Last Stand Goat Hunt 2016

Our 2016 fall hunting season has been quite a bit different compared to previous years. Usually we spend our majority of September and October trying to get an elk. I have been trying for 8 years to get an elk without any success until this year. On top of that success, i managed to get him the second day of rifle opener (Sept 11). So this made for a pretty relaxed season for both Kyle and I. Since I had a bull down he wasn't in a hurry to get himself one ( that would be a lot of meat!) so he focused on helping other people and trying to get himself a sheep, and I helped out a friend a few times that is new to hunting. October it was back to the grind, particularly for Kyle, for Mountain Goat. He and I had a trip planned together then afterward he had 2 of our friends coming in from Alberta on an accompany to hunt permit. Well our first trip in ended up being a dud. It rained the whole time and the clouds never lifted enough for us to see up where the goats hang out. 4 days and not a single goat.

After our hunt, it was Myles turn (one of our friends from Alberta) to try and tag out on his first mountain goat. On day 2 of their hunt, Myles took a goat. Although it was a nanny, it was a trophy of a lifetime. His goat aged out at 13 years old, was skinny and had no teeth left. She wouldn't have made the winter. The perfect nanny!

Kyle came home early and went to see if he could find a sheep before he had to go back to work. Next days off Kerwin was coming in for his goat hunt. Kyle has taken Kerwin out before on a permit in the same area, but our friend Warren was with them. On that hunt 2 years ago, Warren was successful. Now it was Kerwin's turn at success. They had a little less than 7 days to get it done. They seen lots of goats but most were nannies and kids with a couple young billies. The young billies stayed higher in the rocks then a few of the nannies, so they just watched until they had an opportunity. On the last full day of their hunt they decided to take the Nanny that was on their hit list (if a billy didn't come lower for Kerwin). This nanny was not in good shape. She was completely emaciated and never ventured farther than the alder patch and the creek.

Kerwin's Nanny

Worried that she had an illness, parasites or a disease they took her. If she did, we don't want her to infect the rest of the herd. They videoed the field dressing and she had no fat at all and very little muscle mass, her hair was also much shorter then it should have been...more like a mid-late September hair. Her growth rings indicated a healthy life and good feed. So what happened? What ever happened to her happened during this year. We took the meat in to the biologists in hopes they can test it, unfortunately (and we didn't know at the time) the organs would have been a better thing to bring them. The taxidermist skinned the head out and commented on how the muscle in the jaws was like hamburger and her teeth weren't very good as well. So maybe she had an injury? Either way she wasn't going to make it through the winter and she was probably living in a great deal of pain. And Kerwin got his first goat.

Second times a charm...well that's how it worked out for Kerwin so I was hoping that would be my luck as Kyle and I headed out again to try and get me a goat. We had even less time this trip, 3 days but the sun was shining which was rare for this area. The first day was a wash, we knew we wouldn't get a stalk on unless we just happened to stumble upon the goats right away. As we came in we noticed a truck parked with ramps out for an ATV and a sled stashed beside it off the road, weird. It was right before the slides that take out the road. We kept going and once we got through the slides there was another sled stashed just off the road, concerning. Someone that knows this area is getting prepared. This didn't sit well for Kyle as we continued on our way. The whole month of October when Kyle was in here he never seen another sole. That all changed in about  an hour for us. We came upon an ATV, the guy stopped to chat. He was the trapper in the area and the truck and sleds are his. He was getting prepared for when the slides come down so he wouldn't be trapped in the back. He proceeded to tell us the last 3 years the slides blew out the road on Oct 29, Nov 5 and Nov 9...and it was November 6. He told us a guy last year got stuck in there with him, the guy was hunting for goat but the trapper was prepared and had no issues leaving his old truck or ATV in there for winter, the hunter wasn't. They had to barge the guys truck out on the lake and it cost him $600. This made us nervous...we started to second guess our staying there. After chatting with him for a half hour or so he mentioned just before we parted ways that there was a few guys camped up farther, goat hunting, but they were packing up camp. We passed the guys as they were coming out. We got up to the slides where Kerwin and Myles got their goats and they were bare. Not a single white body. We found where the guys had their camp set up, right at the bottom of the slide in the wide open where the goats could see them. I was feeling pretty deflated and Kyle was frustrated and worried.

We only had 2 hours before dark so we decided to sit tight and hopefully the quiet valley would coax some goats out. About an hour before dark a nanny came out to feed. Some life jumped back into us. We watched her for a bit and decided to go down to the next slide to glass. Right away we found 2 more goats, both billies. One very young and small, the other was a shoot able goat. We didn't have time to go up after them so we sat and watched trying to decide the best way up to them for the morning. As kyle was occupied i looked up and noticed a third body, i announced the third goat noting how much bigger it was then the other two. This got Kyle excited. He got the spotter out and sure enough it was the massive goat he seen with Kerwin. So we stayed there until he finally bedded and we quietly made our way out of the valley. We decided to go back to town and stay at a hotel. Kyle's reasoning (although he was partly kidding) was it was good luck to go back to town, get a cheap hotel and go to Boston Pizza for dinner (he did this with Kerwin and Myles and both shot their goats the

next day). I just shook my head and rolled my eyes.

