KB90
10-14-2013, 12:22 PM
Well here he is, my first goat taken on my first solo hunt October 9th 2013:-D
I arrived at the drainage around mid morning and began my hike in, it was an uneventful walk, but being my 3rd trip of the year i felt great! Gives a guy motivation to be in better shape for the first hunt next year!
I got to my destination in about 3 hours covering a distance of about 5km. I brought out the spotting scope and began to glass the surrounding hillsides, 2 hours went by with nothing to show for my efforts, except for a good chill! I bundled up in all my layers and laid down for a quick nap. An hour or two went by before I woke up. When I did, I brought up the binos for a quick lazy look around when all of a sudden a small yellow spot appeared in the rocks.
I quickly grabbed the spotting scope to get a better look, and this is what I saw
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1393697_10151876174092088_121838268_n.jpg
It didn't take me long to realize he was a good billy and one I would be happy to take. I had a look at my watch.. 4 o'clock, which meant I had 3 hours of light to go. Having a look at the mountain side I knew it would take me at least an hour to get into shooting position, which would leave me lots of time, so the decision was made to go after him. Here's where I spotted him on the mountain.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1380071_10151876174877088_975907197_n.jpg
Well as I started the hike I realized it was going to be tougher than I thought, as it always goes the brush was thicker than it looked from below... I pushed myself hard, at times having to use the buck brush to pull me up the steep incline. 1.5 hours later I found myself almost to where I wanted to be. I stopped to catch my breath before I crested the hill, as I peaked over I could see my goat quickly making his way uphill, he must have winded me, as he was on the move.
I quickly threw down my pack and pulled out my range finder... 209 yards. Perfect! my gun is sighted in for 200. As he was moving uphill I put my scope on him and let fly. BOOM... nothing happened? What the heck how did I miss?!? In my confusion I looked down at my scope, and saw that my elevation turret was set at 400 yards! Crap! must have forgot to dial it back after the last trip to the range! So I quickly got the range finder out again, the goat was now at 315 yards and still moving uphill, so I dialed my turret into 300 yards and got set up on my pack again. By this time the goat is almost out of my sight as I am shooting almost straight uphill, in less than 20 yards he will be up and over the cliffs and out of sight. I let another one fly. BOOM.. again almost no reaction that I could see?!? I chambered another round got settled in when I noticed him starting to slow, his legs were looking weak, a few seconds went by and down he went! Ass over backwards and I could hear him crash out of sight into the rocks.
The only problem was now he was way up in the rocks, during the excitement I was not thinking of where he would end up. In the original location of the first shot he was in a perfect spot, where I killed him, not so much... I made my way up as close to the cliffs as I could, I could see a bit of blood and his tracks, but no sign of the goat. I was beginning to worry that he might have got hung up in the rocks where I couldn't see him and there would be no way for me to safely get there!
As i walked towards the cliff something caught my eye, way down low in the brush! I pulled up the binos and could not believe my eyes, it was my goat! Somehow he rolled all the way down the mountain without me seeing it. He came down the chute on the other side of the cliffs that was out of my sight line. What a relief!
I was pretty excited that he was in a spot I could recover him, but now I was thinking about the wicked tumble he had just taken and hoping he was in one piece! As luck would have it, both his horns were intact. Although he did have a pretty good cut on his face, and his lips and nose were scraped up. Hopefully the taxidermist can fix it up.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1385470_10151876176767088_535489368_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1376491_10151876176672088_1413810936_n.jpg
So i left my goat on the mountain and headed down to my tent for the night, I was on cloud 9 It was a long night waiting for daylight to get to work. The next morning I made my way back up to him, got him deboned and caped out and started loading him in my pack. I now have a new appreciation for guys who pack out an animal on their own, what a heavy pack out! I had to roll over on my stomach, get on my knees and use my gun to stand up, when I finally made it back my legs were like wet noodles! But man did it feel great!!!!!
I owe big thanks to my friend mike (callofthewild), he was the one who put me on to this goat, and when I got home helped me deal with it, first time caping out a trophy! Thanks buddy, couldn't have done it without you! Also another thanks to cole (combine pilot) and mark (mwj) who let me crash their wall tent before and after my hunt, I had a great time!
For those who care I age him at 7 years old and 9 1/4 inches long. With the long hair I find it to be just as much, if not more of the trophy! Sure is awesome. I can't wait to get him on the wall!
