# A little background on treeing fiests



## mizzippi jb (Dec 27, 2018)

Back in the mid 70s, my uncle Luke had a sho nuff squirrel dog. ole Joe. He was a red and white dog that people in SE ga called a fiest. Small stature, long legged, athletic little dogswho would tree game and bay a hog. Uncle Luke and Aunt Neddie were in a bad accident around 1978 and my uncle was killed. Remember it well although I was only 4 or 5. He had an orange-white-orange custom deluxe Chevrolet and it was t boned by a log truck who ran a stop sign down around Cochran Ga. My dad agreed to take care of Joe while my aunt recovered from partial paralysis. So we had ole Joe the fiest for a little while until we found him a home. I remember he was gritty and a tad bit mean. Not exactly a family pet. Just so happens my dad's cousin, George Cauley, had a little gyp from the pound that would tree a squirrel. George came up and picked up Joe (who was old and past his prime) and let him Breed his little female. That's the start of how this line of treeing fiests was started. My "uncle" George is a founding member of the American Treeing Fiest Association. My family has hunted this line of dogs for generations. I have older than me uncles and cousins hunting them as well as younger than me cousins. They have been both pleasure dogs and competition dogs.  Squirrel treeing, hog baying, deer trailing.....you name it, they can get it done.   And in squirrel hunting circles, people know these dogs and most are pretty fond of them. Lots of them bred from the Cauley line all around the country treeing squirrels, coons, cats, possums,and whatever else climbs a tree. Anyway.....just thought I'd type this up while its fresh in my mind.
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## catchdogs (Dec 27, 2018)

Saw a interview he did for full cry I think
And he talked about that dog and how he started line out of him. Did he have any leads on pups?


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## NE GA Pappy (Dec 27, 2018)

i have hunted with and against a lot of Cauley bred dogs in AFBA hunts. Most of the ones I have hunted against did their owners proud.  I was hunting mostly Boggs Creek dogs at the time, and them Cauleys could sure give you a run for your money.


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## mizzippi jb (Dec 27, 2018)

catchdogs said:


> Saw a interview he did for full cry I think
> And he talked about that dog and how he started line out of him. Did he have any leads on pups?


He has several dogs at his place right now. Most are started young dogs. I can sure find out or get you in touch with him when you're ready


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## catchdogs (Dec 27, 2018)

mizzippi jb said:


> He has several dogs at his place right now. Most are started young dogs. I can sure find out or get you in touch with him when you're ready




Thanks I will be in touch.


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## Timberman (Dec 27, 2018)

Got a Cauley bred fiest on my lap as I type this. She’s Jaybird bred thru Billy Laster and thus George Cauley. Interesting story. FYI they’re still gritty and a tad bit mean lol.


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## dslc6487 (Dec 27, 2018)

So glad you posted this.  I have a long haired feist out of Mr. Cauley's line of feists.
Got her from a friend of mine that had gotten the dog from Mr. Cauley. I got her when she was about 8 months old.  When I got her, she was hard headed and would not mind.  Trained her on a rope and then a shock collar until she learned to obey me.
Her name is Dixie, charcoal and white.  She is retired now, about 16 years old.   She is the BEST squirrel dog that I have ever hunted with and I have hunted with many.  First day we took her, we killed 23 with her.  When she treed, there was a squirrel in the tree somewhere.  And, she was a very aggressive hunter.  She would tackle anything.  Bayed a sough with piglets one time and was actually attacking the hog.  When I got to them, I think the hog had just about had enough and was right before sending Dixie to doggy heaven.  I shot and killed the hog.  Also shook a big coon out on her one day and, man, it was a fight to see.  They fell down a bank into the creek and the coon got on top of Dixie.  I jumped down in the creek and shot the coon at point blank range.  I know that coon was going to drown her.  Dixie has brought me many, many happy and fun filled days in the woods.  She is about blind now, her hair is thin, and she has a lot of arthritis problems.  But, she is still just as happy as she can be.  I have another feist squirrel dog, Pat, that stays in the pen with her.  Pat is good, but not as good as Dixie was.  I know one day she will pass away, but as long as she is happy, I intend on keeping her around.   And, when I do lose her, I am going to have her cremated and she will be going in the ground with me when my time comes. 
Thank you so much for this post.  Good to know how the Cauley line got started.


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## mizzippi jb (Dec 27, 2018)

Jaybird was a good one.  Prob the most famous. He had another one.   Ole Tom. Was a road hunter pretty much.  Cruising the roads on a golf cart and the dog wod work both sides of the road due to George and his buds getting older and not able to walk several miles


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## Timberman (Dec 27, 2018)

I had a gyp before this one that got run over before she blossomed. Liver and white she went back to Red Bluff Rock and Swift Legs I think. My recollection is hazey so don’t hold me to it. Got her from Mr. Billy as well.


