calling on lost dogs

[Circle C]

KEVIN

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

[Russ]

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.

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.

[kevin]

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. 

[catchrcall]

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.