Gus
09-14-2009, 09:43 PM
I'm trying my hand at story writing. Havent written one since high school so feel free to skip it :smile:
A Quest Comes to an End
5 years ago I took an interest in goat hunting. I was in school and working Saturdays so to say the least, my time was short and valuable. I put in for an LEH that was recommended to me and I ended up getting the draw. That year I made it out for a couple quick scouting trips and only one quick hunt but no goats were spotted. However, that year forced me to become more exposed to mountains than I had ever been before and it caused an addiction to which I believe I will never find a cure. This was the start of my quest for a mountain goat.
By the following year my interest was evolving into more of a passion and I began researching information on goats as well as areas and tried talking to people who had hunted goats before to try and pick up on any type of helpful hints I could. None of my direct hunting partners had ever hunted goats, much less killed one, so I was basically on my own. I again put in for the same draw but was unsuccessful so I focused that year on my regular hunts. I always kept in mind my new found goal and never missed an opportunity to glass a potential height of land or listen intently to a goat hunting story that might be shared.
Year three brought me another successful LEH for the same zone. One scouting trip and two quick hunts again brought on no goat sightings. Although I tried for more hunts, time and weather just was not conducive to goat hunting. My passion had continued to grow and was now a full on obsession. I was questioning anybody I could, including members here on HBC, and scouring every piece of map, literature, or photo on the subject. I was doing whatever I could to learn more and more about what I was beginning to think was a mythical creature and the areas they inhabit.
Year four was no different. Again I put in for that area but was unsuccessful. During a spring bear hunt my hunting partner and I took the time to go glass an area that we had heard was good for goat viewing. The weather was bad but we ended up finding a good number of goats. My first goats... I watched them for a few hours, taking note of the locations on the mountains, practicing identifying the sex, where they were bedding and so on. During the summer I took a few scouting trips into a GOS area and on one of these trips goats were spotted, several nannies as well as one good billy. Now I was excited as the following week the season opened. Opening day found me and a buddy glassing the same hills that only a week or two prior held numerous goats, only to find they were empty. Although empty handed once again, I felt this year I had learned a lot.
Year five. Although I was no longer working weekends, or going to school, my new job didn’t grant me holidays until one year of service, which means this current hunting season is strictly weekends. That meant no sheep hunting as I did the previous year, no extended elk hunt like I was used to, and of course, severe restrictions on goat hunting. Because of this I put my LEH in for the same zone I had been as I now know the area very well and I would be able to maximize my time into hunting. A scouting trip into the area this summer again brought up no goats. The definition of insanity began playing on my mind and I began wondering exactly what the hell I was doing. I took one more scouting trip close to the start of the season, more or less to check out some access points and as me and my buddy happened to be glassing a certain junk of rock, there he lay. FINALLY! Apparently there ARE goats in this area!
I had an elk hunt planned for the following weekend so he would have to wait. Less than two weeks later found me and my partner quadding in the dark into a spot we had picked out to camp and we hit the sleeping bags about 1:00 am. Up at 6:00am and gearing up for the hike into the area we had seen the goat. After an absolute gruelling day we arrived at the top of the world at 3:30 pm. Beautiful view and some good spots to glass. I hadn’t even had a chance to drop my pack when I looked down below and spotted two goats feeding waaaay down at the bottom of the ridge. After a quick view through the spotter I decided they were both billies and come hell or high water, I was killing one. The problem was we would have to come down the mountain in plain sight, or come around behind but be upwind. I decided I would rather have them watch me than smell me so off we went. 2 ½ hours later we were sitting 200m from the goats, which were now bedded down. I zoomed the spotter in on them and confirmed both were billies. Billy #1 was in a shootable position, though a hard shot, was definitely doable. His horns seemed to be just a little longer than billy#2, but billy #2 seemed like he had just a little heavier bases. I decided I wanted billy #2, but in order for shot, I would have to move closer. This worried me because once we moved from our location we would lose sight of them until we were right on top. We slowly worked our way down hill dropping our packs and creeping along when suddenly, at about 70 yards, I saw a goat get up and quickly move to my left. He came around to face me head on and just stared at me. An easy kill but I didn’t know if he was billy#1 or #2. Panic was beginning to set in as I know they were going to bust out at any moment. I moved up to my right as the goat watched me until I was able to see that billy#2 was still in his bed. I began to move back to my left so i could circle in to a shooting position when billy#1 decided this was enough and bolted. Now I really panicked. Did I just blow it? Should I have took the shot at billy#1? I jumped up on a rock and prayed that billy#2 would get up and present a shot as his buddy flew by. As if on cue, he got up and started to trot off after billy #1. As he left, he turned his head back to see what the commotion was about just enough to pull his right shoulder out and there was 168gr ttsx on its way. At the shot the goat stopped dead in his tracks and turned broadside. I levelled the rifle for another shot and squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. I jacked another shell and again, nothing happened. The gun wasn’t even misfiring, just nothing would happened. I tried re-cocking the gun but by this time the goat had turned and was facing straight away. I waited and waited and finally he laid down. He was now broadside again, but still my gun would not fire. I tossed my gun aside just as my buddy was reaching his over to me. I chambered a shell and now sent a 140gr accubond into the billy, toppling him over for a short roll down the hill.
So there he was, 5 years later and I had killed my first goat. I have killed a lot of animals that I’m proud of but this guy takes it. Everything I know about goat hunting I learned on my own, the hard way. I had more than one person tell me I was wasting my time but I was bullheaded enough not to give up and after just enough persistence and effort I was rewarded. I had completed my quest for a goat.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/DSCF3558res.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=15297&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=858)
Special thanks to my long time hunting partner who, even though hated me for draging him through hell and back in all those years, still was there to pass me his rifle help me pack.
