EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I picked up a place that is on the san antonio river.  We have hunted it multiple times and I have lost three dogs over there because the dogs crossed the river with a hog caught on the other side.  If I  hear sqeeling I don't worry I let the dogs have there fun.  But I do have a problem with the dogs comming back across the river.  I have name tags on all them, but what is weird I only got a call on the ugly one, the other two good looking catchdogs I lost don't hear nothing, makes me wonder where they are.   Just kinda strange I think.

May have to do like some of the guys on here do, just have REWARD IF FOUND and your phone number instead of your name. Money is more important to people who'd keep a dog they found then the dog itself.

That makes me wonder about the same thing I lost a really pretty female last thursday about 40 miles away from my house been back three times and she hasnt showed up yet ive lost her before and she always shows up where i let her out. She has my nameplate onher collar but still no calls hopfully she shows up.

Get the name of the land owner on th other side and give them a call.

We have only the words REWARD IF FOUND and our two phone numbers on all of our dog collars and cut collars. My cousin called me last week because he lost his best strike dog in the woods under some "questionable" circumstances. He raised that dog and within reason knows how he hunts. That's not to say that the dog could have done something different this time and you never really know what's going on in the woods. At any rate, he tracked two of his dogs in the same general area on short to medium range. All of a sudden, his strike dog flips to long range and then is off the tracking unit completely (despite his calling the dogs in). One dog comes back and the other dog did not. He tracked for hours and hours walking in the direction he was tracking the dog to, and the dog never showed up, never got back on the tracker. He finally decided to leave and return in the morning but to no avail. He works for himself and was able to return every day for a week and never saw buzzards, never saw hide nor hair of the dog or the tracking collar. His thought was that given the speed at which the dog seemed to go from short/medium range, maybe the dog was picked up by someone. He mentioned that in the area, dog and equipment theft is a little common. It's so sad to say that there are some not so honest folks out there.

We have had folks call us for lost dogs when we have let folks take collars when they didn't have an extra to transport the dogs. We kept getting phone calls from Louisiana and all over the place when folks would find a dog wearing our collar. Ugly dog is the one who really gets the "lost dog" calls. Her name and phone number are on all those cut collars and vests. The number is a lot more visible than the little brass tags on the collars, and your average joe who doesn't know dogs but knows that a pit bull has taken up residence on his porch isn't likely to reach down and spin that collar around to read it. The number on the vest can be read at a distance though. I'm needing to get with my embroidering neighbor to have our info put on our vests and collars in huge PINK numbers. I think someone would be more likely to see that and less likely to steal a highly marked pice of gear. Just an idea though. I suppose if they want your dog bad enough, they aren't going to be worried about your phone number being all over the vest.
M

Sure wished I could afford that chip.  It would be a highlight of my life to be able to go to someones house a retrieve your dog.   Just to hear the stories the person would tell you would be real interesting.

What chip are you talking about Trent

Yeah we went huntin this wkend and i dont have a tracking system yet.  We were hunting a piece of land on the navasota river and i really didn't want to go down to the river bottom for that very reason.  after two unsuccessful runs on the high ground we decided to down by the river.  and low and behold they get on a hog and were gone probably 2 to 3 hours.  finally one dog showed back up and it was gettin dark so i left my jacket and headed for the house.  when we got there one of the dogs was at the house.  and an about an hour later the other one showed up.  They were all soaked head to toe.  I believe they crossed the river.   I thought that were about to lose 3 dogs.  Aint doin that again, I promise you that.  I learned that RIVER=TRACKING SYSTEM

Lawrence.

    You need to buy the Garmin Astro GPS system. Then invite me on a hunt ;D  I really want to see it, but I don't want to shell out the dough for one.  I tried to get Matt to buy one, but he wasn't having it.

