To those of us who flys big longwings and push the envelope for huge pitches
and dramatic stoops the benefits are crystal clear. The investment is trivial when you take into account the effort and years involved in shaping flight style to what you want to see.. So much hit or miss guesswork involved when a bird is off or too high to see or both. This eliminates that guesswork. Now you know for certain which situations you shouldn't reward. To be able to map real time your birds performance in so many ways is truly amazing.
The tracking aspect seems secondary but I can already see how it will make it so much easier to find your birds.. Just get in the ballpark with the beeper and then turn on GPS. Wicked!
The greatest benefit to me is the fact that now the reigns can be loosened even further. You know now how much quicker you can get to your bird.
With the GPS the ground recoverys in deep cover and hilly terrain, like the Sandhills and much of the west, become a breeze. Anyone who has hawked out there has lost signal when the falcon is in a deep depression. With GPS shooting vertically won't this eliminate this type of problem? Am I misunderstanding?
I am a simpleton after all.