The American Beagler Forum

Orange Dog Vest's
Now I have never used these on any of my dogs but im wondering if this is
a good idea .

I had a friend just email me about looseing a dog due to being shot
by accident. He took some of his sons friends out to run rabbits,
well the uninspected happened. The boy is realy tore up as is my buddy.
Im just wondering if this could have been provented with a Bright orange
vest on the dog. Any one here ever use them on your dogs ?
Im seriously thinking now about this for my own dogs . I think it might have been prevented with a vest on the dog . Its a tuff situation all the way around .
If you have please tell me if it effects there movement in thick folage , briars ...

Thanks
Randy

It comes down to Hunter Safety and thats the bottom line.
The vest is more for your piece of mind.

You can put an extra wide orange collar on the dog with a reflective stipe in the center. That might help.

A vest may help, but also may hurt the dog by getting it hung in briars, on fences, and may end up killing the dog.

Hound coloration maybe as good as a vest.
I like a hound with some white on it to make it easier to see in the brush and some black on it to stand out in snow.
This is a purpose for coloration, being that the contrast will stand out against normal backgrounds.

Bells are the way to go, so everybody knows its the dog will the ding-a-ling.

We used the orange neoprene vests on our bird dogs for visual purposes only . They worked really well for open fields but were a hassel in the brush or around fences , I could'nt imagine these would work very well on beagles that were exposed to briars or heavy brush . Plus they were 45 dollars each and they would tear very easy .

Chris Whitt

bluemouse wrote:Bells are the way to go, so everybody knows its the dog will the ding-a-ling.

GOOD, LOUD bells ARE the way to go!!!!!!!!!!! I like it to sound like wind chimes! If you're huntin with dogs, you outta keep track of where the dogs are at!

i run bells on all my dogs the year round keeps them from getting a jolt of electricity when i think they arent coming in to the tone button ill be ready to hit them then hear the bells coming i like the bells jb

I am a hunter ed. instructor and feel strongly about this. Bells are good for keeping up with your hounds' locations whent they aren't running game, as are orange collar, but I agree with Gbeagle. There is no excuse for shooting a dog as mistaken for game. Give me one, and I will rip it to pieces with an ounce of common sense. Very young hunters make mistakes. We all were once very young, and we made mistakes. I fell with a Model 37 shotgun once, not knowing the hammer has no safety, and luckily missed shooting my foot off by about 2 inches. Hunter education courses stress not pulling the trigger until you are absolutely certain. My heart goes out to the young man who made this mistake, and I am sure that he has learned a lesson that he will pass on. In order to avoid this happening and traumatizing our young hunters, we need to be sure that we don't put too much pressure on them to "succeed" in bringing in the meat, and stress to them "you don't hunt to kill, you kill to have hunted." I am truly sorry that this happened, and am glad that it was brought to this forum for discussion. Our young ones are the future of not only the sport, but the future of everything else as well. We need to teach them not to make mistakes, but when they do, we need to sympathize with them and teach them to do better next time. Be sure your young ones complete hunter ed.

Very well said, DRamey.

My uncle runs his two females with vest and they are always having a tough time. He wonders why they don't get in the heavy brush like my dogs will, and will actually get mad about it. i have been telling him for over a year that it has to do with those stupid vest. We laugh at him all of time because they come off the tail gate looking like orange road barrels
The last time i took them out with out him you can bet i didn't put them things on, and those dogs out hunted mine! You can't teach an old dog new tricks! He still will not listen to me

BELLS BELLS BELLS!

bells is what i use, they will let you know when they are close : if you hear the clang no bang, we as beagler , rabbit hunters are all kids at heart when it comes to losing a dog !! sorry to hear about the loss


bells all the way !!

DRamey wrote: There is no excuse for shooting a dog as mistaken for game. Give me one, and I will rip it to pieces with an ounce of common sense.

I'll try. lol

You are hunting with a group of folks and have 10 dogs down. You are in a very thick pine thicket (like I have to hunt) and the dogs are absolutely smoking this rabbit. You can see about 30 feet in front of you. As the pack gets about 75 yards out to your left, you see the rabbit easing through the briars. YOu are facing downhill, throw up your 20ga and shoot the rabbit, which is at the 30ft mark.

What you didn't know is that one of the dogs had a running fit (due to whatever causes them) and in that instance has ran 15ft on the other side of the rabbit. By no fault of your own, a few of the bb's have struck this dog (making his way up the hill below you) in the head and blinded him by taking out both eyes and most likely killing him in a short period of time. Most likely, putting him down would be the best thing.

Now, in this instance, how could it be avoided?


Situation #2

You are hunting with some not so close running dogs. You are standing in a logging road (again, thick pines) and watching the road as this is the only way you can see to get a shot. As the dogs get about 30 yards from the road to your right, they have a check. 20 seconds later, the rabbit pops out in the road only 20 yards from you which is well within your range. As you pull the trigger, one of those wide swinging LP dogs jumps out in the road 10ft behind or in front of the rabbit. You are at the point of no return with the trigger (in reality, the gun is already going off and more than likely you don't even see the hound because instincts have you focused on the rabbit) and you hit the dog squarely with a load of #6's. In no way was this your fault either.

Chance of either these happening are very, very slim but there is always a chance.

Randy Underwood wrote:Orange Dog Vest's
Now I have never used these on any of my dogs but im wondering if this is
a good idea .

Im just wondering if this could have been provented with a Bright orange
vest on the dog. Any one here ever use them on your dogs ?
Thanks
Randy

The only vest I could use would be made out of chains. LOL I don't know of a vest made that would hold up one day at my place.