What range do you prefer, etc.?

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Stoneface
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What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by Stoneface » Sun Jan 15, 2017 12:36 pm

1. What type of cover do you typically hunt?

2. What kind of range do you consider ideal for the type of cover you hunt? (Please be specific, give yardage.)

3. Do you use a Garmin? Would you like to if you don't?
Last edited by Stoneface on Sun Jan 15, 2017 3:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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ezzy333
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by ezzy333 » Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:25 pm

I usually hunt small fields with fairly heavy cover.

Range depends on how far the birdy objectives are and where we are finding birds.

I have never used one but it would be great when needed.

fishvik
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by fishvik » Sun Jan 15, 2017 4:46 pm

1. Tall grass, cattails and low shrubs.
2. Up to 100 yds on large fields and big swaths of public lands, closer when hunting heavier stuff.
3. Never used a Garmin, don't need one.

setterpoint
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by setterpoint » Sun Jan 15, 2017 5:02 pm

thick aspen cutovers..yards 100 any thing over is getting a bit to far ..yes i use astro and bell

Mountaineer
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by Mountaineer » Sun Jan 15, 2017 5:25 pm

1) clearcuts, appalachian hardwood and UGL aspen..of varying ages; set aside programs; shortgrass/wheat stubble.....along with deep waterways, fence rows and other bird cover that naturally side any of the first three.

2) I let the dog fret about the distance but last season surprise points ranged from 20 yards in the Yoop to 700 yards in Kansas.
The 700ish was odd....and obviously it showed and surprised me on the Astro....pulled up the map and Sonny was over by the next road.
Average working distance.....probably 100 to 150 yards.
I like to put 'em down where there is a good chance of birds.
People actually fret about footage, eh?

3) I, as above, do collar up an Astro.
But, as above, I am often surprised as I do not often consult it and I can not hear or seldom feel the point indication.
I lost a pup overnight once, on a zero degree night, thru my owmn stupidity and choose an Astro for when bad stuff happens to good dogs.
That it can also help at the rare 700 or even 300 yard points....is simply a bonus and not a driver.

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bustingcover
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by bustingcover » Sun Jan 15, 2017 6:58 pm

1. Riparian and conifers for grouse, switch grass, open low shrub plains and mountains, thickets and hedgerows.

2. Because my covers vary so much in this state depending on the type of birds I'm hunting my range varies but generally 100-400 yards out is fine if the birds are holding. My dogs currently hunt at a shooting dog/gun dog pace. Range out and work objectives then come back to check in if there are no birds. If there are birds they'll either hold or chase/keep hunting.

3. I run an Astro when I have one dog on the ground. Astro and bell on the second dog if I've got them both out but I hate the bell. The constant clanging ruins the day for me. I got the Astro because I was tired of the noise of the bell and tired of losing my dog when he was only 40 yards away. I can mark my covers and enjoy my walks with the Garmin, periodically checking the handheld to see what the dog is doing and how far out he is.

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Vision
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by Vision » Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:38 pm

Range is irrelevant. A Dogs intelligence matters

QuillGordon
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by QuillGordon » Sun Jan 15, 2017 8:28 pm

Give me a hound a hundred yds In the grouse woods and three hundred in Chuk country

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bustingcover
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by bustingcover » Sun Jan 15, 2017 10:11 pm

Goodness some of the posters on this site come here looking for an argument it seems like. That wasn't even the question.

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tekoa
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by tekoa » Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:33 am

For the last 40 years my preferred range for the dogs (Setters) has been 400 to 600 yards in short grass prairies and spring creek ravines hunting Sharptails and Huns. Last year I got old, lost a leg and hunted this season on a prosthetic leg. Suddenly range mattered a lot more.

I only hunt in the morning now when the wind is lowest. My Setter, who is even older than me, quickly figured out that I was way more useless than usual and shortened up his range to stay in touch (which even at the age of 13 is over 300 yards on the prairie) to 75 to 100 yards in tall grass and wind under 10 kts.

I bought the very first Garmin Astro that became available many years ago and still use it today. I use it now principally for finding the dog when he quits hunting birds and takes up his second favorite hobby which is chasing weasel critters.

