NMPaul
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I got some great intel from some of the folks on MM. My son and I were able to get a great goat with the suggestions we got.
Heath (Carnage2011) suggested the access point that got us above timberline and into the goats. Thanks Heath, good luck on getting a good deer up there.
Thanks also to Randy11 and Chris. Chris good luck on your sheep hunt in MT.
Got there Wed night, got a little sleep and hit the trail at about 4:30 Thursday morning.
4 mile hike in to get to tree line. Daylight was breaking and in about a half hour we glassed up 3 goats on a steep rock face. They were moving away. They were about 2 miles away and we started working up the mountain towards them.
We got about a half mile from them and Z grabbed me from behind whispering there was a goat on the hill we just crested about 350 yards away.
First morning, we don't know how to judge goats and I could not make a decision. Here is a pic of him.
Any how, I sat there and vacillated about shooting him and when I finally decided to send some lead, he had seen us and worked his way around the mountain.
Now that I look at pics of him, I cant believe I did not shoot him, it would have saved a lot of work the rest of the day, but, it worked out for the best because I ended up with almost a 10" billy, which is a monster.
We decided we still had a shot at him, but, we needed to head to the top of the mountain to get the best angle on him. We had started out at 6500 feet and crested the peak at 10,000. Once on the peak we went about 1/4 mile on top looking for him. Found a nanny and a kid right below me. We kept glassing for him. I look out and over a mile away about 2/3 down the mountain I spot this guy sitting a little below tree line on a sharp ridge coming off the mountain.
This goat is a long ways off and 2/3 almost 3/4 down the wrong side of the mountain, and the going was really rough on top the peak.
Here is a pic Zach got of him with his spotting scope.
We looked at him and looked at him through the spotting scope. Again, we cannot judge mt. goats. They are very hard to judge.
We could tell he had big shoulders, he was by himself and in a very secluded spot. We were lucky to have seen him, we just had the right angle to see him. We could see big bases, so I made the call to put a stalk on him.
I followed the peak till I was above the ridge that he was on. The entire stalk took 2.5 hours according to Zach who kept an eye on him and me.
I worked down the ridge and could not see him and he could not see me till I was about 30-40 yards from him.
He was still laying down and looking away.
I shot him in the back like a coward. He jumped up, so I shot him in the back again, and a 3rd time so he would not take off. All 3 were fatal, but, he slipped off the edge and slid down into a dead tree thankfully. First thing I did was check to make sure he was a billy. He was all billy. This goat was 2 to 3 times the size of the billy I killed in CO a few years ago. He was huge. Zach started heading over and told me he wanted a pic as he lay. It only took Zach about 45 minutes to get to me, but, I laid down on my goat and took a nap. It was the flattest and most comfortable spot around.
This was one of the toughest cutting jobs I have done. Thank God he was not an elk. We were on a steep face and he was snagged in a tree. I did a full body cape.
We were not working against the clock. I got him all cut up, and caped. Zach had over a 100lb pack and I had the cape and a few things. Between goat, cape, rifle, optics the loads were stupid heavy.
We were 5 miles as a crow flies from the truck which meant about 7-8 miles, and we would have to climb the mountain we were on.
I found a road on my gps below us about 4-5 miles away. I knew I could not get my load up that mountain with the loose rocks so we hiked down away from our truck. It was a brutal hike. Low on water, Zach rolled his ankle, we crossed a big stream. We got to the road at pitch dark. We laid there for awhile, and Zach went and got us some stream water and we used out life straw. After about an hour we saw our first car. We flagged them down and they told us they would drive back in about 45 minutes to take us to our motel. It was about 10:00 when they showed up. They drove us 40 miles back to our motel.
There was a bar next to our motel, and I went in and asked the bartender if he knew anyone that would drive us the 35 miles to get our truck for $50. He got a couple guys that had not drunk to much, and they grabbed their drinks and a couple 6 packs and took us to our truck. Finally got back to the motel with my own truck at 1:00 in the morning. We hiked between 12-15 miles yesterday, and went from 6500 to 10000 feet. We were dust. We are still out here and bought Zach a otc bear tag, so we got a day to try to find one.
