Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 19

Thread: krag dwellers continued

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    krag dwellers continued

    Sorry i added part 2 of this story to my first thread. If anyone wants to back up and read it that’s where to find it. There was some time in between drawing the tag again. This is the story of our most recent adventure.

  2. Site Sponsor

  3. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    Re: krag dwellers continued

    This summer we went back to scouting our area. we went in to check access and as before the roads had been reduced even more by mother nature. The summer smoke had been heavy and any glassing was out of the question. Still it was well worth the road trip just to get back in the mountains. Our trio was back to a duo as one member was up north on a horse trip. The roads in were in terrible shape but things in the mountain seemed unchanged as always. Mid september we made our way up into a new area we had scouted and found a high basin with a great view. after hiking up and setting camp we went up and glassed the peaks. By evening we had a billy spotted . once again a ways away on a distant ridge line. Now this was a great feeling, first night on the mountain with a good goat pegged on the mountain. We made a plan, to close the gap between us by navigating the tops of the razorback mountain tops which may get us close to the goat if these peaks all connect in a passable way. We decided to wait until morning to go after this goat so that we have an entire day to work with. There are patches of snow on this ridge and there are goat tracks that head from our locating to where we are glassing this goat. He must have passed through here not too long ago. The curious thing is allong the very top of this mountain following this goat are cat tracks.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    Re: krag dwellers continued

    Morning arrives and surprise , surprise we have a skiff of snow. Now Traversing this country can be difficult at the best of times let alone adding snow into the mix. We make it back up to where we had glassed the billy and push farther along the ridgeline to close in on the goat. There is enough snow on the ground that it becomes hard to see all the details of the holes between the rocks. I end up putting my foot into a hole that had been covered by the snow. A quick assessment and I feel fine, a little bit of initial pain but its fading. We push on. We are far enough away that we are not worried about being skylined as there really isn't any alternative. But we reach a point where we cannot continue on . there is a cliff which is suitable for goats only. With the added snow we both decide neither of us are prepared to risk this obstacle. once again decisions have to be made. We need a new option to reach this goat. Our only option will be to retreat all the way back to the trucks and venture in from a different valley. We pull back collect camp and spend the rest of the day exiting the valley.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    Re: krag dwellers continued

    this is where we had glassed from with the goat feeding on the slope in the distance, before the snow of course

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    Re: krag dwellers continued

    We return for our main hunt in October. We now had legitimate holidays and all three members of our group were once again at it. This time we had brought my old beater horse trailer in to have a warm place to retreat back to if we encounter some weather. I have a small wood stove in the trailer which helps to make the longer trip comfortable. We are once again back in our valley checking familiar spots where we have found goats in the past. We find our one billy from last time again, he hasn't moved much, over the last few weeks. But still his location is next to impossible to put a stalk on. Iv found goats usually stick to the same habitats year after year for obvious reasons. This goat lives here because he knows he is safe. We keep moving locations glassing, keeping this billy as a possibility if we cant locate another in a better location. 2 days pass and we havnt seen any other goats yet. The thing about goat country is that they can hide out of sight so easily. If they are not out and about feeding you can spend days glassing and maybe never notice them, however if they are on the move they can be super obvious. The evening of day 3 as we glass a familiar rock face we see a white creature walking across a almost sheer cliff. We had glassed this area fairy consistently and now he had surfaced.

    The next morning we are there at dawn watching him. Problem is he is out of reach about 500 yards up. From this location there is no sense shooting him and having him free fall down and land as a pile of hamburger or breaking his horns. Or if he were to hang up on a tree he would be impossible to retrieve. I spend the whole day sitting watching him. He moves very little other than some browsing followed by naps in his hidden bed spot. By evening however he starts moving lower closer to a spot where I may have an opportunity. I move closer to the base of this cliff while trying to remain in the cover of the timber and I loose sight of him. I wait until dark and he never appears. when I regroup with my partners who remained at our original glass spot they inform me that he dropped down a bit but soon climbed back up into his balcony out of reach. The next Day Is a repeat of the previous with us watching him all day, still he does not drop low enough for me to reach him, I get impatient. I have this feeling that he will eventually drop down lower but it just hasn't happened yet. My impatience gets the better of me and I decide we will hike up the mountain behind him and try to come in above him. Two of us start hiking up the backside of the mountain while one remains to watch from the glassing spot. After hiking through some of the worst blow down iv ever encountered thing are looking like we wont have a decent enough angle to see him. we end up heading back down.
    When we reach the bottom our third partner is waiting for us and informs us that somebody else killed that goat. Neither of us even herd the shot from up on the mountain. While we were hiking up another pair of residents had come into this area and neither of us had seen each other. And like id thought the billy had dropped lower to a decent elevation and they were able to take him. Had I been patient I would have most likely had my opportunity as well. All in all these guys turned out be be good guys too and as I was devastated about missing my opportunity I was happy for these guys.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    Re: krag dwellers continued

