Bought some piece of mind

[finsfurfeathers]

So Nova has always been a bit of a conundrum. Though he has been a woodcock/grouse machine, he's got legs and ranges further than I'm comfortable. Always thought the best thing for him is a tracking collar to keep tabs on him when eyes and ears aren't enough. By happenstances was viewing bass pro's fall flyer and saw the garmin astro 900 on sale for $500(basically 1/2 price). Jumped in the jeep and went to check it out. Got to the dog section and didn't see the item and figured it was another one of those no stock sale they are famous for. Went to the gun desk and found out they had them behind the counter. Grabbed one plopped down the cash and now feeling a little bad for the birds as now Nova will be having a much freer handle this fall.

[finsfurfeathers]

So got out for a run this morning a bit to start fall conditioning(not only for the dogs but myself too) and get a feel for the tracker. First impression doesn't have the immediate sense of where the dog is and what's it doing however to answer the question "is he coming back at range?" pretty good. Found myself barking alot less now that I can verify where/what he's doing when out of sight.

[swampsinger]

Peace of mind is priceless. Hope you have an enjoyable upcoming season.

[Marker]

The Astro is a good unit, I ran one on my dog for years with no issues, as a side benefit you can sync your dogs collar to other astro hand held units if others you are hunting with have one, this is good if your dog gets out of range that way there are two hand held units you can use to look for the dog. The sync needs to be done at the start of the hunt with the collar close to the hand held unit.

[huntervinni]

Are you still using your bell along with the astro?

[finsfurfeathers]

The Astro is a good unit, I ran one on my dog for years with no issues, as a side benefit you can sync your dogs collar to other astro hand held units if others you are hunting with have one, this is good if your dog gets out of range that way there are two hand held units you can use to look for the dog. The sync needs to be done at the start of the hunt with the collar close to the hand held unit.

The 9000 will only syn with other 9000's.

Are you still using your bell along with the astro?

I dropped the bell a while ago when I went with the beeper. Plan will be still ecollar/beeper and the gps collar behind.

[ninepointer]

Been using my beagle's old Garmin Astro 320 on my setter. Enjoying the peace of mind, even though she's mostly within 50 yards and rarely reaches 100.

She also wears a bell. I really like the real-time feedback that the bell provides on her location, direction, speed and instant notification when she goes on point. I can even tell the difference between a point versus the dog simply stopping.

[sidelock]

So Nova has always been a bit of a conundrum. Though he has been a woodcock/grouse machine, he's got legs and ranges further than I'm comfortable. Always thought the best thing for him is a tracking collar to keep tabs on him when eyes and ears aren't enough. By happenstances was viewing bass pro's fall flyer and saw the garmin astro 900 on sale for $500(basically 1/2 price). Jumped in the jeep and went to check it out. Got to the dog section and didn't see the item and figured it was another one of those no stock sale they are famous for. Went to the gun desk and found out they had them behind the counter. Grabbed one plopped down the cash and now feeling a little bad for the birds as now Nova will be having a much freer handle this fall.

All you need now is to get the Garmin Instinct watch when they go on sale and wear it on your the bottom side of your wrist. That way you don't have to deal with the hand held unit and you can see your dog's location at a glance while carrying your shotgun with both hands. No distraction and always in the ready position.

[Cass]

I've been keeping an eye out for an alpha 100. They come on sale quite often. I'd like the smaller tt25 collar