Wiszard
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 10,907
Well, I'm back from my hunt in Nevada. My Dad and I left Thurdsay morning (only I had a tag). Drove in to our hunting area we had pre-determined and did most of the research on. The 40 mile drive in off of 375 was very depressing. We saw 3 goats on the way in: a buck corraling a doe and following them was a yearling. I really thought we'd see more goats than that. We set up camp and glassed. Nothing!! Went to bed to get ready for the opening day Friday. Got up and left camp hunting the benches just down from the Grant Range in Railroad Valley. Constantly glassing we saw no goats. How can you glass a 2 mile radius and not see any goats? That is what we were thinking. About an hour and a half into our hunt we came over this little rise and saw 4 goats down in a ravine feeding. Their heads down, I could not see if any were bucks. I needed to move into a better position for a shot and while doing so my Dad noticed the one on the far left was a buck. They spot us and I didn't have time to judge him as much as I'd have liked. The only thing that was going through my head was how many goats we had seen.....very few. Will we see any others if I pass on this one? Will there be a bigger buck just over the next rise? I had to think quick and the buck looked decent to me. They started to move out so I put the crosshairs on his shoulder and pulled the trigger. I heard the smack and he ran about 60 yards and piled up. It almost happened too quick. I am happy that I filled my tag but I wish he was a little bigger. Here's what makes it ok for me now: it was hot, windy and the nearest services were 2 hours and 15 minutes from our camp. It was a fun "hunt" but the area was not as good as I had imagined. I expected to see more goats. Hunting is hunting and we can't expect things to go as planned. Here are some pics...
Steve
Steve