Re: why not one more goat story to get us through COVID... from the past
Up we went, mindful of foot placement so wedidn’t cause a mini shale slide and alert the goat. At this point the heart was pumping with excitement.
Buddy and I reached the last rock knoll that separated us from viewing the beast in very close proximity. I peeled off the pack, and belly crawled up the last bit… all off a sudden I see the black horns sticking up… “holy sh*t…he is right there!”. I dropped back out of view for a moment, grabbed my pack and laid it on the ground to use as a rest. Through the scope all I could see was the tips of the horns… and he was close… 15-20 yards close! Now we had to get the beast to rise… buddy tried a few quiet “bahs…”, but nothing. Finally on the 4th and not so quiet “bah” the goats heads lifts, looks, and begins to rise…
Before the goat is fully standing, there is a loud bark on the mountain top. Both shoulders taken out and the beast is back in his bed with his back end kicking wildly as he wedged himself up against a rock face. He wasn’t going anywhere….
Re: why not one more goat story to get us through COVID... from the past
WOW! that just happened, and in an epicstyle. Immediately Buddy and I hi five and share our excitement on the mountain top… a few whooohooo’s, and then recollection about what just happened. I kept thinking “Can’t believe that really just happened”.
We waited 15 min for my brother to catch up before going to the prize, and the whole time I was thinking we were on the top of the world and just took my first Billy (with zero clue about what a billy it was...).
I decided to go stand in the bed the goat was laying in when we first spotted him… it was a sheer drop off and have no doubt in my mind that if I had shot him there we would never have put our hands on that goat, he would have been eagle food. Good call on Buddies part…
As a group we approached the goat that had long expired by now.
Re: why not one more goat story to get us through COVID... from the past
I was amazed by his sheer size and beautiful coat. Being my first Billy I didn’t know the difference between a small, medium, large or stomper goat, but I do now. Luck falls on all of us once in a while… I happened to be lucky enough to take a goat of 5 life times on my first trek up the mountain. I had low expectations, but high hopes. The experience is something I will never forget and owe many thanks to friends for their help. None of this would have happened without them.
Re: why not one more goat story to get us through COVID... from the past
I wish I could say we made quick work of the goat, but we didn’t. It took a while to cape (1/2 mount) the goat and pull all the edible portions. I had the two hinds plus the head/cape on my pack board… it was a bit of a struggle to get the pack up and onto my back.
Re: why not one more goat story to get us through COVID... from the past
Many slips, trips, falls and near knee breaking moments. Dark was starting to set in and we still had a long ways to go… a missing head lamp meant we only had 1 light for 3 guys to get out.
After consulting the google earth map, we thought we would take the avalanche chute a little further down the mountain to avoid the blow down and crappy walking conditions we faced on the way up… turned out to be a mistake as the alders in the bottom of the chute were much thicker and taller… and once we made the decision to cut through the bush back to the truck the walking wasn’t any better than on the way up… damned if you do, damned if you don’t…
At this point we were beyond exhausted and dehydrated but we pushed hard to make it back to the truck before dark. All I can say is it was one tough slug to do it. With one head lamp we found our cut and felt HUGE relief when we saw the reflection on the truck tail lights in the dark…
Re: why not one more goat story to get us through COVID... from the past
What a crazy experience, and have a new respect for mountain hunting.
Once back at the truck every sip of water and Gatorade was consumed. The idea of a celebratory beer was not high on the list, but it was a must.
With only 2 mornings left to hunt, we decided we better get out and look for an elk. I was shocked when we stopped the truck at the first glassing area and immediately spotter is pulled out… no way… a 6 point? I couldn’t believe it…
We watched the elk move back and forth erratically in the cut, then disappear in the thick stuff. We decided to make our way over to that cut which was across the valley and try a few cow calls. Nothing. We waited patiently for a while but decided to pull the pin and try again that evening and the last morning. Unfortunately we never did see that bull again, but was very cool to have an opportunity like that, even if it was a distant opportunity.
Re: why not one more goat story to get us through COVID... from the past
Like all good things, hunting trips must come to an end. I feel this year was one of the most epic trips I will every experience.
On the way home I had the goat inspected as per hunting regulations. It was very difficult to age this goat, but was recorded as 8+ years, but the compulsory inspector (CI) couldn’t confirm. The CI did take a tooth sample and it was sent in. I ended up contacting the provincial aging lab and got the age info back on this goat, ended up being 13 years old, much older than first thought. It goes to show you how hard it is to age these animals by horn annuli. Even knowing the age now I couldn’t count the age from the horns, the bases are so stacked up. Anyway, some basic research suggested that 16 years old is about maximum for Mountain Goats, but I downloaded all the Provincial CI data from 1978-2012 and discovered a couple goats in the province have been aged 20. Here is an Excel table I made from the data, covering some very basic summaries based on decades. Note that the 70’s consists of only 2 years (78 & 79), and that the 2010’s only consists of 3 years (2010, 11 and 12), so its hard to compare how many goats were CI’d in each decade.
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