EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Seeing two different members with lost dogs this week has me wondering what most are running for tracking collars.

I try to run both Garmin and Radio collars on my dogs, with the occasional exception being the catch dog.  There seems to be a trade off between the features of the Garmin vs. the reliability of the radio collars.

just garmin 

Just Radio

just garmin.

Just garmin

garmin and tracker.  rarely need the tracker, but when i do, i really do.  last time i needed it, my best dog wouldnt come in and i had to work the next day. the garmin only had 25 percent battery left.  i left a shirt for the dog and went home to get some sleep.  i slept a lot better knowing that tracker would still be transmitting in two or three months.

i found her on my shirt the next morning on my way to work.

Garmin only. If I didnt have midget dogs...I would run both.

can i vote in three areas? ???

i currently don't have a tracking system, but i used to run straight radio..and in the next week or two i'll be getting a garmin..lol..i voted no tracking device cuz currently i don't have one.

just Radio

I had 2 Garmins,both were junk so I went  back old school.They are great when they do work right.Maybe I got 2 lemons.

Y'all fellas just running the Garmin are brave.

I have a Garmin and a Quick Track... all dogs wear both collars. No dog gets turned out without a radio collar, but they will without the Garmin.

We've lost dogs on several hunts, that without the radio collars, they may not have been found. Chris told a good story on it a while back, his dogs were five miles away.

Last week, we dropped dogs off the radar at .86 miles, one popped up for a second at 1.31 miles... still heading north. The only way to get to them was on foot. After a while, I pulled out the Quick Track and tracked them... they looped back to the south-east about a mile or so. If we had headed north on foot, we would have never gained signal again on the Garmin. Harry's two dogs only had a Garmin on, since we knew the other dogs were that way he drove down and got a signal on them. They ended up being picked up around three miles or better from where we first lost them.

I love the Garmin to death, but I'm not risking my dog's lives on it.

Garmin

Just Garmin, with the long range antenna. :)

Radio

I agree mike, thats why i just run Radio right now. READY FOR THE MARSHALL SYSTEM TO COME OUT

do your midgets not go very deep?  ive heard some can be as long range as a hound or cur.

I run both we have not had my Garmin that long!!! My wife thanks it hung the moon but I have had to pull oh faithful out several times because they run off the garmin!! It is a neat thing and takes alot of guess work out but when they run off it or get in a deep hole that wildlife will find'em!!

Just radio, can't afford the Garmin.

Garmin and Quick Track on bay dogs.  Quick Track only on catch dogs.

Just Garmin these days.

I used to run both and still have radio collars, but no longer have any dogs that require them.

The GPS technology works really well in this area and I have no issue maintaining signal out to 3/4 of a mile. Nor do I have any issue picking signal back up when I get back in range. And, our country is pretty easy traveling.

With the two dogs I am running now, I don't really have to worry about loosing them. If I loose signal, I just move in that direction and pick them back up.

Steve

Just radio, right now, still a little skeptical about the garmin :-\. especially in these mtns. seems that everyone is going that route. been thinkin real hard about it, might get one with income tax ;) was kinda waiting to see if someone came out with one that had longer range and battery life.

We use a Blue Box, and a tracker system but would like to try the Garmin out too

Hillbilly I used a Garmin up in the panhandle and it was pretty much useless when the hogs would bay in some of those small canyons.Luckily the hogs up there arent dogged alot so they dont run very far.

garmin

I use my old radio stuff. It never lets me down

The Garmins are neat as can be but I just dont see buying one until they come out with something reliable enough I dont have to run my radio collars too. ;)

I run both on the dogs running loose, radio on catch dog. In flat areas the Garmin is great but in hilly areas it sucks. I hunt some old mines and I have trouble with the Quick Trac sometimes. I have one place where I loose service with Garmin around 450 yards because it is so thick. Have to go towards the last signal to pick them up again. Have heard discussion about the new Marshall but I am happy with the Garmin. Would be nice of they improved battery life and range.

