Any goat hunters out there?

[JohnS]

Nice, that's good your getting out there and preped for season...GOS area??? One of my partners and I are going out for a scout in 2 weeks, GOS area, should be fun....

I got the draw for 4-17 zone C

[Rupert Retired]

Here are some tips that may be helpful to those going after goats this fall:

Always come down a mountain the same way you went up. Pathfinding going up a mountain is easier, you can see the bluffs and impassable areas better. Coming down it is much more difficult. Don't second guess yourself on the way down just because you see a route that looks better, it usually is not and will end at the top of a bluff or worse. Packing halfway back to the top just to find a passable route isn't fun, especially with a heavy pack.

Going up a mountain is always easier than coming down. This is because you are looking for your next handhold, and it is usually about 1 - 2 feet in front of your eyes. Coming down it is the opposite, usually having to grope around blindly with your feet for a purchase while hanging onto a ledge or shrubs or something.

Consider packing a short, light rope that can hold your weight, like nylon braid or something similar. I have used it upon occasion when coming down, as a purchase with one hand (with the rope doubled around a tree or something like that). Also, it can be used to lower your pack over the steep parts so you can then climb down easier. This works good with two people, with the firest one going down without a pack, then having both packs lowered, and then the second hunter's turn.

Don't shoot a goat unless you are sure you can get to it. Usually when picking a route, if there is vegetation you can go there, but not always. Sometimes there is smooth granite with water running down it, and it doesn't have to be that wide to make it unpassable. Remember, it is not worth your life to retrieve an animal, there is no shame to backing out and deciding you didn't really want that goat after all. If you insist on taking a risk, try to mitigate that risk as much as possible by thinking of "what would I do if this happens?". I pack a SPOT emergency locator these days, take advantage of the latest tech for sure.

This is pretty basic for most of you, but don't forget your meat saw (for the skull), and really high-grade your meat as you load it into your pack. No sense packing out something you will trim and discard later.

I used to pack a short (about two feet or so) bit of duct tape. If you have to move your goat from a ledge or something to butcher it in a safer location, tape the horns before you roll it over the bluff to the bigger area below. A friend of mine lost about three inches off one horn, we never found it

That's about all I can think of for now. I will try to dig up a field photo and post it on here later. And remember, there are goats that die of old age every winter up in the mountains, I think it is the best chance of getting a real big one of any species in BC. And my most important bit of advice, have fun and stay safe!

[JohnS]

https://imgur.com/a/cDb3mz7

that right there is one brute of a billy goat !! oh my day dreams will be even more now :P thanks brother for sharing your pic

[Rupert Retired]

Damn, I was trying to post the pic, not the link. Any suggestions?

[JohnS]

[Rupert Retired]

Thanks JohnS! Maybe I will work on a short story detailing this one. This goat scores 49 4/8, but as you can see, it had a really big body, and was an epic hunt for sure!

[Rupert Retired]

OK, so here goes, although it would be better if I knew ore about how to post these pics. This forum sucks big time for posting pics.

[HarryToolips]

^^^^Gorgeous billy, and great tips.....how far was the pack out??

[Rupert Retired]

In 2005, I was 54 years old, and decided I wanted to go geta good Billy. I hadn’t had any success in my LEH applications, and so I had tofind an open area to do this. There are lots of mountain goat open areas on theNorth Coast, and lots of huge Billies – the problem is access (and weather).There are certain lakes you can fly to, but these are limited (and expensive),and get hunted fairly regularly. However, there is a ton of country that isjust waiting for hunters like you and I to figure out a way to get up to them.
My hunting partner and I found an area, but we knew it wouldbe hard to get to – however, we were willing to give it a try. So, in August,we hiked into the area. This was about a two to three hour hike from the truck,to the base of the real mountain. We camped there overnight. We could see (frommaps and such) that there was a stream running down from the alpine, and wethought we could get up to alpine on the left hand side of this stream (lookingup). However, no go. Here is a pic looking sideways from our furthest point ofascent, and another one looking up to where we wanted to go. The coastalweather was also screwing us, as is pretty normal for a coastal goat hunt.
Totally looked pretty dicey,so we backed off and went home, with a bunch of knowledge that we didn’t havepreviously. Nothing like scouting a new area!

https://imgur.com/kfytMJX

​https://imgur.com/HREhlBu

[Rupert Retired]

Next thing we did wasre-group, re-think, studied more maps, and then tried again in September.
On September 9, we again wentinto the area. Here is me at the truck. I knew the first few hours were a “bogslog” as well as having to cross a stream, and so used my chest waders until wehad passed that portion. I then just left them there, and picked them up on theway back.