Boomer, an 8-year-old treeing walker coonhound, is one of Tennessee hunter James Tyree’s 13 hounds. And in late August, while tracking black bears in northwestern Ontario, Boomer fell off a cliff and landed on a narrow ledge. He dug a shallow dirt “nest” to huddle in and endured two days stranded before a trio of rock climbers successfully pulled off a rescue.
“I was afraid my dog was going to starve to death on the cliff,” James Tyree told CBC News. “I couldn’t get to him. I couldn’t do anything about it.”
That’s why Tyree reached out to Aric Fishman, a local climber and the owner of Outdoor Skills and Thrills. Tyree, who has hunted black bears in Canada for 18 years, was able to share Boomer’s GPS tracking data with Fishman, who recruited two additional climbers, Jared Miller and Jonathan Kettle, to help with the rescue.
Fishman has climbed for 25 years, but rescuing a dog was a first for him. It was also the first time he would have to rappel into the foliage-thick area where Boomer was stranded.
“It’s not a climbing area,” Fishman says of the area where Tyree and Boomer had been hunting. “It’s out in the middle of nowhere in the Thunder Bay region and has tons and tons of cliffs. Where he was, there are no established [routes and] it is a beautiful area that’s extremely thick with trees and cliffs.”
Fishman owns a dog — a husky, Lab, and collie mix — and he brought along her dog harness to attach to Boomer. The team chose a route, set anchors on a ledge above the dog, and cleared brush so ropes wouldn’t tangle. By the time the climbers started their route, Boomer had been stranded for two days.
“What was doubtful was whether [Boomer] would be alive by the time we got to him,” Aric Fishman, Outdoor Skills and Thrills owner tells OL. “I knew we would recover the dog, but I had my fingers crossed the dog would at least be alive so we could get it to the vet to mend any wounds.”
When Fishman dropped over the edge and finally reached Boomer, he was relieved to find the hound alive.
“I rappelled down to him and gave him dog treats and a bunch of water in a water bowl,” Fishman says. “We spent a bit of time giving him food and water before hauling him up. That gave him some energy for sure.”
Fishman clipped Boomer into his dog’s harness and the crew was able to haul him up the ledge. Once back on solid ground, the team discovered Boomer was surprisingly uninjured. They replenished his food and water and began the 1.5-hour hike back to their vehicles.
“Boomer was very friendly, which also helped quite a bit. We had a whole bunch of gear preparing for the worst case scenario and thankfully it wasn’t a worst case scenario. Everything worked out well, but he was so weak. He walked out but he was slow and stumbling around a bit.”
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Tyree sincerely tried to pay the climbers for rescuing his dog, but the three men wouldn’t have it.
“We said, ‘We’re not taking that,’” Fishman recalls. “We refused. We didn’t take a penny from him. He looked emotional about that and it took him a while to understand. Most people want to get paid, but our mentality is, if someone is in need of help, we’re going to help them. Someone was in need of help and we have the skills to do it so we were happy to help.”