I asked this on another forum a few months back. For those of you that hunt pheasant in the really high thick cover do you use bells or beeper collars? I find it's best to hunt the small patched of cover if possible, but often find myself in a river bottom neck deep in cattails...where it's not possible to know if your dog is on point. Thanks in advance!!
I occassionally hunt cattails, but probably hunt more CRP than anything else. A beeper collar or bell would be helpful in locating my dogs, but I personally find them irritating to listen to. The beeper collars sound like heavy machinery backing up. If I had to use something it would be a bell vs. beeper collar. Guess for me it is a trade-off, I would rather loose the opportunity to take a bird or two just so I do not have to listen to repetitive sounds all day in the field.
Wildflugel
Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail.
I am a fan of beeper collars. The last two that I have owned can be turned on and off with the remote so I don't have to listen to the beeping all day. If I am in thick cover and I can't find my dog I just turn on the beeper. My first DD was such a hard pointer she would've starved to death waiting for me to flush the bird, and when I didn't know where she was the beeper collar was a big help. Another topic is getting your dog used to the beeper before you start using it in a hunting situation (pretty easy but necessary). Tom
Never understood bells, were noisey all the time when you wanted to give commands, harder for dog to hear. Then when on point goes silent? Now how do you find them? Seems Azz backward to me. Beeper collars only way to go. Can even set to Hawk Schreach when on point, helps hold birds. Makes hunting so much more enjoyable not having to ask where is the dog all the time when you have nothing on them.