Anyone use or know anything about useing a Mountain Feist for hunting upland birds . I just had one given to me . He is about 9 mounths old . Looked up on the net and see they are used for different kinds of hunting , but I never even heared of one .
Mountain Feist for bird hunting
- Thread starter RKellogg
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Never heard of one either. However, like any hunting/working dog, they must come from hunting stock to be any good for it. My ma had a Springer Spaniel that was from show dog stock. The only thing it could find was its food bowl. Had no hunting instincts at all.
Great dogs for use on squirrel, cats and other four legged critters that run on the ground but not much good for birds as they don't really use their nose much. The Mt. Feist is a sight hunter, in tall grass you will see them jumping up to see whats out there. Great dogs to have around the house very protective but not real dangerous except to coons, squirrels,ground hogs and neighbors cats.
Never heard of the breed, but if what fish said is gospel, it likely ain't gonna fare well on game that needs to be located via nose/sense of smell. Might be a helluva bunny dog, however.
PKellog, if your planning on using a feist for rabbit hunting, you might as well leave the scatter gun at home cuse the feist will do all the catching and killing. did you get a black and tan or strawberry color?
1911 guy
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Had one as a kid, she was a great squirrel dog. Died almost 20 years ago, so I trained my labrador pup (now 13 years old) to tree squirrels.
1911 guy is on the right track. They are bred to be treeing dogs - typically used for squirrel.
If you've never hunted squirrel this way, I'd suggest you try it, as it's a lot of fun. My dad and I had a squirrel dog when I was a kid, and I have two tree dogs now. Kids love it.
Most people who hunt squirrel with dogs nowadays are divided into two camps - Feist and Cur. The two types of dogs are a lot alike, although feists may have a greater diversity of color, size and general appearance. Feist are smaller than curs, and do not range as far when hunting.
Both types of dogs are bred from mixed breed dogs from the mountains - hence Mountain Feist and Mountain Cur - and both were used to tree or bay game (not birds) usually on their own, as a multi-purpose farm dog. Poor people could not afford to own a pack of hounds.
Lots of people use curs and occasionally larger feists to coon hunt too... (I do) and they differ from coon hounds in that coon hounds will pick up a trail and methodically work it out, and eventually close on the coon and tree it. They are large dogs, and the process could take hours and cover miles. Cur / Feist are ADHD types by comparison, they are looking for some quick action. They will usually not hunt with nose to ground, but will move fast, and when they cross a hot trail they can wind, they press it. A hard running coon that won't tree quick will usually lose a cur on it's trail, but on the other hand, Curs work a trail fast, and put too much pressure on the coon. So they are sort of opportunistic dogs - in coon hunting anyway. If conditions are right they can excel at it, but if not, hounds would be better.
Squirrels go to tree much quicker, and so Curs / Feists make great squirrel hunters.
Both breeds can be very smart dogs. I've seen a top squirrel dog that retrieved doves too. Mine could care less about birds.
They don't mind lighting out after a rabbit once in a while, but since rabbits don't bay or climb trees, they give up on this quickly.
If you've never hunted squirrel this way, I'd suggest you try it, as it's a lot of fun. My dad and I had a squirrel dog when I was a kid, and I have two tree dogs now. Kids love it.
Most people who hunt squirrel with dogs nowadays are divided into two camps - Feist and Cur. The two types of dogs are a lot alike, although feists may have a greater diversity of color, size and general appearance. Feist are smaller than curs, and do not range as far when hunting.
Both types of dogs are bred from mixed breed dogs from the mountains - hence Mountain Feist and Mountain Cur - and both were used to tree or bay game (not birds) usually on their own, as a multi-purpose farm dog. Poor people could not afford to own a pack of hounds.
Lots of people use curs and occasionally larger feists to coon hunt too... (I do) and they differ from coon hounds in that coon hounds will pick up a trail and methodically work it out, and eventually close on the coon and tree it. They are large dogs, and the process could take hours and cover miles. Cur / Feist are ADHD types by comparison, they are looking for some quick action. They will usually not hunt with nose to ground, but will move fast, and when they cross a hot trail they can wind, they press it. A hard running coon that won't tree quick will usually lose a cur on it's trail, but on the other hand, Curs work a trail fast, and put too much pressure on the coon. So they are sort of opportunistic dogs - in coon hunting anyway. If conditions are right they can excel at it, but if not, hounds would be better.
Squirrels go to tree much quicker, and so Curs / Feists make great squirrel hunters.
Both breeds can be very smart dogs. I've seen a top squirrel dog that retrieved doves too. Mine could care less about birds.
They don't mind lighting out after a rabbit once in a while, but since rabbits don't bay or climb trees, they give up on this quickly.
GooseGestapo
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Regarding nose and trailing, it really depends on the individual animal and the training it's been given.
The one I had previous, and the current one I have now, use both sight (the stot in high grass previously note), and scent location.
My previous fiest was trained to locate downed game by blood trail and successsfully located several deer that had been hit and not located due to running out of blood trail to follow.
The one I'm working with now, too, uses her nose as much to locate game as she does sight. I'm also training her to retrieve downed birds, so, two weeks from now when dove season opens will be her first test.
Exceptionally bright dogs. Very trainable. Even more so than some fieldtrial grade Labs I used to breed.
Mine ARE dangerous to intruders! (bite about 2' above the ankles!, Gonad Grabbers, not ankle biters !)
The one I had previous, and the current one I have now, use both sight (the stot in high grass previously note), and scent location.
My previous fiest was trained to locate downed game by blood trail and successsfully located several deer that had been hit and not located due to running out of blood trail to follow.
The one I'm working with now, too, uses her nose as much to locate game as she does sight. I'm also training her to retrieve downed birds, so, two weeks from now when dove season opens will be her first test.
Exceptionally bright dogs. Very trainable. Even more so than some fieldtrial grade Labs I used to breed.
Mine ARE dangerous to intruders! (bite about 2' above the ankles!, Gonad Grabbers, not ankle biters !)
Well like stated, they are best for treeing dogs. However, I belive that just about any hunting dog can be taught to hunt just about anything if you want to take the time to train them. I could see using a fiest for a grouse flush bird, you might just have to hold the shot for a second to make sure they dog wasn't hanging from the tail feathers.
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