When we lose GPS or COMMS reception on a dog and that pointer or running dog icon on your map turns into an ominous "?", it's usually time to change the update rate and pray. Sometimes, an intuitive dog will come wandering out of the brush back to the truck, but your lost TT15 collar will not make it back with him. A thankful moment welcoming back a lost pack member can quickly turn into a new and exhausting hunt for the elusive and crafty TT15.
Alternatively, your dog may do some damage to his collar out in the field somewhere outside of your line-of sight and manage to damage his GPS wire, leaving only VHF radio communication between you and the collar. It is important that you act fast if you want to have a chance of picking up the device or the dog in the same day.
1: Confirm the tracking collar is still on
Go to the dog's info page and check the battery life, GPS, and COMMS reception on the lost TT15. GPS may not be necessary to find the collar as long as it is still receiving a VHF signal from your handheld. If your lost TT15 collar still has spotty GPS and tracks intermittently, you may be able to follow the dog's position. You may pick up and lose the dog's location, causing it to look as if it is instantly "teleporting" around your map rather than leaving a solid track. If the dog's position "skips" around, head to step 3. Otherwise, proceed to step 2 to track a stationary collar.
Make sure the software on your tracking collars is updated to its most current version before a big hunt, or at least at the start of your hunting season. Software glitches or out-of-date software on collars have been known to cause the "teleporting dog" issue.
2: Change your update rate
Maybe your lost TT15 collar is now stationary and laying somewhere in the woods. That means its update rate can be switched from your preferred tracking rate to a 2-minute update rate to conserve battery. You can do this from the Change Update Rate function in dog's info page. This may also be a good idea if you've lost a dog, and it's beginning to get dark. Worst case scenario, a dog may spend a night in the woods, but still have a collar with some battery life to work with the next morning.
If you have the new TT15X Collar or a TT15 mini collar, you can also attempt to utilize the Sleep Mode function. Select the option from the dog's info page as if you were changing the update rate, and the collar will pause all tracking to conserve battery life. The next day, wake the collar up. If you are in proximity to the dog's device, your handheld will activate it, and the collar will begin transmitting a signal again.
3: Navigate to the collar's last position
In the case your dog is running around with a malfunctioning collar and you're picking up GPS intermittently, your collar may "skip" to the dog's last known position when you begin to receive positioning data via GPS. Hone in and try to determine the dog's general vector and attempt to head it off (before your hunting buddy ends up in another county).
Follow your compass or map to the last place the collar was tracking, and begin from there. If we're looking for a dog, the direction the dog was heading when the collar picked up signal last is a good place to begin a search, especially if the dog isn't keen on navigating back to a truck by itself. Try to bring your truck around to head him off, or at least get in a position where you can deliver a correction and stop him from moving.
4: Antenna tracking
If no GPS is available, switch to your extended range antenna (if you haven't already) and monitor the COMMS. If the collar is lost near a road or you have little to no GPS location, you can use a truck-mounted antenna. Move what you believe to be closer to the collar's position until you begin to register COMMS. Once you begin to get an initial COMMS reading, follow the direction until you get full bars. "Hotter, colder" rules apply here. If you're losing signal strength, head back the opposite way. While they tend to break easily, this is one situation in which a telescopic antenna or long-range handle may come in handy for taking longer-range readings while remaining stationary.
5: Shrink your antenna
If you can get full COMMS with a telescopic, 14" extended range, or a truck-mount whip, switch to a smaller and smaller antenna until you are down to your standard factory 5". Your COMMS reading from the lost TT15 should drop significantly. Begin to follow the signal strength using the small antenna. When your COMMS reception is full with the 5" VHF, remove the antenna entirely and hone in on the lost TT15 collar's location using the signal strength as a guide. Stronger reception means you're almost on top of it. NOTE: Tracking without an antenna will work best with an Alpha 100. 200i units seem to need at last a 5" VHF antenna in order to even pair a collar and will not even receive a collar's VHF signal without some sort of antenna topping the SMA connector.
6: "Marco..."
Polo! Once you have a strong signal without your antenna it means your lost TT15 and/or your lost pack member are close by. Go to your training menu and begin blasting the Tone function on the collar, and flashing the collar lights (and obviously, calling the dog if that's your issue). These combined should turn the collar into a disco ball and you should have little trouble finding it (or your dog) in the woods from there.
While it may not be the most ideal method, shrinking the antenna and following COMMS may be the ticket to finding a dog or lost TT15 and TT15X collar.
Keep in mind:
If you find yourself searching for the same dog often, it can be very beneficial to have your wanderer equipped with a TT15x rather than a standard TT15. Even if your dog's Attention Deficit Disorder takes him down a crevice and he ends up having to spend a night in the woods, you can come back the next day to a collar that's still tracking strong with a signal that can be picked up. If you're looking for an especially fast dog that gets sidetracked easily, it's much quicker picking up a signal to discern his speed and general direction when you have a TT15x collar transmitting at a solid 2.5 seconds. The alternative might be following a step behind in rescue mode running at a 2-minute update rate and having to predict your lost dog's next movements and head him off. Hunting a collar on Rescue Mode can be an especially tense chase. You only have so much time to catch up before you're chasing your dog through the woods blind.