That's what first lured me into hound hunting--the cliffs above my parent's house, on the wasatch front in utah, were over-infested with lions. I had a buddy with dogs, and we decided to give him a call. We knew where a big Tom (not to mention more cats) had been hanging out around this really steep and ledgy canyon. But it wasn't long and we learned that the cats have the advantage in those types of places. Most of the time the dogs would eventually get ledged up, and it was a lot of work to get them out. We did end up bagging that Tom a few
years later, but we certainly put in our hours. That canyon had about a four-thousand foot elevation difference from its highest and lowest points, and the whole thing was layered with cliffs around thirty to fifty feet. Any cat you jumped in the area would head straight for that canyon--and usually got there. It is still a great hunting spot today because no one else is dumb enough to hunt there
, and we even spent five days in there chasing cats over this past Christmas vacation--we caught three.
Over the years we've learned a few tricks about taking the dogs in there, though. First, we'd spend a lot of time practicing in non-hunting situations, by taking them climbing through ledges that are smaller and less dangerous. I practiced using bacon pieces and lure the dogs up and down through the rocks. A lot of the yearlings and pups can be pretty awkward around ledges at first, so you have to be careful and start small. Mostly, I'd just take them on "climbs" with me (Kind of like a dog walk, but you take a climbing rope to get back down, lol). This seemed to give the dogs a lot more confidence climbing. The best things for the dogs to learn, was the fact that they can move laterally while trying to get back down, and how to go
around the cliffs. Sometimes the dogs' confidence came back to bite us though cause it just helped them to get themselves even more stuck when hunting. But at least they learned to respect the edges. Now, I have my own dogs and they do just fine in the ledges. A few days after Christmas my two blueticks got split up in that canyon after jumping two lions (one was another good sized Tom). My female treed the big Tom by herself in a place where it was humanly impossible to access. Then, when it jumped, she treed him again. It took us four hours to work through the smaller ledges to the second tree, and wouldn't you know, as we approached the tree the old Tom decided to fly away again and supermaned from the tree and up the cliffs before we could get a shot off. My dog was around and up the cliffs in a matter of seconds, but by then it was getting way too dark for us to climb any more--so we headed down without her. Part way down we could hear my blue girl treeing again up above tree-line. My male dog met up with us part way down and began showing us the best way down through the ledges--his cat had headed down towards the mouth of the canyon when he'd jumped it, and we'd heard him treeing or baying it several hours earlier. By now, though, he was finished and had come to our calling. It was about nine pm when we finally reached the mouth of the canyon, and the truck. Then, at about midnight a friend of mine called, saying that my female had just made it down and was in his front yard. (My friend lives near the mouth of this canyon). Anyway, sorry for rambling but I just wanted you to know that we have tried to tailor the dogs towards hunting in the ledges and it has worked to a degree. My dogs are great at finding their ways down, and they rarely get ledged up anymore. They are safer in the ledges because they have experience and practice. But the ledges are still really dangerous, so be sure to take your climbing rope--and make sure you're in fighting shape. And if you asked me the morning after one of our cliff chases, I'd tell you to stay far away from cliffs and don't let your dogs near them. But it has been done, and the dogs rarely fall if they are exposed to ledges a lot beforehand. I will warn you, though, that when they fall it can be really bad. The dogs I've hunted with usually only had broken ankles or foot injuries, but if there are sharp limbs around it can get bad. Just like rabies, busy roads, lake-happy coons, wolves, and angry cats; it's another risk to add to your hunting trip. Get the dogs used to the ledges first, and then let them get to know your hunting area in the daylight beforehand--if that's possible. Anyway, good luck, and don't climb on any rocks that move.