why not one more goat story to get us through COVID... from the past

[bang flop]

Great story really enjoyed it sort of Curious why your faces are hidden? Not being negative just curious?

Thanks, glad you enjoyed. We certainly need more of this on here...

I'm not a big social media fan, and the guys I hunt with are even less so. mostly blocked out faces out of respect for them.

[bang flop]

The next stop for the goat was the taxidermist. He was impressed at the condition of the cape… I guess many goat capes he gets need a lot of stitching. Just a couple bullet holes and a couple skinning woopsies…



I thought it was interesting that the base of the horns had been eaten away by the glands.

[bang flop]

For you score junkies....

I green scored this goat at just under 50”, being conservative I thought, so when it was officially scored the first time at 48” I was a bit miffed as I couldn’t match the official score sheet if I tried, and 2” is huge in the goat world. Anyway, I sent the horns with a friend to another game score event and was scored at nearly 50”. At that point, the person who had it rescored for me said “well that is a lot better than the last score….” The brakes went on. At this point the judges doing the scoring used the term “score shopping”. I had no idea that was such a thing, but I guess it’s a bit of a “no no” to get your animal officially scored more than once. After this was discovered, the judges decided to treat my case as a “challenge” instead. What this meant is that the horns were scored by a panel of judges, and no further appeals could be made. In any case it was officially scored at 49” on the button, which was likely a bit short changed, but I’m not one to care. Long story short… don’t score shop, its frowned upon. 49” puts it just in the BC book, but missed the B&C.

[bang flop]

The long horn measured 10-7/8” and the broken horn measured 9-5/8”. The 1-2/8” break off really effects score as that is a direct deduction from gross. Also, the eroded bases effect score due to the reduction in base circumference. It doesn’t really matter to me, but thought it was pretty cool to make book anyway.

I took enough cape to do a ½ mount, but getting that done was not in my budget, so I settled for a shoulder mount. I brought the cape and horns to Craig Stolle at Artistic Wildlife Creations in Campbell River. Craig really did a great job, and turn around was quite quick (less than 9 months). I now have this guy hanging on the wall to look at and think about every time I go up or down my stairs.

[bang flop]

All in all it was a great trip, great experience and fantastic time away from work. I would have been happy with any Billy, but I feel extremely lucky to have had this opportunity at a trophy animal.

I owe many thanks to friends in helping to make this happen, on friend in particular for his knowledge and experience. I wish I could say it was all me… but it was far from that.

I hope this inspires others to post stories... the site needs it.

Thanks.

[twoSevenO]

that is one fine looking billy. Well done and thanks for sharing!!!!!!

It's pretty crazy to see that horn falling apart at the back like that. I've heard of it before in old goats, but never seen it!

As far as your score shopping .... how can they tell? It was my understanding that if a goat is scored adn didn't meet book, it wasn't going to be recorded anywhere so how did they know?

[Wood butcher]

I enjoyed that story. Congrats to you and thanks for sharing.

[RackStar]

That’s a epic hunt right there...

good job on the hunt. The mount turned out excellent.

[Ron.C]

Been on the fence if I would apply for goat again this year, this thread convinced me.

Very enjoyable read, thanks for sharing.

[decker9]

Man what a hunt! A mighty fine billy you found!, especially for a first!! Thank you for taking the time to share your adventure, really enjoyed it with my coffee this morning . You know when you gotta build a fire during a standoff, the conditions are far from ideal lol. Good on you guys for toughing it out!! Huge congrats to you and your crew! Counting down days until our next attempt.