This is what I wrote to ET about Beckett this morning. I think he's still a derby.

"There is not a pointing dog man in the whole wide world who would not have
been proud of Beckett's last covey find, especially given the circumstances.
We pushed across the bottom, not knowing where the dogs were, picked up
Yeats, made a lot of noise, located Beckett on the Garmin. located his tail
by sight, and watched him grow 10 feet taller as we approached, then ended
with a perfect covey rise. That's what I call greatness. It doesn't happen
everyday. Some people never see it in a lifetime.

Thanks for the invite. bill"

Here's the point;

Very nice!!!?

You know what? ET didn't think he was very nice when the Garmin had Beckett at 700 yards and still moving earlier in the hunt.

There are over 40 viewing on the upland forum and very few replies. Lets turn this into a general discussion about what you expect out of your pointing dog and the Garmin.

The Garmin always seem to be 100 percent on the distance, but off own the direction. We pick all dogs up when a dog gets out of pocket, and head to the out of pocket dog. We can zero in on the exact location by watching the numbers come down on the distance.

We had to almost stumble onto Cracker on point this morning. We knew the location and distance.

Great picture of a beautiful pointed dog!
We have hunted four days thus far, enjoying some pretty good dog work, and the gps systems worked very well. Cover was thick in spots and every gps find was on the money. My units give only status and distance but that is about all I can digest. I keep the dogs pretty close by most standards. Just hope the dogs and the gps work this well through the season as it looks like it will be one to remember.

Bill, please give my regards to ET ... great-looking dog, and a beautiful point. W/regard to GPS collars, I honestly don't know how I hunted "in peace" without one for so many years.

That picture was taken with a cell phone after Beckett had come through the bog. We don't take many pictures anymore. ET got his phone out because Beckett originally had his front foot up.

Here's another un-posed picture of Beckett taken by my friend Chris.

As much as I love dogs, I have only hunted with old Scub, my childhood buddy's squirrel dog.

I would love to try a bird hunt someday.

Is Beckett his youngest dog?

Yes. They are full brothers but from different litters. Yeats is the older one. Here's Yeats.



I like them both. I'd have a red setter out of those bloodlines if I had another pointing dog.

Bill you will never know when your time comes till it comes. Any body on this site will take your dog if you decide to take your dirt nap. You should get another pup. It will keep you going.

I guess i dont understand some of the comments. What is wrong with moving at 700 yards with a garmin. What does out of pocket mean

Out of pocket to me generally means behind and going the wrong way. It's not bad to be at 700 yards between ten and two, but 700 yards behind is out of pocket. My Garmin found Cracker on point at a half mile last year. She still had the birds when we got there and we found another covey nearby. That sounds great but she skipped several coveys getting there. I was not happy about it but she did save a little face.

A lot depends on the pasture to me. That's simply not a 700 yard pasture.

With regards to the Garmin being accurate on distance but not as accurate on direction, how often do you calibrate the compass?

You've probably noticed this with your own dogs. We were returning to the truck. There was a pretty strong wind do our backs, but Beckett was pointing into the wind. You can tell by the feathering on his tail. They know to go to the downwind side of the bush.

Beautiful dogs.

We went out again this morning. Chris brought his two britts. We found 8 coveys including one we ran up with the Ranger.

Chris stays in touch with Ronnie Smith. We had diner with Ronnie when we hunted on Chris's lease in south Texas. Ronnie guides at the Mariposa but didn't go the last couple of years because of the drouth of quail. He's supposed to go back down this year.