I was wondering if anyone else uses or has worked with this breed. They are great dogs that will hunt and track just about anything and I have also found that most have excellent field responce.
I haven't used Mountain Fiest but I do use Mountain Curs! Both breeds are similiar in that they but are very gamey and can be trained on just about any game as well as mulitple kinds of game. The only problem I had as forming bird and dog partnership was.....making the dog understand that the bird gets the quarry first and he gets it second.......but then again the bird helped alot with that training!
Aside from the word Moutain in their name , there is no similarity to a feists and a Cur. There's around a 25-40 lb weight difference , a feist is essentially a JRT a cur is a beast . Curs can't turn it off either , making it difficult when you have a hawk on the ground with a screaming rabbit in its grip .
It is good to have an end to Journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the End. - Ernest Hemingway
My similarity in my previous post was the gamey attitude and ablity to be trained on multiple game. They do have different body sizes and builds but virtually the same disposition. I have trained both Mountain curs and Mountain Fiests for the past 15 yrs on both squirrel and coon....day and night and recently for falconry purposes. Myself along with 2 other local falconers use the curs with RT's and HH's for rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, and quail with NO issues before or after the quarry is on the ground. The other 2 local falconers even took a cur with them on a trip this season to South Dakota on bunnies and pheasant hunt with great sucess. My opinion is any hunting bred dog no mater the size or body shape has the ability to make a falconry dog if the correct training is applied.
Correction.....I made a mis-statement I haven't trained "Mountian fiests" but only general registered Fiests. There are several diffrent types of Fiests and Curs under alot of differnt breeding registerys but the dogs are basicly the same with just different bloodlines.
One of my hunting spots is a 35 acre woodlot where a friend lives in a cabin off the grid . The lack of transformers makes flying right off the porch safe ... He has an ever changing array of Fiest , Cur and Carolina dogs . His young Cur is fierce on game , from frogs to deer . He will track a deer blood trail too . His tenacity towards our hawks is the same . No doubt they ( or any breed ) can be trained for falconry purposes , they are smart dogs , their tenacity is just better suited for hogging or bear rather than soft-mouth work . I wasn't downing the breed , just stating that the Fiest and Cur are totally different animals - with the exception of prey drive . His Carolina dogs are wild and crazed dingo dogs I wouldn't trust around anything with a heartbeat . Maybe the cur gets some of his crazy from them 👹
Last Edit: Mar 13, 2013 13:52:43 GMT -5 by echotadog
It is good to have an end to Journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the End. - Ernest Hemingway
Lol.....I have seen some crazy ones myself! I have also seen several that would have been nearly untrainable for falconry due to their aggressive jealousy. Both breeds are really great and loyal to their owners.....some bond so tight they become jealous of ANYTHING that gets close to you. I have a beagle and a couple curs that hawk with.....I guess because that is just what I'm use to.
