dogs --1 i found the collar torn off him --and buried in the leaves

the other just faded out of range --id seen dog in road just before that - pretty sure was stolen


- i had a dog hauled off once-- and returned after season was over--months later --
found the collar then-- under 4 ft of snow -


if you have to ,buy collar or collars first

borrow reciever if u need it

-- just be sure to get right frequency

[Ike]

I ran into a young man and his father a couple winters back on the way out of a canyon after making my morning cut for a lion track. They stopped and asked if I had seen two bluetick hounds on my back-trail, to which I answered no. That young man had turned those dogs loose on a travelling tom lion that was headed into an area void of roads and access during winter months. Those hounds had been gone for eight days and most likely died unless they trailed out.

A couple years ago I started a bear for a buddy that ran off unit before my seven hounds stopped it. We started into the hounds but quit them as dark fell and ended up leaving them on the mountain. The next morning (Saturday) three dogs came to the road, then three more on Sunday morning. But my bitch dog Rowen never came out and I walked in several days after work attempting to pick her up with no luck.

Finally on Thursday I got a day off and walked close enough to her she hobbled in on three legs. She had broken a toe and would or could not come out, so I put her up on my shoulders and carried her to the truck and vet. She had a 104 or 105 degree temperature and would most likely have died had I not had a collar on her. It just doesn't make sense to not use a tracking system with the cost of hounds, training, vehicles and gasoline these days...............

ike