Any feist hunters?

I'm looking to get back into dogs. Don't have time, $$$, or land to get back into coonhunting. Beagles mean a pack and kennels plus the land thing.

So feist it is. I looked at curs but went with what I know. Or think I know.

Bloodlines and traits. In the past I've had or been around grade feist some good some bad. This go around I'd like to choose a pup with some advance knowledge of what to expect.

Fortunately I seem to be in a good area as several bloodlines either originated or have breeders in or near my area.

Tell me what you got.

Warrior, I ma looking at getting a squirrel dog,, Why feist or cur?

Feist because they'll climb the tree and go get the squirrel for you! I've got a video of my buddy's feist climbing a tree but I can't seem to upload it.

He's a dang good dog, insane amount of drive to hunt

I have male that is Atomic bred. He started treeing when he was three months old, all I did was take him to the woods. I have raised mountain feist since I was little but he has been the smartest and most eager to please dog I've ever had. I read somewhere that they had some birddog bred into them to help with their noses. I have seen mine wind squirrels a hundred yards off, make a bee line to them and tree them. He is twelve years old now and there are no good females around me to breed him to.

I think Trapp Setter is hunting Feistes

Ernie the Wonder Dog is my little rescue feist.
Trapline buddy, hunter extraordinaire. He is fierce on squirrels and coons.
Loves to tree and will climb too if you let his curled claws grow.
Very good at finding coyote pee spots and droppings for predator sets too.
He has a crazy hunting drive, more than any dog ive ever been around, seriously.
Can't tell difference between a cat or a coon, treats them the same.
Has a much different bark and whine when he sees or locates scent from prey but he is more visual of a hunter.
I used to take him running with me a lot too. Runs incredibly fast and went with me on 6 to 7 mile runs no problem.
Very good endurance.
For his little size he isn't afraid of anything.
Oh, and ours is completely house broken, potty trained, very good family dog, have never had an issue in our home with him, ever. Very good manners.
He is vocal and you know when someone is at the door or outside!
We adopted him through local rescue group. Came from somewhere in Oklahoma.
He was pretty skittish when we got him, had been beat around pretty good by previous owner and took a good year or so to trust us but now he is so loyal and so much fun. Lots of walks, runs, baths, and he is big part of the family now.

Jim

Feist are smaller. Less to feed, less on the back end. Good in the house and easier on the furniture.

Curs can be small but most are medium to large.

Hounds, same issue on size plus most are more go deep hunters than most curs and feist. With land issues I need a walk with me check in often close dog with a good handle.

I would look into George Cauley's line of dogs since you are in Georgia. I think the Atomic dogs go back to his dogs with some River Run mixed in. I have never owned a Cauley dog but have heard nothing but good things about them. I recently got a couple of Parnell Carolina Cur's that I really like. They are a small dog and the one's I have started before a year old and have a lot of drive.

Well the three lines closest available to me are the Cauley, Riverun and Sport. According to my research the three cross well which is good as I doubt any save possibly the Cauley could be considered pure linebred by now.

I'm really looking more for input on lines folks might have hunted with and the traits such as how deep or hard a hunter, how early or late starting, any holes or flaws, quality of nose, etc.

Yup the Atomic dogs are basically Cauley with some Sport in the mix if I read right. But I'm trying to figure out where the brindle came from.

I have a Cauley Bred male. He is a great dog and you can kill squirrels with him, but he just doesn't suit me. He hunts a little close to me and checks in often. He would make a great dog for an older guy. That being said I wouldn't trade him for the world, he is as close to human as a dog can get. Lots of brains.

I also have a Tree Knocking Ammo x a streak female, omcba mountain cur. She is outstanding and hunts the way I like. This last Jan. I picked up a walker x mountain cur that is a little wild but showing some promise. I have hunted with some feist that are loud and get gone in a hurry but that is not the case with mine. Good luck to you!

