tracking collars questions

C

coloradoultramag

New member
I am wondering what style of tracking collars you guys use radio or gps. I will be hunting in rough country with big ridgelines and big cannyons for bobcats and lions. The gps collars sound more convienet but I do not know if they have enough range? Is the gps tracking strength cut down by ruff country like a radio collar? Do most guys use radio collars or gps? I am a rookie and hoping to learn from the vetrens on this site. So any tips would be great.

Does anybody have any feedback on Van Johnson's dogs out of Cortez, CO?

Thanks, Gabe
 
Gabe, I hunt as nasty a country as you can find, and I am tryin to decide if I should switch from"beep beep" to Gps. As soon as I get caught up alittle cash wise, I'm gonna buy "1" gps collar, and receiver, and try it. I hear lots of good reports about the new gps systems, but I have to try one before I will recommend, or cuss them.
As for Van's dogs, His reputation is good. There were two of his bred dogs for sale here about a week ago.I just bought two more cat dogs, and the guy I bought from spoke highly of Van. I don't know much, just sharing what I have heard.
 
I have hunted with Van for the last 15 years and he always has top dogs. However those "top dogs" bring a top dollar. The dogs Van sells are Okay but I would look else where for a dog in the 1000 dollar range. If van sells one for a thousand it would be one you could buy else where for 500 Van uses his reputation to sell marginal dogs at a premium price. Van breeds some of the best dogs I have ever hunted with but there are alot of guys with his bloodlines out there.
I have used radio collars for years and have been very satisfied with the performance.
I was the guy selling the 2 Johnson breed dogs a couple of weeks ago. I sold the pair for 1500, Van would have gotten at least double for the same 2 dogs.
Good luck buying your dogs. You are in for a ton of fun and frustration, but it will be worth it.
 
I breed and train most of my own dogs , but I do buy dogs from time to time to fill gaps in my breedin. The last two I bought came from Utah.The guy I bought from is not a "dog jock" and sells very few dogs.I was lucky to get them.I won't post his info without his consent,I hope you understand.
Just so you know, 1000$ Won't buy much of a cat dog.You need to look at how much you want from a dog, and how much are you willin to pay to get it.Granted you may get lucky with a "cheap dog", but the odds are , "you get what you pay for".These are just my views, I have played the dog game for a few years. Many guys here have more experience than myself, and hopefully the will share some insight.
 
Duane@ssu I was wondering what breed your new "cat" dogs are? Since were looking for the same thing. Don't worry about posting his info.

The $1000 dog was a hypithetical number pulled out of thin air by colofireguy. But I am thinking a $1000 would get me a broke dog that has treed a handfull of cats or lions? Wich would work for me because then I can get out and hunt this year. Insted of trying to train a pup for next year and put my master plan back a year. By the way anybody got a master plan laying around I could baarrow?

Thanks again, Gabe
 
Marshall collars and recievers are the best out there they are expensive but like Duane said you get what you pay for. http://www.marshallradio.com/. Gps has alot of bugs still but the guys I have talked to that are using them say they are great but they do not replace the tracking collars.
Do your self a favor and buy the Marshall and ad to them with the gps.
Pup =$350
Dog food for a year to feed it =$360 +
Gas for the year to train it =$7500
training fee for the year or a mans wages @ $400 a month =$4800
Vet bills for the year if your lucky =$150
$13,160 is what you can expect to pay for a year old dog and that is for a year old started dog, so maybe you can understand why Van charges what he does. I don't know of anyone that hunts his dogs harder and more than Van does so if you want a dog that is doing what a man says he is doing pay the $1500 and get one from Van and if you aren't happy with it Van will make it right with you. Many Guys that sell a dog are just like Duane said " Dog Jockies" Be careful, a guy that holds a full time job and has a family is going to be hunting on the weekend if his wife says its ok. A guy like Van that the dogs are his full time job and his family couldn't tell you what he looks like will have the better dog. It is NOT just reputation it is a LOT of hard work and devotion to the dogs.
 
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Marshall collars are tops in my book for max range. I've used West Coast, Johnson, and Wildlife collars but my buddy's Marshall smashed them when you NEEDED it to.
 
Rolly, I have used them all too and like you said they just smash the others and they are so user freindly. I had a dog hit by a car with one of them on her and she was drug under the car on her collar for about 75 feet and with one of those other tacking collars with the plastic housing I would have had to send it in to get repaired but not the Marshall, it took some paint off but kept on working just fine
 
ok here is my best tracking collar picture. you have to read the name on the collar if you can if not it says Marshall

oi6owh.jpg
 
I use the marshall 10 dog and the tracker maxima 5000 and like them both but for the range the marshall reall out does the tracker the tracker is nice for carrying with you at all times saves time running back to the truck if wanting to check and see were they are and for cat hunting very seldom do you ever get a chance to be close to the truck when you really need a tracker well hope this helps some.
 
Here's my take on tracking systems:

The current GPS systems are nice but have limited range and relatively short battery life, both which equates to lost dogs. A lot of guys that have them still use their old tracking collars as back up.

I strongly recommend 16,000 hour batteries for your collars. You can tell as much about where your dog is by strength of signal as you can direction. If you're getting a weak signal with a 16,000 hour battery, you know it is because your dog is a long ways away and not just because you have a run down battery.

As far as receivers, I don't know any that I'd absolutely stay away from. My old reciever was a Wildlife Materials and it gave me 18 years of reliable service. My hunting partner has a Marshall Stealth and it is a good receiver. Though accuracy and range aren't as good as the bigger receivers, I like the Tracker Maxima for it's portability. My current receiver is a QuickTrack QTR 6000, and I absolutely love it.

Most tracking system companies put out a good product and I don't think you'll go wrong with any of them. Just find the one that best suits your area and hunting style and you'll do just fine.
 
The old blue box and a marshall collar is about the best set up you can have, unless you hunt with a lot of different collar frequencies, then I'd sway to the Icom R10 so you call track all collars. You lose some range, but with the booster you are fine.
 
i have two collars with the garmin system. get good range out of them with the hand held antenna. battery life is not long so that needs to be considered also. the biggest plus is knowing right where the dogs are. not a big deal but kinda cool. plus the garmin has a topo map on it, so it makes it easier to find road in unfamiliar country.
 
My buddy has the Garmin and he likes it but still runs a regular tracking collar on them too because a lot of times the gps doesn't have the range. Like russd said the topo map is nice and can save a guy a lot of walking in country that he doesn't know.
 
i like the tracker maxima with a marshall collars...and i change AA batteries after every other hunt. tracks good always.. there are a few bugs left in the Garmin gps and...like everything else...there will be newer and more advanced models too come...i will be waiting and saving until that time comes
 
my garmin gets as good of a range as my buddies maxima. that is with the hand held antenna. got up to 5 miles one day. another bonus i found out today is i went back to a spot where the dogs crossed the road and could tell which dog was on the tracks they weren't supposed to be on. i have two dogs and they both show up as different colors on the screen. one thing to be sure to do tho is pic a different id in the gps.
 


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