Hunting with one or several dogs was never easy with the use of the bell method. In the wake of tracking collars the trouble of keeping track of hunting dogs was done away with. A tracking collar set consists of a radio/collar transmitter (worn by dog) and a receiver (held by handler). Tracking collars work differently from remote training collars, since the transmitter is the one worn by the dog while a hand-held receiver is what the hunter uses to track.
The dog wears the receiver that is strapped to a collar. The receiver is compact and in some models have 1 or 2 antennas. This device transmits a continuous signal which is picked up by the hunter’s receiver. Both the transmitter and receiver are set on the same frequency, connecting the dogs movement to that of the hunter.
The hand-held device the hunter holds indicates the dog’s direction, range and its demeanor. This device comes in a light-weight case yet contains a mix of indicator lights, sound/bar graph to plot the dog’s location and what direction to go to.
Some manufacturers even included a Behavior Circuit which ‘tells’ the hunter what the dog is doing. Behavior circuits have motion sensors that either tells if a dog is running or at point (Bird Dog Collars); it can also indicate if a dog is silent or baying (Bark Indicator) and lastly indicate if the dog has ‘treed’ the prey (Tree Switch Collar).
Tracking Collars are available for feather, hounds men, pig hunters and coon hunters it’s just finding the right tracking collar your need requires.
Tracking collar inclusions depend on the brand: multi-dog tracking, map reader, altimeter/barometer reader, hunt/fish calendar and a partridge on a pear tree. Technology plays a big part in research, development and manufacture of tracking collars which are made to suit a multitude of hunting needs.