Tracking dog miles

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IDHunter
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Tracking dog miles

Post by IDHunter » Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:30 am

For those of you who track miles run/hunted by your dogs on a daily/yearly basis, do you find a justifiable or beneficial need for it? I know it makes great brag board material and makes for some great stories, but I'm curious if there is a more practical use. Do you set a mile limit for your dogs in a certain time frame and then shut them down when it's met, like a pitch count in baseball? I know it makes better sense to just read your dog and shut them down when it seems in their best interest regardless of miles run, but I'm curious if anyone relies on a hard and fast mileage rule also.

Not bringing this up to knock anyone's chosen method. I'm debating between multiple options for training/gps collars and wondering if there is a justifiable reason to spend more money so that I can say my dog ran 'x' miles today. I suspect this will be pretty subjective, so I'm just curious to get some opinions and see if any of them help sway me one way or the other.

Thanks

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bonasa
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by bonasa » Tue Jun 09, 2020 2:54 am

For me its anecdotal to how much they run. I do track miles, days hunted,length of hunts in 1/4 hour increments, birds found - pointed - flushed - shot , wind - temp - time - precip. However as to the mile question I believe there is a sustainable length they can be hunted daily and not have an impact on their recovery. Over the years and the handful of dogs I have had that benefited from tracking collars, that number I found to be 12-15 miles. However I am more interested in seeing what a max effort is and that for me was 91 miles in a weekend. I was able to put that dog up for two days and and hunt the next 5 days no problem doing the usual 12-15 miles. I believe there is a correlation as the roading loop we do is 12 miles, intermixed with water retrieves and on occasion bird work. I don't think the mileage is "braggable" as long as there is an inverse relationship corresponding to the ending 'tailgate shot'.

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gonehuntin'
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by gonehuntin' » Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:16 am

I really don't give a rats behind how far a dog runs. When they're tired, I put them up. When not, I let em' run. If you can't tell when your dog needs rest, you maybe shouldn't own one. In the wrong hands, measured miles can be a very dangerous tool. People get overly competetive and push their dog harder than they should so they can boast and beat their buddy's. Their add interest to a hunt with no real value added.

cjhills
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by cjhills » Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:24 am

I do somewhat track distance my dogs run. Mostly because it is interesting.
When I bred a lot of pups, I did it to see which dogs produced the most birds and could hunt the longest time periods.
I like long, leisurely hunts with multiple dogs. I have mainly bred marathoners. funny thing was at the end of the day the mileage was not much different between the sprinters and the marathoners. The marathoners produced more birds and I did not have to walk as fast or far.....Cj

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Featherfinder
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by Featherfinder » Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:29 am

Gonehuntin, I appreciate your point. It is founded on the same principle as guyS running two (or more) dogs at once. Some guys just HAVE to be able to say - even if only in their minds, "My dog found 3 more birds than yours." :|
That aside, I think keeping records to the extent that Bonasa does is admirable. It tells you so much more about your outings in general and not just how many miles your dog covered. Hats off to Bonasa. I'd love to glean over those stats for the last....5 or so years based on habitat, the impact of canine age/aging, species trends, weather conditions and more! …very cool. I wish I had the patience/commitment.
CJ, I have found that many sprinters transition to marathoners if hunted for long enough intervals at-a-time. What I also have found is that there can be a fine line between marathoners and lopers or fatigued marathoners. The lopers are useless in my wild bird hunting escapades but might do OK on planted birds. To that end, distance alone might not tell you all you need to know, which is why I tip my hat to Bonasa. He is gathering more salient content in weather, temps, habitat, etc. Running X miles in a snow covered environ can be completely diverse from running in dry/hot climes. Distance alone isn't all-telling. And as you expounded, pace -for one - has a great deal to do with it as well.
CJ, while I'm not a breeder, I can see where those could be very interesting/utile stats when you apply it to litters too.
Last edited by Featherfinder on Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

averageguy
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by averageguy » Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:33 am

I have hunted extensively with both the Alpha (hunt statistics) and the 550 Plus (no hunt statistics). Having data on how far my dog ran has never come into play in anything I do with my dogs. Most often I did not bother to look at the hunt statistics on the Alpha. My dogs are in shape and I can read them as to when they have had enough. Most often it is me that cries Uncle first.

