I set my pack down to provide somewhat of a rest for my rifle as I set up to shoot. Trying not to alert the Goat, I Laid prone, aiming downhill in a steep position I had never shot from. The Billy laid quartering toward me, I'd have to shoot along side the face to attempt to hit shoulder and lungs. I tried to calm my racing heart as the Goat turned his head and looked directly toward me, I squeezed the trigger and saw sand fly directly behind the target. Darn, cycling another round quickly, the Goat lay motionless. I carefully squeezed again, at the report of the 300 Win, the Billy did a half spin, a right rear leg kick and was dead on the spot. Still to date, has to be one of my quickest kills.
I again scoped the Goat at the 150 or so yards almost directly below me. I could see blood, running from him into the water that was at his side. I stood up to signal buddy standing high above me, let out a warhoop as I lifted my gun above my head in celebration, then felt the warm trickle of blood running down my face from my brow, my first ever scope bite, I laughed inside and remembered my pops always saying watch out if you ever lay prone downhill as it brings the scope closer then you think. Lesson learned, thanks Dad haha.
Buddy made it down to me and my Best critter to date, a beautiful Billy. We had done it, each of us had harvested good Billys, in this the third try. We discussed in amazement the access route I had taken to get into shooting position. Sheesh, it seemed crazy the ledges and drops one navigates when focused. We shared in the moment together and reflected back of the plans made years ago to finally be fulfilled with magnificent trophies and memories that would last a life time. We dragged the Bill closer to the water to wash off the red deeds evidence for better pics. It turned out, my first shot, a miss just above the shoulder, the second as he stare at me, right below his right eye, then into the shoulder lungs area out the brisket. He never knew what hit him. With that I was elated.
Now the the task yet again of deboning, all edible portions, skinning off the hide and head, we stuffed our packs and headed up the hill, just before darness set in. It would be another tough grind out of the drainage to hit the Ridgeline that would lead us to camp. And again, the darness fell and we waited as the moon grew higher and higher into the night sky. Wow, it was like daylight in all open areas, wonderful, using only the lights in the shadows we picked our way along slowly with attention to being careful paramount. And as the night before, we arrived in camp, near midnight. What a day, what a couple of days.
This time, we hung the meat high again, along with the head and cape and hit the sack. No fire, just smiles all around, water and granola bars. That was supper. Not to far into sleep, we were awakened with a huge flash and the loud crack of thunder not far away. What we witnessed that night after getting out of our bags was something beyond belief. A lightning storm below us, yet it lit up the surroundings, far in the distance, it was like the shock and awe of a bombing raid ! Repeatedly, the flash below with hefty clouds between us followed by the big booms of mountain thunder. Unbelievable! Surprisingly, we stayed dry that night, we never did get rained on. To that we were grateful and finally slept through what was the rest of the night, until morning, and our dreadful decent with packs full of Mountain Goat meat, hides and horns.
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Originally Posted by Kopper