I am a member of two pretty good feist groups on Facebook.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/349330195251592/?ref=group_browse

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1638780123087391/

I've had two feist type dogs, Dingle and Dangle. Dingle was in the top two best dogs I've ever owned, out of a whole lot of dogs. She would climb trees after squirrels. She frequently climbed 14 feet high in one big oak tree, that had a lot of fox squirrels. She could climb ladders and followed me up one 24 feet into a loft once. The most she ever weighed was 24 pounds. She killed a 26 pound raccoon once. She caught lots of rats, mice, chipmunks, voles and a few squirrels. She could jump and pull herself up onto my 6' privacy fence and then perch there. She hunted for around 8 years with a friend of mines red tailed hawk, Sally.




Keith

The neighbor has one but the little bugger hangs out with us for the most part. he taught my German Shepard how to tree squirrels and now they hun as a pair its hilarious to watch with a dog on each side of the tree, the squirrels don't have a way to hide. other than that, that dog is as thick as two short planks. he will bring rocks back that ya throw and thats it. IQ of a fruit fly but great at squirrel hunting.

I wish I had the deal like I did twenty years ago when I had unlimited land to turn out clover bred walkers. Now those would get out of sight quick and always have the meat. But next stop might be a mile or so away across three ridges, lol. And they were loud to boot.

With roads every quarter mile and every parcel of public land being shared by others I can't do that here. Need something I can keep in pocket.

KeithC, mine will not stay in a chain link fence either. Easy-peasy climb if he wants out.
Jim

This is my feist and OMC.

Dingle would stay in my 6' wood privacy fence. She would just sit on top of it. She could easily get out, but knew she wasn't supposed to. She listened very well. She would kill anything I her told her to. She would catch and hold what I told her to. She knew left, right, over, up, in, kill, catch, let it go. I could call her off of prey she was inches from. She was close to fearless. She was dog dominant, but not dog aggressive. If I told Dingle to jump over something, she would blindly do it. She had complete faith in me.

Keith

Parnell's Pepper I have hunted some dogs off of and they were pretty good. Started early and had a lot of drive. I try to keep my dogs from getting over 200 yards out because of small blocks of woods and plus I'm getting older.

Sorry not much help to you. I have 2 fiest dogs. The younger one seems the better hunter at 2.5 months she trees the yard squirrels and has a good voice, she is out of Kentucky and has Kid and Cadillac Jack in her line. The older male is just 1 year old and treed his first squirrel during season not sure on his line as the breeder is here in Wisconsin and has dogs from a few states. He has been treeing squirrels since he was about 6 months but is still silent. So I can't let him hunt out of sight. I won't really know what he has till next year but hopefully I can get him to find his voice on tree. He does have the stamina and drive to turn out but needs to make some noise.


This is his first from Saturday

I have one cur and one feist 6 months apart and I'm just as new to the game as they are. Not squirrel hunting but doing it with dogs. I honestly can't tell much difference between the 2 other than obvious appearance but that's probably because they lived and trained together from pups to now just over a year old. They are doing well as far I'm concerned. I'm looking forward to cooler weather so we can hit it hard.

Years ago Mack Ledbetter and his kin were breeding an incredible line of Feist,
He was straight west of Atlanta across the line in Alabama.

Im a owner of a female from Melvin Arvills line of Icemen Feist.
She is now my lifetime companion.
She is my house and yard dog.
Snakes to possums ,
She thinks its her job

Trap setter that a good looking dog

I had a Sport bred female that I had high hopes for, and planned to breed my male to, but she never treed any squirrels. She walked with me to hundreds of treed squirrels hunting with my male, but she never once barked on a tree. I hunted her for six years before i got tired of feeding her. My male dog will hunt within two hundred yards, and check in every 10 minutes so if we're not treeing any squirrels. If I hunt him off the four wheeler he will hunt deeper.

How's the male bred? That sounds like the range I'm looking for.

