What do your dogs have on when grouse hunting?

[ruffbritt4]

What do you like to have your dog wear when grouse hunting? (bell, beeper , e collar, gps) I run my dog with an i.d collar, e collar, and a garmin astro. I stopped using a bell but might go back to it.

[rinker]

I do not live in a region that has many grouse, but I take a week long trip each year to hunt grouse and woodcock. My dogs wear their normal flat ID collars with a bell on them, a DC30 Garmin collar, and a tritronics ecollar. Depending on training stage, some also wear a second tritronics ecollar on their flank.

[polmaise]

What do you like to have you dog wear when grouse hunting (bell, beeper , gps)

Nothing but a Smile !

[mrtyde]

My dogs wear an ATS- Sonic beeper and depending on the dog sometimes an ecollar.

[HUNT 24/7]

Garmin Alpha

[CDN_Cocker]

E-collar just in case we run into something we shouldn't

[Grange]

On my setter I use a bell, Dogtra e-collar with beeper and Garmin Astro. The bell is on the Dogtra collar and the Astro collar has a name tag. On my lab I just use her normal collar.

[Mountaineer]

What do you like to have your dog wear when grouse hunting? (bell, beeper , e collar, gps) I run my dog with an i.d collar, e collar, and a garmin astro. I stopped using a bell but might go back to it.

Why did you stop using the bell?
Just curious.

To answer your question involves the reality that all ruffed grouse hunting is not the same, at all...whether it be hunters, dogs, terrain, cover, etc.
Each particular can make what we each choose to put 'round a bird dog's neck on any given day important and correct for each individual.
The answers will likely illustrate that if one investigates a tad.

On two of my setters, I run a bell and an Astro.
The Astro for when bad stuff happens to good dogs and the bell for instant understanding of where and what is happening.
On the third dog, he wears an additional e-collar as he was an older dog new to me and he can believe he has a mind of his own.....naturally he does but there are limits which will make all involved...happier, when limits are established.
Naturally, an I.D , et al is to be expected.

[ruffbritt4]

What do you like to have your dog wear when grouse hunting? (bell, beeper , e collar, gps) I run my dog with an i.d collar, e collar, and a garmin astro. I stopped using a bell but might go back to it.

Why did you stop using the bell?
Just curious.

To answer your question involves the reality that all ruffed grouse hunting is not the same, at all...whether it be hunters, dogs, terrain, cover, etc.
Each particular can make what we each choose to put 'round a bird dog's neck on any given day important and correct for each individual.
The answers will likely illustrate that if one investigates a tad.

On two of my setters, I run a bell and an Astro.
The Astro for when bad stuff happens to good dogs and the bell for instant understanding of where and what is happening.
On the third dog, he wears an additional e-collar as he was an older dog new to me and he can believe he has a mind of his own.....naturally he does but there are limits which will make all involved...happier, when limits are established.
Naturally, an I.D , et al is to be expected.

I heard it would spook grouse, and I like the quiet. Probably gonna use the smaller of the two bells I have. Can still hear this bell at 100 yds in good conditions.

[Mountaineer]

...I heard it would spook grouse, and I like the quiet. Probably gonna use the smaller of the two bells I have. Can still hear this bell at 100 yds in good conditions.

No, the bell won't spook the grouse.
The grouse will hear you and the dogs with or w/o a bell.
The grouse "spooks" or moves if it feels it has reached or is in a degree of cover where it does not feel safe.
Liking the quiet is understandable though and with the coming of the Astro, people do use quiet as one excuse for the Astro purchase these days.
However, many folks find the traditional nature of a grouse bell somehow correct and it can have advantages as noted.
Remember, bells have been worn by grouse dogs for over a 100 years and to the tune of a lot of dead grouse.
If a grouse moves....it will not be the fault of the bell and...who wants to kill 'em all anyway?
That last part will one day become very clear to you.

[ruffbritt4]

...I heard it would spook grouse, and I like the quiet. Probably gonna use the smaller of the two bells I have. Can still hear this bell at 100 yds in good conditions.

No, the bell won't spook the grouse.
The grouse will hear you and the dogs with or w/o a bell.
The grouse "spooks" or moves if it feels it has reached or is in a degree of cover where it does not feel safe.
Liking the quiet is understandable though and with the coming of the Astro, people do use quiet as one excuse for the Astro purchase these days.
However, many folks find the traditional nature of a grouse bell somehow correct and it can have advantages as noted.
Remember, bells have been worn by grouse dogs for over a 100 years and to the tune of a lot of dead grouse.
If a grouse moves....it will not be the fault of the bell and...who wants to kill 'em all anyway?
That last part will one day become very clear to you.

