kitnayakwa77
09-13-2015, 10:57 PM
I love goat hunting for the places it brings you and for the challenge, and goats are such interesting and beautiful animals. My freezer was looking pretty empty too so the pressure was on to get some meat, and I've found it easier to fill a goat tag than get a moose in the Skeena Region.
I headed out last weekend for the second time this season goat hunting. I had scouted an area earlier in the year and had seen an enormous-bodied billy on a mountain that looked to have reasonable access from an old spur road. This was in an obscure area that doesn't really get hunted for goats so chances were he wouldn't have gone too far by the time hunting season rolled around. A buddy and I had made an attempt to get to him earlier in August but the weather forecast these last few months has promised sun but cold rain and fog have been the norm. The wet bush and fog turned us around even before we hit the end of the spur road.
Last weekend the forecast once again looked promising and my next door neighbor was keen to go goat hunting. We headed out early and drove high into a block opposite the goat mountain and glassed across the valley looking for goats. Sure enough, we were excited to spot a big billy right away, on top of the mountain. He looked like a Shetland pony up there he had such a big body. For once the weather looked nice too and we quickly made plans to make a play on him.
The hike up the spur road and up the mountain was more difficult than expected and it took us about 6 hours to get close to treeline. As we got to a spot where we could see the top of the mountain a fogbank rolled in and it started raining pretty hard. We waited around for a while and had just about decided to go back down and come back another day. Everytime I go near a mountain this year it seems to rain or snow and it was getting pretty frustrating. At the last second, I made up my mind to go up anyway and at least have a look.
When I got close to the top of the mountain I was planning on hunkering down and waiting for my neighbor before peeking over into the next drainage. As I took off my backpack to get a jacket to stay warm in the fog and drizzle, I heard a noise up and to my left. I looked up to see a big billy stand up and run from his bed about 20 feet away! As I hurriedly fumbled around and got ready to shoot, the billy ran along the ridgetop before stopping at 20 yards. I stood up and took a shot and watched hair fly off his back! I was so close to him that I forgot to compensate for the bullet climbing. He ran a bit further and stood on top of some big cliffs. I knew that if I shot there he would take a bad tumble, so I waited until he ran again and shot just as he was cresting the skyline into the next drainage.
I ran over and found that he had rolled down into a patch of krummholz. My neighbour had hiked up by this point and we off-loaded a bunch of gear from our packs onto the mountain top, including our rifles, before going down to process my billy. This goat was very haired up given that it was only early September. He had an enormous body, with about an inch of fat on his back, and horns just over 9". I was surprised his horns weren't bigger given his body size.
As we were processing him, my neighbor looked up and said "bear!" before scurrying out of the krummholz. Looking down the mountain we could see a big black bear in full sprint straight up a scree slope for where the goat was. We sprinted back to the top of the mountain to grab our rifles that we had foolishly left there, then came back and started yelling at the bear. He eventually skulked off around the mountain but processing the goat took on more urgency at that point, with us both looking around nervously from time to time.
We finished processing the goat and loaded up our packs as another rainstorm rolled in. We made it down to just below treeline at dark and spent the next several hours cutting firewood and boughs to sleep on. Luckily the rain held off overnight and the bear did not bother us! A full day hike out the next day and we were back at the truck with an "easy" goat!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/DSC032772.jpg
I headed out last weekend for the second time this season goat hunting. I had scouted an area earlier in the year and had seen an enormous-bodied billy on a mountain that looked to have reasonable access from an old spur road. This was in an obscure area that doesn't really get hunted for goats so chances were he wouldn't have gone too far by the time hunting season rolled around. A buddy and I had made an attempt to get to him earlier in August but the weather forecast these last few months has promised sun but cold rain and fog have been the norm. The wet bush and fog turned us around even before we hit the end of the spur road.
Last weekend the forecast once again looked promising and my next door neighbor was keen to go goat hunting. We headed out early and drove high into a block opposite the goat mountain and glassed across the valley looking for goats. Sure enough, we were excited to spot a big billy right away, on top of the mountain. He looked like a Shetland pony up there he had such a big body. For once the weather looked nice too and we quickly made plans to make a play on him.
The hike up the spur road and up the mountain was more difficult than expected and it took us about 6 hours to get close to treeline. As we got to a spot where we could see the top of the mountain a fogbank rolled in and it started raining pretty hard. We waited around for a while and had just about decided to go back down and come back another day. Everytime I go near a mountain this year it seems to rain or snow and it was getting pretty frustrating. At the last second, I made up my mind to go up anyway and at least have a look.
When I got close to the top of the mountain I was planning on hunkering down and waiting for my neighbor before peeking over into the next drainage. As I took off my backpack to get a jacket to stay warm in the fog and drizzle, I heard a noise up and to my left. I looked up to see a big billy stand up and run from his bed about 20 feet away! As I hurriedly fumbled around and got ready to shoot, the billy ran along the ridgetop before stopping at 20 yards. I stood up and took a shot and watched hair fly off his back! I was so close to him that I forgot to compensate for the bullet climbing. He ran a bit further and stood on top of some big cliffs. I knew that if I shot there he would take a bad tumble, so I waited until he ran again and shot just as he was cresting the skyline into the next drainage.
I ran over and found that he had rolled down into a patch of krummholz. My neighbour had hiked up by this point and we off-loaded a bunch of gear from our packs onto the mountain top, including our rifles, before going down to process my billy. This goat was very haired up given that it was only early September. He had an enormous body, with about an inch of fat on his back, and horns just over 9". I was surprised his horns weren't bigger given his body size.
As we were processing him, my neighbor looked up and said "bear!" before scurrying out of the krummholz. Looking down the mountain we could see a big black bear in full sprint straight up a scree slope for where the goat was. We sprinted back to the top of the mountain to grab our rifles that we had foolishly left there, then came back and started yelling at the bear. He eventually skulked off around the mountain but processing the goat took on more urgency at that point, with us both looking around nervously from time to time.
We finished processing the goat and loaded up our packs as another rainstorm rolled in. We made it down to just below treeline at dark and spent the next several hours cutting firewood and boughs to sleep on. Luckily the rain held off overnight and the bear did not bother us! A full day hike out the next day and we were back at the truck with an "easy" goat!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/DSC032772.jpg