This Really Gets My Goat

[untilthelastbeat]

Nooooo! I'm leaving for my goat in less than 8 hrs! Must see motivation!!!

[charlie_horse]

You know what really gets my goat? Great story!

[wideopenthrottle]

wow ...can't wait for the happy ending

[Ride Red]

This is one of the best stories I've read on here, keep it coming. Great primer as I'm heading for a goat real soon.

[ishootbambi]

Sorry for the interruption guys. Let's get to it.

So we woke up on Tuesday morning to light rain and howling wind. Thank goodness we were prepared for the weather with suitable gear., it would have been easy to end up cold, wet and miserable, but thanks to modern technology we were warm, dry and comfortable. Like it had been all week so far, the best billies were way up into the cliffs on the far side of Hell's Canyon. We spent the day just watching and relaxing, patiently waiting for one of the big boys below to make his way up to our vantage point. BR believed it was just a matter of time until one of the old boys club made his way up to the plateaus for some munching. After a couple of hard days humping it around the hills, it was nice to sit and enjoy the view for a while. It wasn't long before I spied a couple of out of place rocks way up at he head of Hells Canyon. The binos revealed two more Stone Rams. It took the big Zeiss spotter to confirm what we already suspected...more juvies. One looked to make the 3/4 curl rule, but that didn't help us. Surrounded by goats, sheep and bears it seemed like a good time to curl into the rock I was leaning on for a quick snooze. It might not sound comfortable but it kinda was. Musta been one of them posturepedic rocks I've been hearing about?

Anyhow, I was startled awake by BR hissing at me that goats were in the grass down below us. Sure enough there were two. They looked like adults, but no shoulders or muscled up necks were evident. To prove my hunch, two kids came scooting up behind them. There was a billy out on a finger ridge lower than them. He looked only average so we didn't give him much attention at first.



Now attitudes can change rapidly under the right circumstances. That billy getting up and heading in the direction of the ladies did just that. We had no idea why he was interested in following, but he was going to cross the meadow below camp too. The thought of not hauling an animal out of Hells Canyon was appealing as was the chance to make a stalk with my bow. I raced around the big rocks at camp in an effort to get in front of where he was headed. With an arrow nocked I creeped around the boulders just in time to see......nothing? Now how the heck did he get by me? I looked back to see BR only 100 yards away trying to get a look at the festivities. He felt confident I should have beaten him to the chute the nannies went into, but it didn't matter as he was gone. I wasn't heartbroken as he was only an average billy at best.

[NorBC]

And we're back!

[ishootbambi]

With that we went back to our lookout over HC. The more I looked down into that cavern the less I wanted to lug a goat out of it. But....it was becoming more and more obvious that was going to likely happen. From the lookout we saw more rocks out of place up at the head of the canyon. More Stones! This was a group of ten ewes and lambs. I felt like the sheep were taunting me at this point.

As the day wore on we dozed on and off...and rested. We discussed going down the next day, and I began to accept it might be necessary. It was around 4 pm when our buddy Schitty Bum gave us another look. BR again got pretty excited at the size of him. His coat was all I needed to be happy, and I began to visualize him in my house. His visit was again brief but we knew he was still down there! BR wandered up higher around the big rocky point we were hiding behind from the wind. He wanted to get another angle on the sheep up the valley just to be sure there wasn't a bigger ram we hadn't spotted yet. He wasn't gone a minute when Schitty Bum popped back out. I ranged him at 428 at a very steep angle. I considered what might happen if I dumped him right then. It meant that a bowkill was guaranteed not to happen, he would cause me a lot of work getting him out, and we would be in the cliffs that were wet and slick with no chance of getting out of there until well after dark. I did not reach for the gun. We had plenty of time yet.

About 2/3 of the way to the right and 2/3 down there is a big rock in a wash. Schitty Bum walked behind that rock and it was the last time we saw him...well Tuesday anyway.

[ishootbambi]

Finally! On Wednesday morning we were greeted with clear blue skies and the calmest day thus far. Immediately we began scheming. We decided before even leaving the tent that we were going to take advantage of this beautiful day to drop into Hells Canyon. We still had no billies showing above us so the decision was made to first look for Schitty Bum, and if that didn't work out we had a wild and crazy plan B. Remember Number 1? Look to the right of where he sits.




We actually came up with the brainwave that if we couldn't locate Schitty that BR would drop low into the creek below them and I would zip up a wash way off to the left out of the picture to get into the plateau above them. We thought if we could get them to see me above them first.....then with BR exposing himself below....that we just might be able to force them to walk across that shale slide. They would undoubtedly still take a good tumble, but without the huge freefall onto the rocks and subsequent bloody explosion, we felt it might be doable. It was a pretty out there plan, but it was all we had. Well, assuming we couldn't find ole Schitty.

[ishootbambi]

Now at this point I had a painful decision to make. A big goat with a life size cape I figured could be 120 pounds plus on my back. I didn't want to carry both my gun and bow. If Schitty was where we left him, the bow should work, but if plan B goes into place, I'll need a gun. It was with a heavy heart that the Bowtech stayed in camp and the Browning was strapped to my pack.

As we stood for a moment at the edge of a wash leading down into Hells Canyon, BR and I exchanged a look that required no words for us both to understand. Are we really gonna do this? Are we effin crazy for even thinking it's possible? With a nod we were descending the steep rocky grade. Once we were low enough...about a third of the way to the bottom, we began to sidehill towards our last landmark where Schitty Bum disappeared the night before. We made our way through the rocks and shale toward that big boulder where he vanished the previous evening. Was he still there? From the first time we saw him until the last he hadn't moved 75 yards total. We really felt he was there somewhere but we just couldn't find him.

BR asked what I thought we should do. I didn't know... heck at that point I'd hunted goats for 4 whole days! I figured that if we were patient he should show eventually like he had the last few days. BR pointed out that we could burn the whole day waiting which could cost us even trying plan B. I agreed but we decided to give it a little time. As we looked across the valley at Number 1 he seemed to have grown even since the day before. I know he just looked bigger because we were closer. After about an hour I suggested we say screw it and give plan B a whirl. BR agreed and we started moving downhill in a wash. I didn't like that. The travelling was easier but we couldn't see anything of the mountain we were on! I wanted to get out of the channel but that meant rock hopping through some pretty rough crap. Well holy bajeezus!!! I didn't go another 10 yards when I saw a small tuft of white hair in what I can only describe as a vertical cave! Murphy you sunny beach!!! There was a goat right there at only 50 yards and my bow was a half mile up the slope and a half mile over. At this point I knew it was a goat...but wasn't sure of which goat?

[xfactor]

what a place for a nap! great story keep it coming!