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed my story and pictures.
I arrived at the drainage around mid morning and began my hike in, it was an uneventful walk, but being my 3rd trip of the year i felt great! Gives a guy motivation to be in better shape for the first hunt next year!
I got to my destination in about 3 hours covering a distance of about 5km. I brought out the spotting scope and began to glass the surrounding hillsides, 2 hours went by with nothing to show for my efforts, except for a good chill! I bundled up in all my layers and laid down for a quick nap. An hour or two went by before I woke up. When I did, I brought up the binos for a quick lazy look around when all of a sudden a small yellow spot appeared in the rocks.
I quickly grabbed the spotting scope to get a better look, and this is what I saw
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1393697_10151876174092088_121838268_n.jpg
It didn't take me long to realize he was a good billy and one I would be happy to take. I had a look at my watch.. 4 o'clock, which meant I had 3 hours of light to go. Having a look at the mountain side I knew it would take me at least an hour to get into shooting position, which would leave me lots of time, so the decision was made to go after him. Here's where I spotted him on the mountain.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1380071_10151876174877088_975907197_n.jpg
Well as I started the hike I realized it was going to be tougher than I thought, as it always goes the brush was thicker than it looked from below... I pushed myself hard, at times having to use the buck brush to pull me up the steep incline. 1.5 hours later I found myself almost to where I wanted to be. I stopped to catch my breath before I crested the hill, as I peaked over I could see my goat quickly making his way uphill, he must have winded me, as he was on the move.
I quickly threw down my pack and pulled out my range finder... 209 yards. Perfect! my gun is sighted in for 200. As he was moving uphill I put my scope on him and let fly. BOOM... nothing happened? What the heck how did I miss?!? In my confusion I looked down at my scope, and saw that my elevation turret was set at 400 yards! Crap! must have forgot to dial it back after the last trip to the range! So I quickly got the range finder out again, the goat was now at 315 yards and still moving uphill, so I dialed my turret into 300 yards and got set up on my pack again. By this time the goat is almost out of my sight as I am shooting almost straight uphill, in less than 20 yards he will be up and over the cliffs and out of sight. I let another one fly. BOOM.. again almost no reaction that I could see?!? I chambered another round got settled in when I noticed him starting to slow, his legs were looking weak, a few seconds went by and down he went! Ass over backwards and I could hear him crash out of sight into the rocks.
The only problem was now he was way up in the rocks, during the excitement I was not thinking of where he would end up. In the original location of the first shot he was in a perfect spot, where I killed him, not so much... I made my way up as close to the cliffs as I could, I could see a bit of blood and his tracks, but no sign of the goat. I was beginning to worry that he might have got hung up in the rocks where I couldn't see him and there would be no way for me to safely get there!
As i walked towards the cliff something caught my eye, way down low in the brush! I pulled up the binos and could not believe my eyes, it was my goat! Somehow he rolled all the way down the mountain without me seeing it. He came down the chute on the other side of the cliffs that was out of my sight line. What a relief!
I was pretty excited that he was in a spot I could recover him, but now I was thinking about the wicked tumble he had just taken and hoping he was in one piece! As luck would have it, both his horns were intact. Although he did have a pretty good cut on his face, and his lips and nose were scraped up. Hopefully the taxidermist can fix it up.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1385470_10151876176767088_535489368_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1376491_10151876176672088_1413810936_n.jpg
So i left my goat on the mountain and headed down to my tent for the night, I was on cloud 9 It was a long night waiting for daylight to get to work. The next morning I made my way back up to him, got him deboned and caped out and started loading him in my pack. I now have a new appreciation for guys who pack out an animal on their own, what a heavy pack out! I had to roll over on my stomach, get on my knees and use my gun to stand up, when I finally made it back my legs were like wet noodles! But man did it feel great!!!!!
I owe big thanks to my friend mike (callofthewild), he was the one who put me on to this goat, and when I got home helped me deal with it, first time caping out a trophy! Thanks buddy, couldn't have done it without you! Also another thanks to cole (combine pilot) and mark (mwj) who let me crash their wall tent before and after my hunt, I had a great time!
For those who care I age him at 7 years old and 9 1/4 inches long. With the long hair I find it to be just as much, if not more of the trophy! Sure is awesome. I can't wait to get him on the wall!
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed my story and pictures.