I have heard of some sort of chip that gets implanted under the skin, I noticed a sign on the local vet's office that said tracking chips installed here.  I guess it is GPS involved.

lo jack for dogs, cool! :D

Trent, I heard of chips they implant also. When I talked with my vet about them they said it was in case your pet is lost and then found it can be scanned and identified then returned to the proper owner.  or in case of a theft case it can also be scanned.  My local vet did not know of a GPS type chip. 

I would definitely like some more information on the chip you saw.

Not yet, we can only hope. Those are for the little fluffy pets so when they get lost in the city and the neighbor takes the dog to the vet they can scan it for the chip and see who the owner is. No tracking capabilities. We have the technology but no one has tried to make it affordable and for dog hunters.

Doubt any of those hands will be taking the dogs to the vet to get them checked for a chip...  :(

We have any inventors in here, would definately be a hit in the hunting dog world. 

Yup until the wives and girlfriends figured out how to track us  ;D

Yup... a little chip in your T-bone and BUSTED! :o

The "reward" on the collar thing works fine, until people start picking your dogs up that arent lost and wanting their reward.  I would rather people just leave my dogs alone if they see them. 

 Circle C if you make it up to the North land up here I let you try my tracker out.  I like the GPS enough that I think Im gonna get rid of my Wildlife.  Out of the box they are ok but with a little bit of work and cheap parts anyone can make them better. 

they are pretty neat i have had the chance to see kevins in use and he fooled me when he started talking to the dogs with it ;D I thought they really could hear him. That is how cool they are. I was laughed at for a few days for that.

 ;D :D ;D :D  Im still laughing about that. 

Yeah Cirlcle C, seems like we're all waitin around for someone to buy one.  I don't have a tracking system, I guess I could make a good guinea pig.  Now I gotta just find some money.  :D :D ;D  I did talk to a man that bought some hay from me and he bird hunts all types of ground birds and he said they are the best tracking system he has ever used.  He's hunted woods, water, open plain, clear, cloudy and rainy days and he said he never has had a problem with it. 

Kevin, have you had the same results?

KEVIN

What do you do about batteries for your astro?  Do you just run rechargeable AA, and put in fresh ones on each hunt?

there is no GPS but the tech is cool, we use them on deer captures to mark deer for later recapture or when they are harvest to see how big they grow. It's called a PIT tag (Personal Id Tag) and it uses the barcode tech like in the Supermarket. When you see your dog, there is a special scanner you pass over the animal and each PIT has a number assigned to it. So dog #1 is #2569984, Dog #2 is #7951366  etc. etc.

When you see your dog (lets say #2), take the documentation to the Sheriffs Dept. and ask the person with the dog to let you scan him. when it reads the PIT it will show #7951366 on the screen and you got them red-headed.

In the actual GPS, I use 2 Lithium Energizers.  They lasted me about 3 weeks of normal hunting before it showed one bar of battery life being gone.  I normally hunt about 4 times a week. Alkalines work too they just dont last as long.  The collars are rechargeable in the truck or house.  They last any where from I think 17 hours up to 36 hours on a charge depending on what setting you have them on.  I havent had one die on me yet.  I did have one of the collars lose GPS signal for the first time in Oklahoma this week.   I had it upside down under they dogs neck and was watching the dog from about 10 yds away.  it was fighting a hog in a stock tank and when the collar went under water it lost signal.  It still shows you where the collar was when it lost signal so it is no big deal.  It got signal back after about 5 seconds. 

i have a microchip in my tracking dog, i think it cost me a whopping thirty five bucks but i can't really remember.  like somebody said, it's not gonna do you much good for a stolen dog unless maybe for proving the dog is really yours.  it is a little peace of mind knowing that if the right person found him i might get him back that way.  i know if i found a dog i'd get it checked out if there wasn't any kind of id on it.  I heard that last year on fort hood a guy was out small game hunting with his kid and was confronted by a dog that somebody dumped out there.  tried scaring it off but it kept growling at him and kept trying to get between him and his kid so he did what any dad would.  took the dog to the cops on post, dog had the chip and so they found out who dumped him.  dog dumping is a big problem on hood.