A Quest Comes to an End
5 years ago I took an interest in goat hunting. I was in school and working Saturdays so to say the least, my time was short and valuable. I put in for an LEH that was recommended to me and I ended up getting the draw. That year I made it out for a couple quick scouting trips and only one quick hunt but no goats were spotted. However, that year forced me to become more exposed to mountains than I had ever been before and it caused an addiction to which I believe I will never find a cure. This was the start of my quest for a mountain goat.
By the following year my interest was evolving into more of a passion and I began researching information on goats as well as areas and tried talking to people who had hunted goats before to try and pick up on any type of helpful hints I could. None of my direct hunting partners had ever hunted goats, much less killed one, so I was basically on my own. I again put in for the same draw but was unsuccessful so I focused that year on my regular hunts. I always kept in mind my new found goal and never missed an opportunity to glass a potential height of land or listen intently to a goat hunting story that might be shared.
Year three brought me another successful LEH for the same zone. One scouting trip and two quick hunts again brought on no goat sightings. Although I tried for more hunts, time and weather just was not conducive to goat hunting. My passion had continued to grow and was now a full on obsession. I was questioning anybody I could, including members here on HBC, and scouring every piece of map, literature, or photo on the subject. I was doing whatever I could to learn more and more about what I was beginning to think was a mythical creature and the areas they inhabit.
Year four was no different. Again I put in for that area but was unsuccessful. During a spring bear hunt my hunting partner and I took the time to go glass an area that we had heard was good for goat viewing. The weather was bad but we ended up finding a good number of goats. My first goats... I watched them for a few hours, taking note of the locations on the mountains, practicing identifying the sex, where they were bedding and so on. During the summer I took a few scouting trips into a GOS area and on one of these trips goats were spotted, several nannies as well as one good billy. Now I was excited as the following week the season opened. Opening day found me and a buddy glassing the same hills that only a week or two prior held numerous goats, only to find they were empty. Although empty handed once again, I felt this year I had learned a lot.
Year five. Although I was no longer working weekends, or going to school, my new job didn’t grant me holidays until one year of service, which means this current hunting season is strictly weekends. That meant no sheep hunting as I did the previous year, no extended elk hunt like I was used to, and of course, severe restrictions on goat hunting. Because of this I put my LEH in for the same zone I had been as I now know the area very well and I would be able to maximize my time into hunting. A scouting trip into the area this summer again brought up no goats. The definition of insanity began playing on my mind and I began wondering exactly what the hell I was doing. I took one more scouting trip close to the start of the season, more or less to check out some access points and as me and my buddy happened to be glassing a certain junk of rock, there he lay. FINALLY! Apparently there ARE goats in this area!
I had an elk hunt planned for the following weekend so he would have to wait. Less than two weeks later found me and my partner quadding in the dark into a spot we had picked out to camp and we hit the sleeping bags about 1:00 am. Up at 6:00am and gearing up for the hike into the area we had seen the goat. After an absolute gruelling day we arrived at the top of the world at 3:30 pm. Beautiful view and some good spots to glass. I hadn’t even had a chance to drop my pack when I looked down below and spotted two goats feeding waaaay down at the bottom of the ridge. After a quick view through the spotter I decided they were both billies and come hell or high water, I was killing one. The problem was we would have to come down the mountain in plain sight, or come around behind but be upwind. I decided I would rather have them watch me than smell me so off we went. 2 ½ hours later we were sitting 200m from the goats, which were now bedded down. I zoomed the spotter in on them and confirmed both were billies. Billy #1 was in a shootable position, though a hard shot, was definitely doable. His horns seemed to be just a little longer than billy#2, but billy #2 seemed like he had just a little heavier bases. I decided I wanted billy #2, but in order for shot, I would have to move closer. This worried me because once we moved from our location we would lose sight of them until we were right on top. We slowly worked our way down hill dropping our packs and creeping along when suddenly, at about 70 yards, I saw a goat get up and quickly move to my left. He came around to face me head on and just stared at me. An easy kill but I didn’t know if he was billy#1 or #2. Panic was beginning to set in as I know they were going to bust out at any moment. I moved up to my right as the goat watched me until I was able to see that billy#2 was still in his bed. I began to move back to my left so i could circle in to a shooting position when billy#1 decided this was enough and bolted. Now I really panicked. Did I just blow it? Should I have took the shot at billy#1? I jumped up on a rock and prayed that billy#2 would get up and present a shot as his buddy flew by. As if on cue, he got up and started to trot off after billy #1. As he left, he turned his head back to see what the commotion was about just enough to pull his right shoulder out and there was 168gr ttsx on its way. At the shot the goat stopped dead in his tracks and turned broadside. I levelled the rifle for another shot and squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. I jacked another shell and again, nothing happened. The gun wasn’t even misfiring, just nothing would happened. I tried re-cocking the gun but by this time the goat had turned and was facing straight away. I waited and waited and finally he laid down. He was now broadside again, but still my gun would not fire. I tossed my gun aside just as my buddy was reaching his over to me. I chambered a shell and now sent a 140gr accubond into the billy, toppling him over for a short roll down the hill.
So there he was, 5 years later and I had killed my first goat. I have killed a lot of animals that I’m proud of but this guy takes it. Everything I know about goat hunting I learned on my own, the hard way. I had more than one person tell me I was wasting my time but I was bullheaded enough not to give up and after just enough persistence and effort I was rewarded. I had completed my quest for a goat.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/DSCF3558res.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=15297&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=858)
Special thanks to my long time hunting partner who, even though hated me for draging him through hell and back in all those years, still was there to pass me his rifle help me pack.