I never want to kill all the grouse. I wont even shoot at a bird if the numbers in that cover are low. I will probably go back to the smaller bell so I can hear him instead of looking at the astro.

[Max2]

Living in grouse country and loving to hunt them sometime I will run without a bell. if you know where pup is why would you need the bell (late season mostly) I have tried it originaly just to see if the grouse were less spooked & we could be more stealth like. (IMO) no way ! grouse hear or see you coming no matter what you do. Ever try & walk to your deer stand as quiet as you can. This question came up on another site recently & I just want to say for what ever reason that on opening day and I put the dog in his game and hear the bell....... it's music to my ears !

[gonehuntin']

Ecollar, Astro, I.D. With cell phone #.

I hate noise in the woods. One of the great days in my life is when the Astro was developed so I could trash me "bleep" bells and beepers. I believe I get closer to and kill more birds now, especially pheasant. You kill so few grouse that I'll take all I can get.

The orange vest is HUGE. It lets me see the dog at a distance and close on the dog more effectively.

[cutty72]

Same as any other hunt, ID collar and E-collar for my lab, add a beeper on the GWP.
Orange vest during deer season.

[Grange]

if you know where pup is why would you need the bell (late season mostly)

A bell can tell you a lot more than just the direction of your dog. Assuming you know your bell well it can tell you the approximate distance of your dog, the direction it's moving, how fast your dog is moving, and even what your dog is doing (i.e. working scent).

When I first got a bell it was a large bell that I can hear 300+ yards I hated it. I didn't like the sound and said it was only going to be used for trials. After I learned the benefits of the bell I learned to like it. Even after I got my Astro I kept using it. I've tried hunting with out the bell to see if we found more birds or if the birds were "spookier". The first thing I learned was that I hate not having the bell. I found myself looking at my Astro to see where my dog was since she is a bigger running grouse dog and I don't see her much of the time. Being distracted with the Astro kept my eyes off my lab who is a much closer running dog and that cost me birds. The second thing was I had to handle my dog more. The third thing I learned is that I found just as many birds with the bell as without and not having to focus on the Astro kept more focused for the birds my lab found or even a wild flush. I now have multiple bells and each one has their uses.

My biggest concern with the bell is how it will affect my setter's hear as she gets older.

[Rod W]

Alpha 100 w/ nameplate on her flank, just her 2nd season. Bell around her neck. I got so I literally despised the beepers and I think the beeper is the way to ruin the dogs hearing. If we pay attention to the bell, it can tell us exactly what the dog is doing.

[jack the dog]

Alpha Dog, ID collar, orange vest. Oh, and like someone else said, a big smile.

Gave one eardrum to Uncle Sam a long time ago and the other ear still rings, so without stereo hearing it's hard to tell where the bell is in thick cover or in rough terrain as here in WNC, so the Alpha Dog works much better for me than a bell.

[gonehuntin']

[quote="Rod ] If we pay attention to the bell, it can tell us exactly what the dog is doing.[/quote]

Truest quote I ever heard: "A bell stops working when you need it the most".

[Grange]

That really isn't a big deal most of the time. During trials tracking or beeper collars aren't allowed thus when the bell stops we just walk toward where we last heard the bell. I have yet to lose my dog. When hunting I can use the locate feature on the ecollar If I can't find my dog on point.

[Firelight]

For grouse hunting I like just a small brass bell that I keep on a collar and slip over the dog's head as we leave the truck. I can "read" the sound of the bell on individual dogs and know a lot about what they are doing, often including if they stopped hard on point vs stopped just to relieve themselves or sniffing something. I can hear it well yet it isn't the loud sound of many other bells. However, a number of men that I have hunted with have difficulty hearing the higher pitch of the brass bell.

[JKP]

For grouse hunting I like just a small brass bell that I keep on a collar and slip over the dog's head as we leave the truck. I can "read" the sound of the bell on individual dogs and know a lot about what they are doing, often including if they stopped hard on point vs stopped just to relieve themselves or sniffing something.

+1

[Wildirishman64]

My GSP has a small brass bell and Garmin Delta for locating and stopping unwanted behavior I.E chasing deer