Since buying the 550 Plus I have never used my Alpha and would never buy the Alpha again. The touch screen makes the training buttons either completely unreliable as to whether they are still set as I intended or if the screen and buttons are locked they are then incapable of adjusting stimulation levels in the moment of training.

The 550 Plus is best in class for training functions, its GPS functions trouble free and is all that is needed for tracking a bird dog and is far simpler to use especially when handling two dogs.

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DonF
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by DonF » Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:20 am

I've always found that my dog's know when to quit. Learned that back before Garmin came out. If I remember right my Garmin 320 does tell me how far they've run.

mask
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by mask » Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:16 pm

I still use an astro and like it. Any and all info you can get on you and your dog is valuable. It may very well be an eye opener and can help on future outings. One thing I find interesting is how far and fast a dog goes in comparison to how far I walk on a given hunt.

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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by cjhills » Tue Jun 09, 2020 6:20 pm

Featherfinder wrote:
Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:29 am
Gonehuntin, I appreciate your point. It is founded on the same principle as guyS running two (or more) dogs at once. Some guys just HAVE to be able to say - even if only in their minds, "My dog found 3 more birds than yours." :|
That aside, I think keeping records to the extent that Bonasa does is admirable. It tells you so much more about your outings in general and not just how many miles your dog covered. Hats off to Bonasa. I'd love to glean over those stats for the last....5 or so years based on habitat, the impact of canine age/aging, species trends, weather conditions and more! …very cool. I wish I had the patience/commitment.
CJ, I have found that many sprinters transition to marathoners if hunted for long enough intervals at-a-time. What I also have found is that there can be a fine line between marathoners and lopers or fatigued marathoners. The lopers are useless in my wild bird hunting escapades but might do OK on planted birds. To that end, distance alone might not tell you all you need to know, which is why I tip my hat to Bonasa. He is gathering more salient content in weather, temps, habitat, etc. Running X miles in a snow covered environ can be completely diverse from running in dry/hot climes. Distance alone isn't all-telling. And as you expounded, pace -for one - has a great deal to do with it as well.
CJ, while I'm not a breeder, I can see where those could be very interesting/utile stats when you apply it to litters too.
FF
Thank you sir!!!! Your intelligence and brilliant post will always amaze. You are absolutely right running in snow and cold is different then running in hot dry climates......Cj

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Featherfinder
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by Featherfinder » Fri Jun 12, 2020 5:40 am

Sorry CJ. What I meant was, if you measure miles in an environment where there is less cover and the temperature isn't as grueling as in hot hilly places, juts looking at how far a dog ran isn't really comparing apples to apples.
So, if it's -15 and flat ground with few trees, your dog could go XXX miles in a given amount of time and still have a reasonable amount of zip. Consider that the plodder while not necessarily covering as many miles in the same window of time, he will still be loping along at the end of your hunt, even if you hunt him for almost 2 hours! Add to this that if the predominant wind is coming from behind your dog - even if the dog has a short tail - the wind can conceivably add on a scale of .037 miles per hour and up to .425 miles per hour! And that is without even taking into effect relative humidity OR elevation!!
Now, take the same plodder and run him in early season AZ. He's stepping along and there is loose shale, steep hills and valleys, 5000+ feet above sea level, surrounded by cactus/cholla/mesquite and it's a dry 88 degrees and BOOM....that plodder might look like he's on point....again... but....he's not. He is probably looking for water....again.
So, the distance in miles under these 2 diverse conditions can contribute to a wide divergent in terms of measuring miles alone.
Then, you add what type pf food they are eating, their conditioning prior to the hunt, if they are scared of heights/elevations, etc. and SLAM...those miles measurements are misleading to some extent, I think anyway.

cjhills
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Re: Tracking dog miles

Post by cjhills » Fri Jun 12, 2020 12:48 pm

I guess you said something. A lot of words. It does not makes any sense to me, but if it does to someone, thanks.....Cj
PS: your wind calculation is flawed. my dogs never hunt with the wind on their back and you did not calculate wind speed. If dog runs faster than the wind speed, wind on his back would not be a factor.

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