Had a great hunt in the EK's for my leh goat draw.
My cousin met me in Cranbrook we formulated somewhat of a plan for what we would do the following day over a couple of pints at the pub.
woke up at 5 am to head out to the draw zone. we spent the first day glassing the area, getting a good feel for spots that we felt would hold goats and went on one exploratory hike to check out a basin that was on the backside of the mountain we were glassing.
No Goats spotted on day one but we were confident in our game plan.
day two our plan was to just do more of the same as day one. glass lots of country. we had the luxury of being able to glass from the main road so we could cover a lot of ground and check out multiple different mountains throughout the day. it didn't take long on day two though..within seconds of glassing some cliffs 3 billies were spotted and it was game on.
we were able to drive directly below the slide that the goats were above. Now it was just a matter of getting up there and hoping they were still bedded. The wind was not good, blowing directly up. We made a plan to go through the timber to the left of them and pop out at a rockface that was below them. I was hoping that it would within shooting range. It was a 1900 meter climb in which we gained 650 meters of elevation, so pretty damn steep. When we were within about 500 m of the rockface I popped out into the slide to see if the billies were still there and to my elation, they were! so I quickly cut back into the timber and we made the last scramble to the rockface.
Once we got there, I took off my pack, calmed my nerves, drank some water and just tried to bask in as much of it as I could. I grabbed my rifle and snuck around the corner of the rock face, right away I could see a billy now up and feeding. Only one. (now my plan was to get up there and pick the biggest one and shoot him) But when there is only one left standing there, it makes the decision much easier.
I ranged him at 258 yards, put the crosshairs on his shoulder and squeezed. he goes down! comes tumbling down the rocks. I had to put another one in him as I did not hit his shoulder. I hit high and back, not sure if I flinched or bumped the scope a bit, either way I had my first billy down.
He measures 8.5" and is a 7 year old billy.
Hope you enjoyed my story and good luck to everyone this fall!
Great stuff, nice pics to look at as well.
Always great to see other folks and the country the hunt.
Nice goat!
Interesting how at times we think Goats can be way way up at the top.
Sometimes I have found when it is warm out, they can hang out in the timber half way down some mountains.