This is first goat we saw up close enough to shoot, but, could not make up my mind in time.
Heath (Carnage2011) suggested the access point that got us above timberline and into the goats. Thanks Heath, good luck on getting a good deer up there.
Thanks also to Randy11 and Chris. Chris good luck on your sheep hunt in MT.
Got there Wed night, got a little sleep and hit the trail at about 4:30 Thursday morning.
4 mile hike in to get to tree line. Daylight was breaking and in about a half hour we glassed up 3 goats on a steep rock face. They were moving away. They were about 2 miles away and we started working up the mountain towards them.
We got about a half mile from them and Z grabbed me from behind whispering there was a goat on the hill we just crested about 350 yards away.
First morning, we don't know how to judge goats and I could not make a decision. Here is a pic of him.
Any how, I sat there and vacillated about shooting him and when I finally decided to send some lead, he had seen us and worked his way around the mountain.
Now that I look at pics of him, I cant believe I did not shoot him, it would have saved a lot of work the rest of the day, but, it worked out for the best because I ended up with almost a 10" billy, which is a monster.
We decided we still had a shot at him, but, we needed to head to the top of the mountain to get the best angle on him. We had started out at 6500 feet and crested the peak at 10,000. Once on the peak we went about 1/4 mile on top looking for him. Found a nanny and a kid right below me. We kept glassing for him. I look out and over a mile away about 2/3 down the mountain I spot this guy sitting a little below tree line on a sharp ridge coming off the mountain.
This goat is a long ways off and 2/3 almost 3/4 down the wrong side of the mountain, and the going was really rough on top the peak.
Here is a pic Zach got of him with his spotting scope.
We looked at him and looked at him through the spotting scope. Again, we cannot judge mt. goats. They are very hard to judge.
We could tell he had big shoulders, he was by himself and in a very secluded spot. We were lucky to have seen him, we just had the right angle to see him. We could see big bases, so I made the call to put a stalk on him.
I followed the peak till I was above the ridge that he was on. The entire stalk took 2.5 hours according to Zach who kept an eye on him and me.
I worked down the ridge and could not see him and he could not see me till I was about 30-40 yards from him.
He was still laying down and looking away.
I shot him in the back like a coward. He jumped up, so I shot him in the back again, and a 3rd time so he would not take off. All 3 were fatal, but, he slipped off the edge and slid down into a dead tree thankfully. First thing I did was check to make sure he was a billy. He was all billy. This goat was 2 to 3 times the size of the billy I killed in CO a few years ago. He was huge. Zach started heading over and told me he wanted a pic as he lay. It only took Zach about 45 minutes to get to me, but, I laid down on my goat and took a nap. It was the flattest and most comfortable spot around.
This was one of the toughest cutting jobs I have done. Thank God he was not an elk. We were on a steep face and he was snagged in a tree. I did a full body cape.
We were not working against the clock. I got him all cut up, and caped. Zach had over a 100lb pack and I had the cape and a few things. Between goat, cape, rifle, optics the loads were stupid heavy.
We were 5 miles as a crow flies from the truck which meant about 7-8 miles, and we would have to climb the mountain we were on.
I found a road on my gps below us about 4-5 miles away. I knew I could not get my load up that mountain with the loose rocks so we hiked down away from our truck. It was a brutal hike. Low on water, Zach rolled his ankle, we crossed a big stream. We got to the road at pitch dark. We laid there for awhile, and Zach went and got us some stream water and we used out life straw. After about an hour we saw our first car. We flagged them down and they told us they would drive back in about 45 minutes to take us to our motel. It was about 10:00 when they showed up. They drove us 40 miles back to our motel.
There was a bar next to our motel, and I went in and asked the bartender if he knew anyone that would drive us the 35 miles to get our truck for $50. He got a couple guys that had not drunk to much, and they grabbed their drinks and a couple 6 packs and took us to our truck. Finally got back to the motel with my own truck at 1:00 in the morning. We hiked between 12-15 miles yesterday, and went from 6500 to 10000 feet. We were dust. We are still out here and bought Zach a otc bear tag, so we got a day to try to find one.
This is first goat we saw up close enough to shoot, but, could not make up my mind in time.