I run both DC 30's and Johnson's on the baydogs and just a Johnson on my bulldog. But it is rare I have to use the Magnum box and Johnson collars. I have the long range extendable antenna and the truck antenna for the Garmin and it is rare to lose them, usually over 2 miles. But I'm still not comfortable turning them out without both due to collar failure or leaving one out over night, I may not be able to go look for the dog till after work the next day. Pushing the battery life on my DC30's.

I use both..... Garmin is cool but the radio is long distance.

just garmin love em

i use the dc 30 and usually lose my dogs about 1 mile and i am in flat country not much brush
 

just got the garmin, so I'm using both.  had a dc 20 crap out on me last hunt but had a telemetry collar on the dog too so I didn't stress too much.

garmin all the way i have run 6 and 8 mile runs and i always get my dogs

SETXPLOTT,
    How are you keeping up with your dogs on the Garmin with 6 and 8 mile runs?  Are you keeping close(within range) to them by truck/atv/boat? Or do you just keep going to the last spot they had signal?


 

   Garmin,   also carry the extended antenna

I have two long range and two probably medium range midgets.  ;D All will stay on a hog and have for 5 + miles.

I do my best to stay within range of my dogs. I have the magnetic antenna hooked up to one garmin on my ranger and the regular antenna (with the long range extended antenna as back up) hooked up to another Garmin.

Also have a 40" whip antenna as back up. If I get to a higher elevation I can usually pick up 2-3 miles. It has never been a problem but my area and terrain allows me to navigate pretty well and I do my best to stay as close as needed to my dogs.

So how does the radio compare in price to the Garmin?  and what exactly are some differences? I know how the Garmin work but not the radio.

Radio, lost the magnets to the collars and the batteries are still good after 6 months.

Garmin only! Never had a problem out of them. Of course I see no reason to let a dog get much over a mile from me. When they start getting out that far we head to them. We run a hog this weekend for a little over 5 miles and with a long range antenna never lost the dogs for more than a few minutes. Ended up going back the truck and loading up and driving to a different location. The card also helps alot for situations like that.

I learned my lesson this weekend on running a garmin collar. I have lost my best dog, Booger, in the woods this weekend. Something weird happened. He ran hogs for a little over two miles, stopped and ran his track back in, he got to a certain point and I went to him. The garmin showed me to be about 100 yards from him it showed him treed and in a sitting position and all of the sudden lost signal. Never picked up signal again and havent seen Booger since yesterday about 10:30 am. I have searched the woods following his tracks and nothing. The garmin in my eyes now is a pos! I charged the collar over night and it had a full charge on it. Its like he just disappeared.

we run garmin and havent had any trouble at all so we are stickin with that maybe its cause we keep up with our dogs the whole hunt so we can see the action and roll out fast on another one

I second that Tnhillbilly.

I love my Garmin but loose my dogs regularly on it in flat country. Every time they bay in a creek, divot, ditch, or get over the smallest of hills I loose them. Southeast Texas would be considered flat as a pancake by the hillbillies Im kin too.
I've had them get up to over 5,6, and 7 miles away in flat country and still get them with my long range antenna as long as they dont bay in a hole.  

I see everyone saying they keep up with their dogs.

What if you have two or three dogs going two or three different directions?

What if they go somewhere you can't keep up?

What if an emergency happens and you have to leave and come back the next day... the Garmin will be dead?

Just a few thing to think about, but many won't realize it until it happens to them.

Theres alot of what if's. I cant really say what you would if you had dogs scattered all over. Its happened and we have always found them. I have been hunting for about 8 years and have never had the dogs go somewhere I couldnt follow. As far as an emergency someone in our group would always stay. We would never dessert the dogs. Theres always things that could happen. Heck I have lost 2 dogs in the last 3 months from my house.

Mike I wish you would stop it!!!! Im gettn all paranoid now!!! :o

Seriously though that is some dang good points and thing I've been thinking about lately.

I let one of my under the feet, wont get out and hunt cur dogs out a few weeks ago with a partially charged collar one and didn't realise it until he was gone.
I was a little panicked to say the least. Im back to researching radio systems again.