I've got a mountain feist female that is going on four years old. Got her from a breeder here in Ohio as a pup. A natural born squirrel dog if there ever was one. I'd love to tell you that I had to work hard and train her but all I did was put her in the timber with squirrels and she knew what to do. Good luck.

Probably outcross 1 time

I have a Jagd terrier for a trap line dog he tracks deer trees coons and retrieves birds. Research the Breed he is almost to much dog. And can be dog agressive

He is the Atomic dog mentioned in my first post. If you want I can dig up his papers. I got him from Cross Fire Kennels in Whitwell, Tn. I am not sure if they are still raising feist, he is twelve years old now.

Does anyone have a fiest that will track a shot deer? I lost my heeler and am interested in a smallish dog that can track a shot deer, as my heeler could do. The heeler would not “tree bark” when she found the deer. Had to attempt to keep her in sight as she followed the track, but it worked. After dark, a little harder to do. She was worth her weight in gold, and loved her job. She would sit in a blind with me and sleep until I touched my rifle. She knew then that she might get to find a dead deer. She found every deer, even those that dropped in their tracks. Got many calls from friends to bring her to find their deer. Made me so proud when she did, and she almost always did find their deer.

I've seen photos on some FB pages of just that. I would look to a line known for colder noses as many feist are as much sight hunters as scent and tend to warmer noses.

Only one I’ve got left. I think he does ok. He’s a WV bred dog. Never registered him. Was offered dang good money for him a couple years ago. Turned it down. This was a god hunt for a little over an hour. Took my buddy and his son. They’re in the photo.
Second pic took longer. They weren’t moving early. Went back to the truck, messed around for a bit and cut him loose again. Then we hit it for about an hour. He can hold his own. But it bitter cold that morning. Greys never really showed but the fox squirrels eventually did.

My cousin has 4 feists now. Three of them are young pups. I'll ask him what the details are on them. His older male is a squirrel's worst nightmare, and the pups are looking to be the exact same way. He's in SE TN.

Lucy keeping an eye out for vermin on the back forty on this rainy day.

I've got a young male about 18 months old. He's sire goes back to Cadillac Jack and Poor Fork Bill. His dam is Mullins and Barger bred.

I like him. Smart dog. Not finished, but coming along. He usually hunts around 75 to 150 yards or so, but will go a little deeper if he gets on something, I walk with him, and he hunts along with me. Uses his eyes, ears, and noise to hunt. Pretty darn good mouth on him, especially for a Feist. He's also housebroken.

I like what I have seen from the Barger and Mullins lines. Both Bill Barger and Jody Mullins bred Feists for years. Sadly Bill passed away this winter, but his son is carrying along with the dogs in TN. Jody is still breeding his line in AR. From what I understand both men bred a little cur into their lines to help with nose power and gain a touch of size. While certainly not big, dogs from these lines tend to run on the bigger side for Feists. They are also know to run coon, so if you still want to do a little coon hunting something from these lines might be just what you want. There are plenty of people breeding dogs from these lines all around the eastern United States.

Anyone have a lead on a good line of the "Big Dick" feist? Growing up that was similar to what everyone had around their house. A good bit smaller than a regular feist, but had a lot more grit in them. I have 2 regular feist as pets, but they tree anything in sight. Great to have around the house. A family near me raised them for years and had a good line.

I had one about 6 years ago had to give her away because she didn't get along with my walkers. My best friend still has her she is a cold blooded killer. She drug a ground hog out of it hole earlier this week. Fearless creatures I was worried my hounds were going to get ahold of her.

For anyone looking for a Feist there are several pups and young dogs being advertised on Facebook in the various squirrel dog groups. If interested and you don't have Facebook, let me know and I can help you out.

Can you please list a few of the groups, When I searched Squirrel Dogs,

I got pages that had last posts of 2020.

- Mountain and Treeing Feist Squirrel Dogs

- National Feist Breeders Association

- Feist and Cur Squirrel Dogs

- Feist and Cur Only

thanks