We had a great hunt. These animals really live in some pretty ugly and scary country. First thing in the morning we made our way to a peak that sat right in the middle of a big bowl. We were able to see a group of 7 right off the bat to the West but about half way down the ridge they were on. To the east we located a group of about 4 again about half way down they ridge they were on. Both groups were about a mile from where we were sitting.
We decided to slip off the peak and then slowly work our way to the east along the ridge line and peak into each shoot of shale rock to see if something was hanging out a little closer.
The first shoot had a nanny, a kid, and a young (last years) billy bedded about 60 yards, never knew we were there. We kept going and looked into the next shoot and spotted one down quite aways all by its self. We watched it for 10 minutes before it bedded down for its mid-morning nap.
I don't know if it was the excitement, the fact it was within range, or that the other goats we saw earlier were so far away but this was going to be the one. We watched it for about 20 minutes, I could tell the horns were long and it was a big body. It was all alone with no other goats around, so as I went through the process of elimination (billy vs nanny)I decided to take it as soon as it stood up.
My first two shots hit it solid but it didn't go down, just stood there. Before I could get another one in it began to walk away. I knew it was hit really hard so I began to work my way down to. As I began to work my way down through the rock and shale I was falling and sliding sometime 5'-6' before my footing would catch. I got to where it was bedded and located it 50 yards to the left and put one more in it. It collapsed and I thought it was over. Then the dumb thing had to kick and rolled another 50 yards coming to rest against a rock.
I got up to it and was tickled to see the length of the horns, there was a slight let down when I realized it was a nanny and not a billy but I couldn't be happier now. She measured 9 3/4" on one side and 9" on the other. Fish and Game aged her at 12 1/2. She had just one front tooth left in her month and her molars were down to the gums.
Took well over an hour to climb back up to the top of the ridge (400 yards), one baby step at a time. That's the hardest stuff to climb out of, shale and loose rock with a back pack full of stuff.
Here's a picture of her one tooth. Pretty narly.
