Bell or Beeper

[JJK]

Which one do you guys prefer for a pointing dog?

How does each one affect birds, grouse and pheasants?

I have a Sport Dog beeper and I'm not sure if I like it. When he points it sounds off every second and I'm wondering if it spooks birds. Now that I can see my dog further in the woods I might switch to the bell. We haven't pheasant hunted yet so I not sure which one to use for them.

[311Hemi]

Neither.....I like the silent approach. But I am not hunting behind a long ranging pointing dog either.

[Dave S]

I've used both. The beeper sound carries farther than the bell and some beepers will even switch over to a hawk scream when the dog goes on point. This is to get the birds to sit tighter/longer (in theory). Works good for dogs in training but a seasoned pointer wouldn't need the hawk scream IMO.

If your dog doesn't range out too far or is rock solid on it's point, a bell will suffice.

The biggest selling point for me is cost. Less than $5 for a bell or $100 for the beeper?

[pureinsanity]

I train my dogs to go no more than 50 feet from me...

[CaptainMusky]

I train my dogs to go no more than 50 feet from me...

Good luck with that!

I prefer the beeper collar if you are hunting with a pointing dog. A bell is pointless when the dog goes on point.

I have a tritronics shock/beeper combo (upland edition) and I can turn the beeper to a screech as was mentioned above, which is actually what I use.

The most important thing IMO is being able to turn it OFF or ON remotely.

I dont leave it on all the time, only turn it on when I lose sight of the dog, then once I locate him, I turn it off. Not because I have found that they spook birds, but because I just like to sneek in.

A beeper can be scary to a pup or a new dog. So if you do go that route, put some tape across the opening of the horn and work with your dog that way for a while to get them used to it. Once confortable, take the tape off.

[rwwong]

I don't like either of them, my dog doesn't range too far, he's steady, and I have him in blaze chest protector so I can always see him.

[NoWiser]

I've used a beeper and/or bell for my britt for the last 5 hunting seasons. It really does work nice, but I get sick of listening to it after awhile. On calm days I prefer to listen to the bell and set the beeper on "point-only". If its really windy and I'm having trouble hearing a bell, then I use the beeper in dual mode. I guess I'm just a little paranoid and want to know where the dog is all the time in case he gets mixed up with a porcupine or wolves, or who knows what else. Since I like for him to be hunting out of sight most of the time, I think I'd go crazy if I didn't have one or the other.

As far as spooking birds go, it doesn't really seem to have much of an effect on grouse and woodcock. Sometimes for those late season roosters I think you are better off going in stealth mode.

PS, if you train your dogs to stay within 50 feet of you, you are missing out on a lot of birds

[Pinusbanksiana]

Dogtra has the best on the market now. Trainer, beeper combo is what you want. Can turn it off, point only mode or point and run mode which beeps every 8 seconds or so while dog is running and constantly while on point. I ran a bell too, but unless I put it high on the back of the collar, it beat up my dogs legs real bad. Some guys run both and you can tell if your dog is cheating this way.

[pureinsanity]

Good luck with that!

No seriously. when he gets out to about 50 feet or more he stops, looks back to see where I am and than continues on.

I hate hunting with dogs that take off on a scent trail. It ruins the hunt in my opinion. I need more fingers and toes to count the times a dog took off on a scent trail and I tell the party to call their dog back and they don't because its "on a scent trail."

yes its on a scent trail but it also just made 3 birds flush 300 yards in front of us.

I will stick to the 50 ft rope training method. Dogs stick close and don't flush birds prematurely.

[Dave S]

My lab doesn't range much more than 50 feet either. Not because I intended to train her that way, it's just the way it worked out. If she gets on a scent she still keeps pretty close but never out of gun range. Atleast not yet.

[Tom7227]

I have two Dogtra beeper collars and set them so that they only beep when the dog is on point. They have a feature that allow me to use a beep to locate the dog if I want. I had been using the locate beep to get the dog to come back to me but then I found that he took the beep that was for a point as a sign to come back. I switched to a nick to get him to return to me.

The Dogtra rig allows you to change the level of stimulation with ease, switch from the beep every 8 seconds to only beep when on point, the whole thing remotely.

I tried the bell and I found it as disturbing as the beep every 8 seconds thing.

[2thepointsetters]

I use both. Depending how I am hunting I will pick one over the other. I also think dogtra has the best pointing dog collar.

And to all the flushing dog guys that say neither. Thats a good call because if you dont know where your dog is, what is the purpose of hunting with it.

[grousehunter]

50 ft. and 300 yards are a pretty big difference. I normally let my Chessie range out 40 yards or so in the pheasant field...a lot further then most are comfortable with flushers, but when hunting alone I want him to cover a lot more ground and he tends to work birds back to me as well. Once on a scent trail I can whistle sit him if hes getting way to far out and catch up then release again. My dog would go crazy only being able to range out 16-17 yards(50ft).