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gonehuntin'
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by gonehuntin' » Mon Jan 16, 2017 6:28 am

Stoneface wrote:1. What type of cover do you typically hunt?

2. What kind of range do you consider ideal for the type of cover you hunt? (Please be specific, give yardage.)

3. Do you use a Garmin? Would you like to if you don't?
1).Typically grouse woods with a couple trips to the Dakotas.

2).Grouse woods 100 yards or so, pheasant not over 200 yards.

3). Yes, I've used a garmin since they came out and consider it my most valued hunting accessory other than my gun.

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Elkhunter
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by Elkhunter » Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:04 pm

1. All sorts of country from cheatgrass hillsides to CRP country to ditch banks for pheasants.
2. 100-800 yards
3. Yes.

QuillGordon
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by QuillGordon » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:57 pm

Ditch banks fer pheasants @ 800 yds?
Them ditch banks lead to roads.
Bests be careful which ditch bank with a 800 yd hound;-)

jeff shumaker
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by jeff shumaker » Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:12 pm

Hunt crp fields some big some small draws and fence lines
I like a dog with big motor some range always bring a dog in can't usually make them range

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birdogg42
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by birdogg42 » Mon Jan 16, 2017 10:50 pm

Elkhunter wrote:1. All sorts of country from cheatgrass hillsides to CRP country to ditch banks for pheasants.
2. 100-800 yards
3. Yes.

Even though you have a shorthair as your avatar. You sound like a guy I would hunt with anytime!! I'm in the same boat as you buddy. (Don't take offense to the Gsp remark)

Mike

mnaj_springer
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by mnaj_springer » Tue Jan 17, 2017 9:56 pm

1. Pool stick aspen and alders, native grasses mixed with lowland willows

2. I'm comfortable with my dogs range. She's anywhere from 40 to 120 in the grouse woods and punches out to 200 or so for pheasants. I'd like to see what she would do on big rolling prairies.

3. Love my Astro (sweet sweet silence!)

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Gertie
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by Gertie » Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:58 pm

1) I mostly hunt bunchgrass/sage/rock but occasionally hunt agriculture land for pheasants and Huns but once in a while I hunt forest for grouse, and sometimes (when I'm lucky) tall grass prairie for sharpies.

2) Range depends on the bird and the cover. In open country I'm fine with a broke dog running 800+ (visibility and trust are factors) but in heavy cover they should shorten up to accommodate. It's more about how much I trust the dog, the time it takes for me to get to where they are, and the likelihood of the birds to move before I get there. Lots of weird factors come in including weather, the amount of hunting pressure a given area receives, topography, etc.

3) I almost always use a GPS collar.

As with any question worth asking, the answer is "it depends". Turns out bird hunting, as with most things, are situationally dependent.

cjhills
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by cjhills » Wed Jan 18, 2017 5:49 am

Dakota prairies and cattails, Minnesota Grouse covers and northern Montana.
Never have given range a lot of thought. I like dogs that do what it takes to find the birds. I like Marathon dogs as opposed to sprinters. I guess my preference would be hundred 300 yds tops, generally.
I really liked beepers when I used to have hearing. Now I use a Astro. I am a bit technologically challenged and wish I knew more about it but I get by.........Cj

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nhachman
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Re: What range do you prefer, etc.?

Post by nhachman » Wed Jan 18, 2017 12:20 pm

Here in the MO/KS area I hunt all kinds of cover. Narrow fence rows, ag field edges, prairie grass, old (idle) ag fields, ditches and creeks, timber edges/islands, etc. Many of the areas I hunt have a combination of cover types that each can hold birds.

The answer to this question is variable. The way I like to hunt is usually solo or with one other person. When I approach a hunting area I survey the landscape and decide what my walking path is going to be in order to cover as much ground as possible without walking over the same ground twice. As I'm moving through the area I want my dogs to hunt the objectives where birds (talking mostly Bobwhite quail here) are likely to be. I want them to cover all of those objectives that are within a couple of hundred yards from the path that I am walking. I don't care if my dogs are always to the front as long as they are hunting objectives in this manner.

I have had a Garmin Alpha since they came out and I don't hunt without it. The sooner I know I have a dog on point the better my chance of getting there before the birds leave. Since my dogs work pretty close, I usually don't need to use it to know where they are.

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