We went back in the morning and sure enough the big guy was still there and a nanny was just below him. But he was watching her intently. So we packed up and got ready to hike up after him, Onca stayed in the truck. After an hour hike we were just below the rock cliffs, we dropped our packs to strap our rifles to them so we could have 2 hands for climbing the cliffs. I put my rifle down then peeled my pack off and put it down- ready for my rifle. Before I decided to strap my rifle on, I looked up out of habit and there he was. All I said was Goat. Kyle kept messing with his stuff without looking up and brushed my word off saying it wasn't that he already checked. I said Kyle, there is a goat watching us. He stopped, unbelieving and looked up asking where? I told him to look on the left side of the saddle, that its standing on the top. He seen him, he put his binos up and started cursing- it was the big billy. I knew it was farther then 200 yards so I instantly jumped on Kyle's rifle (my rifle is new and i haven't figured out the drop yet at farther distances). I got set up with his pack as a rest while he ranged him. 390 yards but i was shooting at about a 50%+ incline, he said put the 300 mark on him. He was facing chest on but I wasn't concerned. I put the 300 on him and felt very stable. I squeezed the trigger and instantly reloaded after the shot. Kyle announced a miss. I was baffled, how did i miss?? He disappeared into the trees and never gave me another chance. We climbed up a little ways into the cliffs and sat for a while, hoping the other billy would come down to check out the ruckus. He never did and I was feeling pretty frustrated. The fog started to roll in and we made the decision to go back to the truck before we got stuck up there with no visibility. When we got down, Kyle wanted to go check the zeroes on the rifles. He was confused at the turn of events, I kept saying I felt solid and his rifle has killed 2 goats in the last 2 weeks

without fault. We left the area and headed down low to shoot them at our metal gong. My gun was still on, Kyle's was shooting 4 inches to the left at 100 yards. I was relieved that it wasn't me that caused the miss but I was still pretty down. Did i just lose my chance at filling my tag? With the cloud cover low again and not letting up I wasn't very hopeful. We had to leave the next afternoon and if we didn't find a goat right away than all i had was the next morning. We went and checked another valley but it was fogged in worse then the area we were just in. So we made the decision to go back and hope we could catch something moving below the fog line. We were coming up to the slide that Warren had shot his goat out of 2 years prior, but there was a slide before that one- so we slowed down to take a look. I was on the wrong side of the truck so couldn't see up the slide, but it didn't take long and Kyle slammed on the brakes-Goats! He was instantly out of the truck with the spotter. 2 young billies and 2 nannies. So I got my pack and my rifle out. They were 800 yards, we had to hike up into the slide to get closer, this time we brought Onca along. We got as close as we could without them busting us, 500 yard shot. Kyle gave me his rifle again and I got set up. I wasn't nearly as stable as the morning shot but stable enough to make a shot. I put the 500 marker on him and squeezed my trigger. Kyle watched in his binos and said he went down. Over and over again I asked him if he was sure he went down and he repeatedly told me I folded him. I felt a little better but was not getting my hopes up until I had him in my hands- all I needed was another fiasco like my elk!

"I have learned not to celebrate 

until I have my animal in my 

hands because as soon as I celebrate,

I shake uncontrollably." 

Kyle decided he wanted to try and get the other billy, so he grabbed the rifle and took a shot. I was watching in my binos and he missed, I watched the rock blow up above its back. Then all hell broke loose and there were goats scattering all over the place. Finally things seemed to quiet down so we decided to head up and retrieve my billy. He died in the cliffs above the alders, and let me tell you....that slide is NOT what it seemed from the road. From the road it looked like it was nice and open most of the way up with a gradual increase in steepness, then comes to a short alder patch then clears up again just before a bit of cliffing. NOT! The entire slide is thick alders and it gets steep fast then continues to get steeper the closer you get to the cliffs. And under all those alders its grass and with the rain it was very slick. Anyway, we get up to the rocks and Kyle decides to go up to find my goat while I stayed with the packs and Onca. Onca wanted to go with him but the rocks were steep and slick and the bush on the top of them were 10 times thicker than the alders we just fought through. So I'm standing there with my rifle strapped to my pack- on my back, petting Onca when I hear Kyle yell Get ready he's coming! I'm like what the --??? So I yell back, "What do you mean he's coming???" I was under the impression I killed that goat. All of a sudden the bushes start shaking violently jut above me to the right but they are so thick I cant see him, until he is RIGHT THERE! He pops out of the alders about 15 yards to my right and starts walking straight towards me. I froze. My rifle was still strapped to my pack on my back and I didn't want to make him bolt, but he was going to walk right into me! I momentarily forgot Onca was sitting on my feet until he started growling at the goat walking at us. The goat stopped at about 12 feet from me and focused on Onca. My thoughts went to Oh Sh*t what if he comes after Onca? Thankfully he didn't and instead he turned around to head back towards Kyle (who was about 100 yards above us still fighting his way down the cliffs) giving me the time to whip off my pack and grab my rifle. I put my rifle up, announced to Kyle I was taking a shot, and all I could see was hair- my scope was on 15 but I didn't have time to fiddle with it. I found the top of his shoulder in the scope and went down a little ways and fired. He dropped on the spot about 10 yards from me, then rolled down to 15 yards below me before he got hung up on some alders. About 10 minutes later Kyle's head poked out at the top of the cliff asking if I got him. He then proceeded to tell me his story of finding him, still alive, 10 feet from him in the thick bushes. My first shot did get him and that's why he dropped but it was a little far back, so he didn't die right away. 

After we got our pictures out of the way, Kyle insisted on packing him out whole. We didn't have any cliffs to deal with, just alders but even with that he fell down a lot. I kept asking if he was sure he didn't want to quarter it up and he insisted on doing it, and he said it was faster this way and was concerned about bears.

I have been on 3 goat hunts now (my own hunts, I've been with Kyle for his), 2 being successful and the successful ones always ended with a close encounter with a goat.  
I'm pretty happy to finally have my billy!! My first goat was a nanny, so I'm happy to be able to say I have a billy under my belt as well.  

 ** Sorry about the different sizes in font...I have literally spent 2 hours trying to get it all to be the same and I give up. **