So now we are back to the mountain that almost killed me the night before. We find the Nanny and kid again, but, nothing new. The sun is getting high. We are supposed to meet up with Dennis at noon, so that keeps us from going back to the truck, going over the Continental divide to try another drainage. We are debating what we should try and then I see a lone goat coming out of a part of that big cliff bowl that we could not see. Soon we see another and then 2 more.
There is a nanny for sure, then 2 other goats that are kinda acting like sattelites around her. Zach gets them into the spotting scope for me and I decided one of those sattelite goats was nice enough for the girls I date.
Now it is decision time. Do I have Zach come with me so I can cry and have him carry my rifle, or do I have him watch me in his spotting scope to know when to call the Medvac chopper. We decide that he is gonna watch me and come up the mountain with the butcher kit if I knock one down. That is how I began my stalk of shame.
In a way I was kinda relieved because taking 20 steps and then stopping because my heart is beating out of my chest was embarrassing when he was with me. I told him I should be up there in a couple hours and took off.
Him getting on the radio and asking me why I was taking another break did not help. I could also hear the music from his ipod when he called me on the radio to harass me. This was one of those times that I was wishing it was his tag instead of mine so I could watch through the spotting scope.
Luckily, I was able to stay behind the hump of the hill almost the whole way up with out showing myself to them, and occasionally crest the top and keep an eye on the goats. They had no idea I was coming.
The last stretch was a steep scree field and then boulders the size of doors. I crested the last ridge that put me at the same level as the goats. I ranged them at 422 and unless I went down the hill towards them or they came closer to me it would not get any closer.
If you look at the second pic I posted you see a black stripe in the middle of the pic. If you go a couple hundred yards above that and to the left there is a spot that is not a cliff. That is where they were and I was 422 yards to the right.
I got set up on a big boulder and tried to steady the crosshairs.
I finally got a good broadside and was about as steady as it was gonna get. It had now been almost 2.5 hours since I had left Zach. I took the shot. I saw the goat hunch up, but, I also saw a puff of dust. I jacked another shell. Now they were all milling around and my goat was heading down hill. I took another shot and this time the goat launched himself off the small cliff landing about 40 feet below, but, not off the big cliff. Now I am desperate. I am just trying to put lead in him. I took 5 shots at this point and not feeling real good about any of the last 4 because he was moving and he was intent on launching himself off the big cliff.
All of the goat hunters and the taxidermist I talked to before the hunt told me the same thing. Once a goat is hit. If he is not anchored he will head for the closest cliff and launch himself, normally landing on their face and breaking their horns.
He finally stopped and 25% of his body was actually leaning over the cliff. His head was still up. I decided to put one more bullet in him. I had plenty of time. So I made one more shot and the goat launched him self off the cliff right above that big black strip in the rock. That image will stay in my mind a long time. He hit the scree field below him at least 100 feet and just started rolling and rolling. He rolled at least 100 yards.
In hind site, it was best that he took that leap. Where he finally ended up I would have needed several hundred feet of rope that I did not have with me to get down to him and then to tie him off and lower him off the cliff. By the time we had got all that rope together from the truck, he would have been ruined worse than what happened from the fall.
Zach got on the radio and I could tell he was blown away. He had seen the whole disaster unfold. It was not my finest hour. We could both see this bloody rag doll sprawled out in that rock field. Zach told me he could not see his head when he was rolling down that mess.
Now came the 45 minute hike to get at the goat. The whole time I was praying that it was a billy and that he had his horns or I could at least find them. I got to the goat and he was a mess, but, he had both horns and after a further check of his anatomy he had billy equipment on him.
Other than that he was a mess. There were already big black flies on him, one front leg was held on by a strip of hide and the same with one back leg. One eye was gouged out and the eye lash and skin around the eye was destroyed. I remembered the taxidermist telling me when I called about how he wanted it caped, that whatever I do try not to get blood on the cape. He was covered. By the time Zach got up there I pretty much had him caped and broken down. I had Zach take the cape down and throw it in the lake. We had the daylight, so I got the meat cleaned up at the lake and cleaned the cape as best as I could in the creek that was fed by the late. Packs were not to bad and the hike down was pretty good as well.
I hope to hunt goats one more time myself if I can draw in MT, and I hope to someday be able to hunt them with Zach. The billy had 6 and 2/8" horns which is pretty small. A good billy in that unit is 8", but, only a couple of those are taken a year. I was happy to get him and considering we only had one more day to hunt, I am content on the decision not to hold out for the last day. Maybe next time we will be more selective. Just glad to get a goat in a tough unit.