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## mizzippi jb (Dec 27, 2018)

Red bluff creek.   All my folks are buried at the church over there in lothair. My paw paw told me many stories about coon hunting ole rock the back and tan on red bluff creek


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## Mexican Squealer (Dec 27, 2018)

Great stuff JB...


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## Timberman (Dec 27, 2018)

Here’s my first dogs lineage written in Mr Billy’s hand. She was Lasters CandyXRed Bluff Rock. You may can expand on it.


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## Hillbilly stalker (Dec 27, 2018)

Didn't I hear that the River run feist was started in a strange way ? The gentleman found a dog at the trash pile and he made a top notch dog that ended up being the foundation stock ? I'm thinking his name was "JD" ? The gentleman would offer a $100 bet that he would get treed first when all were cut loose. Am I remembering that right ? Can some of the older gentleman on here relay the story.


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## NE GA Pappy (Dec 27, 2018)

my experiences with River Run dogs was that they were late bloomers... didn't tree at an early age.  The first couple years most were hit and miss.... 

Hero's today in the woods, and zeros tomorrow.. but about year 3... they would turn it up a couple notches and make a hunter


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## NE GA Pappy (Dec 27, 2018)

Boggs Creek seemed to be late bloomers too, but not so much as the River Run line


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## Al Medcalf (Dec 27, 2018)

I had 3 dogs out of Laster's Jaybird.  Two were littermates from a Jaybird X Plott cross.  The other was 3/4 Feist and 1/4 Mt. Cur.  The two dogs that treed this bobcat were Jaybird pups.  I coonhunted mine.


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## stonecreek (Dec 28, 2018)

Had a fiest that was heavy Jaybird line named Billy Jack. For some reason started slow and I kept thinking it just aint gonna happen with this pup. Then... one day the stars lined up and he treed and kept treeing for the next 6 years. Every dog since then I have measured against ole Billy Jack. He was a good one. Richard


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## mizzippi jb (Dec 28, 2018)

Timberman said:


> Here’s my first dogs lineage written in Mr Billy’s hand. She was Lasters CandyXRed Bluff Rock. You may can expand on it.View attachment 954289View attachment 954289View attachment 954290View attachment 954291


All that documentation shows you how serious folks are about keeping up and promoting the breed!   That's awesome.   I'll take a closer look when I get get on a bigger screen.


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## mizzippi jb (Jan 21, 2021)

catchdogs said:


> Saw a interview he did for full cry I think
> And he talked about that dog and how he started line out of him. Did he have any leads on pups?


I'll most likely have more than a lead (a litter) here in the next few months.  One of George's real nice females and my dad's male dog.


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## Para Bellum (Jan 21, 2021)

Cool stuff brother.


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## NCHillbilly (Jan 21, 2021)

When I was growing up, almost every yard around here had at least a couple of fiests running around. They would keep an eye on the place, and would generally tree just about anything, from squirrels to possums to coons to bears. Over the years, they have just disappeared. You hardly ever see one any more.


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## mizzippi jb (Jan 21, 2021)

All my folks call em "fiestes" plural lol. The old timers always had a couple running around in SE ga too.


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## stonecreek (Aug 11, 2021)

mizzippi jb said:


> Jaybird was a good one.  Prob the most famous. He had another one.   Ole Tom. Was a road hunter pretty much.  Cruising the roads on a golf cart and the dog wod work both sides of the road due to George and his buds getting older and not able to walk several miles


Reviving an old thread today but found some pics of Billy Jack that I have mentioned before . Strong Jaybird line top and bottom. A true fiest in every ounce of his body.  These pics would have been early 90s . The kid in the pic is Jake who is a grown man now and his daddy was a fervent coon hunter.


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## mizzippi jb (Aug 11, 2021)

Awesome! These are some of red bluff Tom's grandkids.  Kinda thinking I'm gonna keep the Lil gyp on my left shoe.


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## stonecreek (Aug 11, 2021)

Great looking pups right there.


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## mizzippi jb (Aug 11, 2021)

Look close at their tails. Notice the little dark dot on the topside of all of em close to the base?   I've never noticed it before. I'll have to ask my dad and uncle if it's an inherited trait


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## NCHillbilly (Aug 11, 2021)

mizzippi jb said:


> All my folks call em "fiestes" plural lol. The old timers always had a couple running around in SE ga too.


I can't post the name most folks around here called them. Fiestes was the last word of three, that signified male virility.


