My Very First Goat Hunt

End of September 2009...

Kyle loves his goat hunting. He got his first goat the weekend after our wedding (we got married on a weds in 2007) and we had the hide done as a rug and it became Pheonix's baby blanket (I was pregnant at the time). After that first hunt he was hooked. The next year he helped our buddy Danno get his Boon & Crockett goat since Kyle never drew a tag.

For the 2009 season we both put in for goat tags and we both drew in the same area...along with Danno. So we planned a group hunt together to go for our goats, their main focus was getting me one because it was already very cold (for me). I had all insulated clothing (being men's and juniors because at the time there was no women's hunting clothes) and none of it fit me properly so I had 4 layers of clothing on underneath as well. I felt like a giant camo marshmallow! We planned a 2 day hunt; drive in and set up camp then quad as high as we could go, after that it was hiking. The first 2 mountains we climbed we were able to get up a good distance before having to hike. The guys kept teasing me and my layers of clothing....The first mountain we went up was a nice hike, open alpine. Until we got onto the ridge, it was basically straight down and grass with a skim of snow on top...very slippery. The wind was blowing so hard that it kept me standing straight up when leaning into it. I was warm and snug in my millions of layers. So we sat down and glassed the other mountain adjacent to us until the fog swallowed us. We did see 2 goats...and the guys were sure it was 2 billy's. We headed down the mountain to the quads and went down the road 5 mins and parked. We started going up towards the 2 goats that were happily feeding on a slide. This trek was not as easy. It was thickly timbered and steeper to climb right away. While bush whacking my way up, the sling on my rifle broke...I was not a happy camper. Its a heavy gun and now I had to find a way to bush whack and find a comfortable way to carry this thing without falling on my face in the mean time. Finally we made it to the slide and the goats. We put the optics on them and.....Nanny with a kid! @#$%!! So back down we hiked. We went to the quads and sat down for a rest and to scope out the other side of the valley....sure enough there was a lone goat, well above the tree line. Danno was all gun-ho, I was skeptical. I really didn't think he would still be there by the time we got across the valley and up the mountain. But I kept my mouth shut and went a long.


Looking at the slide the Nanny and Kid were on

We got to the other side of the valley, parked the quads in a natural meadow and started hiking.  This one was all hiking, which wouldn't have been so bad if you had the same leg length as the 2 people you hunt with. I am 5'1'', Danno and Kyle are 6'+ and built like brick sh** houses. The mountain we had to climb was all blow down in thick timber. So I ended up climbing the logs that they merely stepped over. It was a long, slow trek up; eventually we got above tree line and I had thought the snow covered grass hill was steep, this was a 75-80 degree hills. And if you slipped, the bottom was all rocks. We eventually made it up to where we seen the goat...he was gone. I announced I was done for the day, it was getting late and I had pulled my groin half way up this mountain and still had to make my way down. They agreed and we went back to camp and too bed. The next morning it was below freezing and had snowed. We got up and noticed the whole valley was socked in with snow and clouds. We called it quits and packed up. I didn't get back up that year due to too much snow for me, neither guys got their goat that year...

Kyle & Danno heading up the grassy hill

Nikita