The good ol' E-Collar debate.
I use an E-Collar on my pup. He wears it at all times outside of my property/house. The most important part of the E-collar is training the handler and then conditioning the pup to it. I've said before and I'll say it again, my pup damn near jumps out of his skin with excitement when he see's the E-collar and he backs his ass right up to me so I can put it on him. Why does he react his way? Because he knows it means we are going to have some fun BUT he was properly conditioned and I was very careful with how and when it was used.
Can you train a pup without one, absolutely!
Personally, I feel an E-collar makes my pup a whole lot safer when hunting or just out and about and that is worth it's weight in gold.
If someone is too stupid to use the collar properly, then they're probably too stupid to have a well trained dog. I've seen some really nice finished dogs that have never had an e-collar around their neck. I will honestly say that at this point it is rarely used for any type of training for my pup but instead used for safety measures (chasing off-game, railroads, roads, barbwire fences, etc...)
To each thier own. It is a tool and like all tools needs to be used properly.
Jake