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## stonecreek (Aug 11, 2021)

Found another pic of Billy. Just about every dog I got I use on deer and this is one Billy recovered gut shot up in Andersonville a long time ago.


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## ucfireman (Aug 11, 2021)

I had rat terriers for a number of years. The 1st one I got I bought over in Collinsville Alabama. I remember there were lots of "Fiests" back up on the hill. Looked just like my rat terrier. 
I wonder are they the same?
I had 6 total. Female would hunt anything that moved. Male that was a wild about ball playing. 2 females  and a large male that were just dogs and a little female that loved chasing squirrels but never hunted them. 
All between 13-30 lbs.


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## stonecreek (Aug 11, 2021)

Back in the 80s I had several Jack Russels that were cross bred with true fiests. All were decent tree dogs. Opened on track but not very vocal on tree. Each had top level prey drive no reverse gear. Fun dogs. Had a wire haired gyp I got out of Webster County that was a really good blood tracking dog. I really liked them little dogs.


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## gawildlife (Sep 20, 2021)

ucfireman said:


> I had rat terriers for a number of years. The 1st one I got I bought over in Collinsville Alabama. I remember there were lots of "Fiests" back up on the hill. Looked just like my rat terrier.
> I wonder are they the same?
> I had 6 total. Female would hunt anything that moved. Male that was a wild about ball playing. 2 females  and a large male that were just dogs and a little female that loved chasing squirrels but never hunted them.
> All between 13-30 lbs.



Its been said that all rats are feist but not all feist are rats.

Historically feist is a type not a pure breed.
The type may be made up of several breeds such as cur, beagle, hound, bird dog, spitz, laika, small bull, and of course terriers to make up a type. Many old time breeders had their own secret recipes to make up dogs to fit local need. By this stage most feist bloodlines are pretty much fixed in type and performance so the process of closing the books as a breed has begun in the mountain feist and treeing feist as two different breeds. Though many still do a little mixing for their own use.


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## SC Hunter (Sep 23, 2021)

@stonecreek I remember back late 90's early 2000's Thomas Holloway had a Jack Rat female that he bred with a true male Feist. I remember clear as day he sold those puppies and a guy in Terrell County bought 1, a little male. I later witnessed that male dog over in Terrell County tree a coon with the walker dogs and bay a 250 pound boar hog in the same night. I've never seen a dog so gritty and with a prey drive so strong.


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## Thunder Head (Sep 23, 2021)

So whats the main differences between a Mountain and treeing Feist?


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## gawildlife (Sep 23, 2021)

Thunder Head said:


> So whats the main differences between a Mountain and treeing Feist?



Inquiring minds want to know.
By UKC breed standards the ears. Mountain, erect preferred by any acceptable. Treeing, no preference.
Funny thing many mountain I look at have flop cur ears, can we say mullins.
But some reading between the lines some think their's are more pure or something. Some don't like cur in them and others don't like rat in them.
But I'm not party to any of it and wanting to know as well.


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## gawildlife (Sep 23, 2021)

Personally I like tipped ears and am not fond of brindle.


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## gawildlife (Sep 23, 2021)

Could care less on docked or full tail as long as it isn't a flag or curled spitz tail.


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## Hillbilly stalker (Sep 23, 2021)

Only difference between Mountain Feist and Treeing Feist is the words.


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## stonecreek (Sep 23, 2021)

SC Hunter said:


> @stonecreek I remember back late 90's early 2000's Thomas Holloway had a Jack Rat female that he bred with a true male Feist. I remember clear as day he sold those puppies and a guy in Terrell County bought 1, a little male. I later witnessed that male dog over in Terrell County tree a coon with the walker dogs and bay a 250 pound boar hog in the same night. I've never seen a dog so gritty and with a prey drive so strong.


Thomas had a variety of rats most bench legged dogs that were gritty. I got a couple rats out of Preston from a lady that were real leggy and rough dogs. It’s funny that you mention Thomas just had a dog hauler from Tennessee here a couple weeks ago that hauled many a Gascon hound from Thomas place to up north.


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## SC Hunter (Sep 23, 2021)

stonecreek said:


> Thomas had a variety of rats most bench legged dogs that were gritty. I got a couple rats out of Preston from a lady that were real leggy and rough dogs. It’s funny that you mention Thomas just had a dog hauler from Tennessee here a couple weeks ago that hauled many a Gascon hound from Thomas place to up north.


I need to find some pictures of some of his dogs from way back when. I talked to him the other day about his dogs and that honest Abe dog he had that he sold to a fella and then the dog won a treeing contest the same day. ? Made him proud of his dogs for sure.


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