The answer to the original question for pointers is Astro

[Pinusbanksiana]

The whole flusher vs pointer argument. The way I see it is if you map where you hunted with your flusher it would look like a 50 yard swath around where you walked. If you mapped your pointer, it would include quite a lot more country.

[tybo]

I don't know how the birds react to the beeper. I use Dogtra and have the collar on run mode (beep every few seconds) in the early season when there's a lot of cover. In late season when it opens up and when pheasant hunting I use point only mode. I tried bells and they drove me absolutely crazy. That constant ringing drove me nuts. I really like my Dogtra 2500 series. I have two setters and one is a bit bigger running than the other.

[leech~~]

The beepers work for what they were made for but "God do I hate" hunting with them. The sound just seems so un-natural out in the woods or field compared to the tinkle tinkle of the bell. IMO.

[Harmonica Bear]

I run a beeper collar, most of the season I run it to beep every 8 seconds and then constant on point. Haven't noticed it make a differnce with the birds (grouse anyway, late season pheasant a different story). it's an old (20 years?) collar and it doesn't beep or hawk screech like the newer collars, its more of a mellower tone. Only annoying when the dog is right next to you. I used to run a bell (love the sound), but at times couldn't tell if the dog was on point or had run over hill and was just out of hearing range (especially on windy days!). And then there is the "what the heck, is he's on point, where did I last hear him?" scenario.... In real thick cover, even a tall dog like mine can be tough to find on point.

Curious as to why run a beeper collar or bell on a flushing dog?

[CaptainMusky]

The beepers work for what they were made for but "God do I hate" hunting with them. The sound just seems so un-natural out in the woods or field compared to the tinkle tinkle of the bell. IMO.

Which is precisely why the need to have one that turns off at the remote. I used to have a beeper only and it was annoying as hell. Now I just push the button on the remote to locate the dog when he stops moving, turn it off again and walk in.

How far a dog ranges differs greatly if you are hunting a point dog vs a flushing dog. If a flushing dog ranges past 50 yards you are in for trouble. A pointing dog should range out a good distance to cover ground, but when birds are located hold a point. If my pointing dog only ranged 50 feet, I would be disappointed because he would not be covering the ground he should.

I have seen tremendously well-trained pointing dogs range for HUGE distances and lock solid on point. It is important that they are not PUSHING the birds, that is the key when they go out ahead.

If I walk with a couple guys, my dog will range about 100 yards to either side (with me in the middle) so this covers the distance between all of us, but only about 40 yards out.

It never gets old watching dogs work, as long as they are not chasing the birds it is more satisfying that shooting something.

[pureinsanity]

The whole flusher vs pointer argument. The way I see it is if you map where you hunted with your flusher it would look like a 50 yard swath around where you walked. If you mapped your pointer, it would include quite a lot more country.

My dog flushes and points. He also zig zags, so hes covering a lot more ground than you think. I am not saying one dog is better than the other, or pointers vs flushers. My dog is just trained to go back and forth and not out to far. Occasionally he goes on a binge where he does take off. But he doesn't take off like a pointer does, So I can keep up with him pretty good. I hate to call him off a scent, but sometimes you have to do it.

[JJK]

I've used both and lost track of him with each one. I set the beeper to run/10 seconds or point only mode. But it's such a piercing sound, even the hawk scream. I might try some tape to muffle it a bit. The bell is the small cow bell, and I can't hear it very far off. It's pretty mellow and I don't mind that sound as much. I prefer less noise,or as little as possible. Just curious how all this noise affects the birds.

Thanks

[Dave S]

The whole flusher vs pointer argument. The way I see it is if you map where you hunted with your flusher it would look like a 50 yard swath around where you walked. If you mapped your pointer, it would include quite a lot more country.

My last lab would cover every inch of ground infront of 100 hunters if he was the only dog. On average, a good dog will cover 7-10x more ground than the typical hunter.

I usually zig-zag as well to cover more ground. I also try to keep a slower pace to allow the dogs more time to work an area. I've kicked up many birds that have tried to circle back behind us through the grass by zig-zagging an opposite pattern as the dog. A few hunters together, doing the same makes litle chance for birds to sneak through hunters on the ground.

[setterguy]

When running one dog I do like the sound of a good low tone bell. None of this brass [PoorWordUsage] from GM. When two dogs are on the ground it is almost impossible to run bells on both. The sounds drown each other out and you can't tell where one bell stops and the other starts.

I didn't think I would ever get a beeper collar, but my very next purchase is a Dogtra 2500 T&B.

[JJK]

I've been messing around with both, and now that visibility is better in the woods I think the bell is the way to go. But I think that this bell can be heard only 50 maybe 60 yards away, with very little wind.

[pureinsanity]

They should make GPS's for your dog. Real live hand held that shows the dog position. That way you pointer guys will always know where your dog is when its 400 feet ahead of you

jk

[rundrave]

They should make GPS's for your dog. Real live hand held that shows the dog position. That way you pointer guys will always know where your dog is when its 400 feet ahead of you

jk

they already have that its called a Garmin Astro: