If you’re anything like us, your hounds aren’t just a part of your pack but a part of your family. They give us their all to catch game or will hunt their heart out trying. But that isn’t the only reason why we love them so much! It’s their love and loyalty that’s second to none and when you’ve gained the trust of a hound you know you’ve gained a friend for life. We put a lot of time into caring for, training, and hunting our pack. Like parents, we take pride in a well accomplished hound. Though we always want them to get home safe at the end of the day, no matter the outcome of the hunt. Aside from investing in the best tracking and training system or running telemetry collars, there are a few more things we can do before turning loose to ensure that our hounds make it off of the mountain and home to us.
1. Check & update collars/ update handhelds
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve dumped the box before checking everyone’s collars only to realize that one wasn’t connected or lost connection because it needed to be updated or sent in. Even worse when we make the mistake of forgetting to turn one on. Most situations have ended up with all hounds accounted for, but there has been a time or two where one isn’t and that gut wrenching feeling sinks in until they finally show up. Regularly updating our collars/handhelds, test running them, and sending in any for replacement when we can’t troubleshoot them ourselves has saved us a lot of stress when hunting. Having a record of all tracking and training codes comes handy if something happens to our handheld.
Long range antennas have been a huge help when it comes to tracking our hounds in rugged terrain. The deep canyons and steep mountains can sometimes make it impossible to keep connection with them for more than 5 minutes after turning loose. Having a long range antenna that we can quickly connect to allows us to watch the dogs work, while we figure out the best game plan to get into the tree without having to drive, hike, or ride to a higher point for a signal.
3. Name plates with contact info
As much as we hate the idea of our hounds getting picked up by a stranger when we’re out hunting, it can happen. Oftentimes we're grateful to them, especially when one hound trails in the opposite direction and our main priority is getting to the tree and to the rest of the pack. Having our contact information on both a regular collar and our tracking collars has afforded us a few phone calls that have saved us some long recovery hikes. It also gives us a little bit more peace of mind knowing that whoever may pick up our hounds can easily get in contact with us.

4. Freeze brands + microchips
Proper identification is important and while nameplate collars are a must, sometimes something can happen that a collar falls off when our hounds are out hunting - or worse, someone takes one off. There are a lot of honest people out there but not everyone has the right intention when coming across a hound. A freeze brand and a microchip is a permanent way to identify a hound that belongs to us if something were to happen to both the tracking and nameplate collars. A one time purchase of a branding iron is fairly inexpensive and the branding process is quick and relatively painless. Microchips work great if our brand isn’t recognized and our hound ends up at the vet or pound.
5. Be prepared
Preparation is key when going out with our hounds. We get so excited to be hunting that we sometimes forget the little things, which usually end up being the most important. Doing a double take at our gear to make sure everything is packed can make all of the difference. Having what we need when we need it allows us to keep our head in the game instead of kicking ourselves in the behind for forgetting something simple. Like being physically prepared, being mentally ready for anything and everything that is thrown our way will be what makes or breaks us when it comes to getting to our hounds and getting off of the mountain.

While we can’t guarantee that nothing will happen to our hounds or their GPS connection when we're out hunting, knowing that we took the time to do these few extra measures gives us peace of mind if something were to happen. They mean a lot to us and even though they can take us through hell and high water we don’t want them to stay on the mountain forever. They hunt hard for us and they know we will hunt just as hard for them!