As morning light broke the horizon our eyes were glued to the optics; relocating theanimals we had left at last light. None of the bands had moved locations so we discussed a plan of attack, as the jetboil warmed water for breakfast and to unthaw frozen water bottles. We decided to cut the distance in half by traveling up the valley to get a better idea of the terrain we would have to navigate to ascend to the goats. While we covered several kilometres before we stopped it only took a few minutes on our bikes. Stopping for a quick break andto get a better look at this band with the spotting scope, Levi called out as I fished a bar from my pack “Hey there is a lone billy that we haven’t seen before.” Putting my eye to the glass I was looking at one of the biggest bodied goats we had seen, and he was feeding in a patch of burnt timber above a cliff band, with good terrain to maneuver above him for a shot. We instantly switched gears and decide to make a play on this goat. Stashing our bikes we started the ascent up through what from afar just looked like a regular burn. However climbing into it we found that the burn was old enough to produce a 8ft fir regrowth jungle, laced with the wind felled corpses of the forest that once stood here. Our progress slowed to a near standstill as we fought our way through the thick regrowth, teetering on fallen logs like a balance beam, having our gear ripped from our packs. “How come whenever I hunt with you Levi we always end up going through the nastiest deadfall we can find,” I exclaimed as branches tore at my face. “You know Cody there is such a thing as becoming good at navigating windfall” he laughed, “especially when you have a 34” inseam like me!”
Finally after 3.5 hours of climbing we reached the bench above where we had last seen the billy. Stalking down through the burnt timber our eyes scanning to hopefully catch the billy bedded below. However we turned up nothing, with a cliff edge 40 yards below us and a gorge separating us from the rest of the bench, we wondering if he had sensed our presence escaped into treacherous terrain below. “Im going to that point on the cliff to see if I can spot anything further down the valley” Levi whispered.
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