    The next day however was one of the lows of the emotional roller coaster. The other two buggered off on their own and I sulked around camp. I needed to collect myself for a bit. By noon I was back out, taking the quad over to some country that we hadn't invested much time in this year. We had a few days left to hunt and the weather was beautiful for October. As I reached the end of the old road I bust out the jetboil for some soup. As I laze out in the sunshine I See a goat. Standing on a rock skylined is a goat. From where I am He looks good, dirty rear end, and horns look billy ish from down here. The emotional rollercoaster is now on a major swing upwards. The billy settles down for a nap so I pack up a go gather my partners.
    We return and watch the goat through the spotters for the rest of the day. He moves over the mountain a bit but we put him to bed that night.
    We are back at the base of the mountain trying to locate him as the sun pops up. We left camp in the dark to be here at first light hoping to find him in his bed at first light. We locate him quick enough, he is already up and feeding, so we make our last plans for our accent and start up after him.
    The first part of the mountain is shin tangle city. we are climbing up an avalanche chute which is full of alders. Eventually it thins out and the timbered section is much more forgiving. We reach the point where we last saw the goat noonish but there is no sign of him. Now there are two directions he could have gone, after debating our options we pick our path and decide to creep over the top of the edge of the next chute. We reach the crest and decide before we peek over we should fuel up and take a break and let our heart rates drop from all the climbing. The guys drop the packs and we hang out bullshitting for 10 min taking some pictures. I decide id better take a peek and check what is over the edge. I'm maybe 12 feet from where we were talking loudly together and I can see the goat. He is slightly below me sleeping on a rock, I range him at 140 yards. I motion to the guys and thing get serious. I look at to me his horns say billy. I pull back and let the others creep up for a peek to give a second opinion. bases are bigger than his eyes. Now this goat looks very similar in size and horn length to our first billy . I set up on a rock that is like a perfect flat table top. I couldn't ask for a better rest. By now the goat has stood up and is slowly walking away. I pull the trigger and he goes down and piles up into a shrub maybe 30 ft from impact.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    Re: krag dwellers continued

    We Have to shimmy down a steep section to get down to him, but he is in a relatively decent spot. We dig him out of the juniper bush and sit back to take in the moment. Once again a quick check of his package triple confirms That he is truly a billy. We do the usual routine of pictures and get down to business. Cape comes off and meat goes into my new black ovis bags, which worked great. We have left a few bones along with the hooves and the rest is coming down the mountain. .

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    Re: krag dwellers continued


  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Victoria,BC
    Posts
    6,398

    Re: krag dwellers continued

    Very nice! Another great hunt!
    Thanks for sharing.
    kenny
    I love it when the seasons change.
    Fishing to Hunting.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    3-20
    Posts
    158

    Re: krag dwellers continued

    We had decided or safest route off the mountain in the dark would require some side hilling on the mountain, so off we went knowing we would be well into the night before we landed back in the valleybottom. Once again we would be travelling down heavy by headlamp. Our course was unknown we ended up slinking down a avalanche chute praying that we didn't reach some unpassable obstacle. Emotions once again play on your mind and things become unpleasant as every muscle in your body lower body starts to complain. There were many moments where you consider whether simply hunkering down til daybreak would be safest but we pushed through. Between the three of us there was always one who seemed to take charge and keep pushing the group further. I truly am grateful for the both of them. Many moments where the chute was steep enough where we were mostly lowering ourselves down from alder to alder.
    As we made our way down 2 wolves were howling in the valley below. At this point neither of us really seemed too worked up about the dogs below. It was really erie to hear the howls echo in the valley as we marched my trophy off the mountain, but it certainly added to the epic moment. We finally reached the old trailer sometime into the AM. Even though we were all hurting and exhausted we made a fire, cooked the greasiest grub possible, and crushed a few beers.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •