Re: Late Season Goat Success
always interested in a goat tales on a friday. looking foreward to a good read
Re: Late Season Goat Success
x2 gotta love the stories, especially when pics are added
Re: Late Season Goat Success
Throughout sheep season any goat sightings were few and wayyy too far away. With a November hunt planned and a Terrace draw burning a whole in my pocket (again) I wasn't going to take an incidental goat unless it was big and basically would fall in my lap.
The second last week of the stone season was when I finally called it quits to overnighting. Too cold on the windswept hills and the long nights were making me go stir crazy being alone in the tent for that long. Putting on frozen boots in the morning has very little appeal.
https://i.imgur.com/oghkmvY.jpg
The last day of the sheep/goat season in the Peace had me on a 6hr hike into a sheep wintering area hoping for a big broomer. Unbelievably, 10 or 11 rams were spotted with a bunch of ewes. Not one ram was even close to full curl....wtf. I couldn't pick out any more rams in the buck brush after awhile so I headed for the truck.
Getting later in the day now, maybe 1.5 hrs to the truck. Walking alittle hunched and not paying attention a quick glance of white on the canyon walls made me hit the deck. Quickly the gun and spotter came out. https://i.imgur.com/YuZuRQT.jpg
At 123 yards it was obvious this was a billy but he looked to be only 2 years of age. I watched him until dark, just to take in his mountaineering skills; never gets old.
Re: Late Season Goat Success
I'm going to enjoy this thread
Re: Late Season Goat Success
Looking forward to it buddy!!
Re: Late Season Goat Success
Re: Late Season Goat Success
I hate finding the good stories before they are written!!
Re: Late Season Goat Success
Early November JSaw, the third amigo of our trio and myself were finishing up a trip to the Cranbrook area for whities. It's more of a yearly get together with some questionable drinks, an excessive amount of hotspringing and alittle bit of lazy boy hunting. Never the less we all had opportunities and had some horn on the ground. JSaw and I were supposed to go chase goats for a few days before he had to go back to work but he opted to go back to PG and regenerate instead. So, I went back home and dumped off my gear. Well the next morning I got up, loaded my gear and headed off to a valley in which I had a long overdue reservation with Oreamnos americanus....
I was heading to my favorite place on earth. This was the valley that first popped my goat hunting cherry so many years ago; yet due to the nature of this terrain I had not harvested in this location yet. It's been 4 years since I was last here but my memory of that place always runs fresh.
Re: Late Season Goat Success
Just before departure I had the typical where's camp, where you're hunting and when to expect you home safety talk with my old man. He wished his bests and off I went.
Arriving mid afternoon, it was cold, crisp and clear as a bell with only a skiff of snow. Very irregular weather for this time of year. A skiff of snow adds complication to this kind of hunt; you either want nothing or a foot plus to add some stability IMO and the frozen ground doesn't allow you to dig your feet in. On the plus side the temperature didn't allow a spec of fog to form making spotting a breeze. This trip ranged from a high of -6 to a low of -19.
It took a few hours to set up camp and gather wood for the stove. For this style of hunting, camp for the last 3 years is a 10x12 deluxe wall tent and a light gauged stove from Cabelas to keep things toasty. Lonely for 1, perfect for 2 and slightly cramped with 3 people.