Most indigenous Nicaraguan hunters in the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve in Nicaragua rely on their hunting dogs to locate and corral potential prey animals. To study interactions between the hunters and their dogs, The Observer 5.0 on a Psion Workabout handheld computer was used on expeditions into the forest. The result was a detailed dataset that far surpassed the quality of traditional paper and pencil methods. Preliminary results suggest that hunters with dogs often enjoy tremendous benefits but also incur substantial costs. Some dogs pursue animals that their owners consider inedible, and the hunters can lose valuable time chasing after a dog only to be disappointed by the result. While hunters can speculate about unseen prey based on the quality and intensity of their dogs’ barking, there is considerable uncertainty in these assessments. Despite such misadventures, however, dogs typically corral enough desirable game animals to offset the wasted time. Either in combination with firearms or with simpler hand technologies, dogs allow hunters to locate a wide variety of potential prey items.

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