Running with bells on dogs collars-questions ???

B.Trull · Post by **B.Trull** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:12 pm

Has anyone ran at night with bells on hounds collars ? If so how do you attach them to the collar and what type of bells and where did you get them ? Do you feel this is any advantage/safer than without bells ?

hunter322 · Post by **hunter322** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:15 pm

you can buy bellls with loops to go on collars at most pet stores or sporting goods stores ive seen some made by remington and other well known sporting goods brands

PLATEAUBEAGLER · Post by **PLATEAUBEAGLER** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:29 pm

hunter322 is telling you right most do have loops that goes through collars. i get mine at tractor supply, we use the what i call the small cow bell. they are loader and i do believe they do help when hunting at night, it helps keep the yote's away in my opinion. plus you can really keep up with your hounds on windy days or in high brush in the spring and summer. when not open on a rabitt. i don't take mine out at night without them and use them alot in the day while solo training, so i can run in where the hound is and follow along with the chase to see how my hounds are working the rabitts also.
Just my 2 cents

Donnie Gibson/ Plateau Kennels

Joe P. · Post by **Joe P.** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:12 pm

Bells do work good to keep up with the dogs.The down side for me with bells is I was noticing that if the dogs were hunting in thick cover they cannot here the other dogs as well when they strike and they did not work on keeping the coyotes away. We were hunting one day and the dogs started screaming like something was wrong ,we were pretty close and started running to the dogs,one of my females was barreling toward us with a big coyote on her tail and that bell was ringing for all it was worth.Almost like they served as a dinner bell instead of a deterent.
Just my experience.

pete young · Post by **pete young** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:42 pm

I like running bells to keep up with my dogs. I don't think they help with anything else. I got my bells from Cress Sales. They are made with all metal parts including the loop that fits onto the collar. They make them for 1/2" and 1" collars. You can contact them at http://www.cresssales.com . Good luck.

DarrinG · Post by **DarrinG** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:31 am

I have a buddy that I hunt with alot and he uses bells on his hounds.....drives me absolutely crazy. "ding-ding-ding" all day long...I felt like screaming and yanking them bells off and stomping them into the ground until they were flat......

Most aggrivating thing in the woods I ever heard...

And I dont think they are that much of a coyote deterant either. I know several guys who have said they still had yotes come in on their hounds when wearing bells.

I had several bells and gave them away to a good friend....told him he was welcome to them but better not use them when we hunt together, LOL.

Boomerx · Post by **Boomerx** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:15 am

One problem with using bells is, sometimes the hound will realize he can't hear another hound getting the check and taking it out. This causes them to stand motionless with heads up listening instead of working a check. Some fellows have found it's best to change the bells for a different tone from day to day to try and fool the coyotes. I personally think bells are only slightly better than nothing to deter coyotes, but any little help may save your hound.

Dennis Cooke · Post by **Dennis Cooke** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:02 pm

I use bells all the time while hunting and training hounds. I have never had a hound attacked by a coyote but I don`t think a bell makes any difference. If I am running hounds and hear coyotes I will pick my hounds up and head to run them elsewhere. The hounds do stop to listen in a check but just for that split second and then their nose is back on the ground working the line. I do run each of my hounds solo as much as I pack them and I also hunt them on their own as well as in a pack. I hear people say the sounds of the bells drive them crazy but when I am running my hounds you can barely hear them bells due to the howling. The one thing I like about bells is when you go in to break the hounds down and say you get one or two the bell gives away the location of the hounds and you can get right in on them before they pick the hare up again. My hounds handle very good and I spend alot of time training them but if they got a smell of a hare they just don`t like to leave it. I guess its all what you like, I hunted with a buddy of mine this year he stoped using bells on his hounds years ago. When we went in to pick the hounds up after they had a loss, he said to me I forgot how easy the bells made locating the hounds and he said he was going to start using them. I use tracking collars also but in the thickets when hounds are trying to skirt by you the bells are worth their weight in gold.

Thunder

merv · Post by **merv** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:32 pm

You can buy good quality bells from Sacandaga Dog Supply, I think the #
is 80044Dogs I think. I like the bell because you have some idea where your dog is for one. Also you might get the one time someone goes to jumpshoot a rabbit busting out of a bush and the rabbit was your dog. You always set the hunting rules but you just never know. I wont run my dog without a bell.

PLATEAUBEAGLER · Post by **PLATEAUBEAGLER** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:58 pm

Well i don't use mine all the time but win i'm running a hound solo and training i put them on so i can see what the judges see when they are working a check or so on and so forth. It helps me to locate them right off the bat, and i try to run with them.Notice i said i try.LOL

Not sure it will keep the yotes off but i think any precaution is worth not getting a good hound attacked. Done been there bought the shirt. And it's not pretty, if they survive.

Bopeye · Post by **Bopeye** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:48 am

I got some bells from a very good friend and I have mixed feelings about them thus far.
Last night the dogs were in a real thick riverbottom hammerin a rabbit. It sounded like Santa Claus was coming up the river being pulled by hounds.

Seriously though, I can't hear the bells when they are running a rabbit, but during a check it helps me keep up with where they are in the thick stuff.
The downside. Right now I have a pup that has real good nose, can really hold a line, and is pretty swift, but she is lacking in the hunt department. I've given her a few more months to get out of this and if not, she's gone.
She'll hunt some, but after a little while she loses interest and waits for the other dogs to find a rabbit. Then she tears in there and runs it. Must be the branko coming out in her.

Anyhow, when she is just standing up there close to me, that BELL drives me nuts. I've grabbed her before, took off the shock collar and bell just so I won't do something I will regret later.
There's an upside and downside to everything I guess.

DarrinG · Post by **DarrinG** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 2:12 pm

Bopeye wrote:I got some bells from a very good friend and I have mixed feelings about them thus far.

And I dont want them back either.......

..LOL

Bopeye · Post by **Bopeye** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 3:02 pm

DarrinG wrote:
Bopeye wrote:I got some bells from a very good friend and I have mixed feelings about them thus far.
And I dont want them back either....... ..LOL

Too bad buddy boy, if I find that I can't tolerate bells. I'll put them in a nice little box, put your address on it and send them back.

It's the least I could do for you.

BOOMHOWER · Post by **BOOMHOWER** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:10 am

I like to use bells on a newly purchased dog so I can get to hear what it's actually doing hunt wise and to catch it easier if it doesen't want to handle. After I see how it's working and if it handles better I lose the bell. It's a nice tool for a new hound or pup starting out.

Steve C. · Post by **Steve C.** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:51 am

Anyone else ever try the tiny strobe lights made by Princeton Tec for night running? You have to be close enough of course to see them in the brush but no annoying ringing of bells to listen to. I use a bell on hounds that are new to me or maybe on a young hound but really can't stand listening to them, and find that at least for me, it's not always easy to determine the direction a bell is coming from. I've lost a few dogs to coyotes over the years and bells only seemed to help the coyotes home in on the hounds. The best thing I've found yet to recover hounds at the end of the run is a CD of a running pack. Wait for a breakdown in the run and play this at high volume from the truck with a remote speaker and the hounds come running right now! Better than tracking collars any day as long as the hounds are within earshot.