track1
Well-known member
This season started off for me as soon as I drew the tag. The first thing I figured out was that this was most likely going to be a backpack hunt. Having never backpack hunted I asked for gear advice on here and ended up with what seemed to be a very solid setup with a new tent, sleeping bag, pad and stove along with a few other small but somehow expensive items. My wife said to get whatever is going to keep me safe so I took full advantage of that.
I scouted 8 weekends and my buddy Bill was with me every step of the way. This was mostly to learn all of the drainages and access points for getting into areas as well as out. Seeing goats some of the times and seeing nothing on a few trips. Fishing was much better than I expected and the areas I typically went to had less people than a lot of places around the area. A friend of a friend gave me a couple of areas to key in on and helped me cement a plan for the hunt.
Opening day came and went and I had decided to give it a couple of weeks before I took a run at getting my goat. The third weekend of Sept found me in what was now a familiar area. We located a what appeared to be a decent Billie from camp the first morning. After all the waiting it seemed like this would be quick and easy. We made a hard push to where the goat was and got all set up. I had the goat at 300 yards and a solid rest. We looked at the goat through the spotting scope, confirmed it had balls and waited for a shot. The longer I waited the more I was hesitating. The billie turned and gave me a full broadside look. I slipped of the safety, put my finger on the trigger then I hesitated again. At this point it hit me that if I was hesitating this much I shouldn’t shoot. I slipped the safety back on looked back at my buddy and said “nope”. After a closer look at the goat we figured out it was the same young billie we had seen in August. We saw this goat for the next two days in the same 200 yard area. The rest of the day we spent in our tents riding out the weather.
Sunday we saw a few goats, decent billies in bad spots or just not what I was looking for. Sunday evening we located one that I really liked along with a very old one horned billie but didn’t have the time to make the trek before dark so we made a plan for the morning. We were on the trek before daylight in an area we weren’t super familiar with and ended up popping out in the wrong spot from where we thought the big billie would be. He ended up seeing us first and started to slip up over the top. I had him dialed in at 400 yards but I had told myself before the hunt that I would not take a marginal shot. Based on his location, the wind and my heart rate I watched him waddle away. That was the end of the first weekend.
Two weeks later found me in the same familiar trail with my same familiar friend Bill and one reinforcement, my buddy Jared. The 6 mile trek in was starting to become very comfortable after the summers scouting and the previous hunt a couple weeks prior. This trip we saw a nanny and kid well before camp, which had never happened before. About a mile before camp we spotted what we though was a billie high up in a ridge. We looked at him through the spotter for a while and decided he would do if I couldn’t find the one from 2 weeks ago. We arrived at camp sent up tents and spotters. The big billie from 2 weeks ago was out as was his one horned buddy. We decided to wait until morning again.
As the sun rose we were behind the glass looking for my goat. After an hour or so we couldn’t find him so we headed to the area where my little buddy that I almost shot liked to hang out. We found him again as well as a nanny and kid. We passed on by to another glassing area overlooking a different drainage. The whole time we were hiking We kept stopping and glassing where we had seen the big boy but he had disappeared.
Once we got to our new glassing spot we started seeing goats. One ok billie, another one horned billie and another nanny and kid. After sizing them up and deciding there was nothing worth the effort on the first morning we moved on. 200 yards down the spine we were on we jumped what we think were 2 nanny’s and a kid. Just a glimpse and they disappeared. We have no idea how we never saw them again but it happened.
We continued down the spine headed in the direction where we had seen the billie on the hike in. Jared found him in his bino’s so we set up the spotter to confirm. At 1500 yards we decided it was worth closing the gap to get a better look. At 700 yards he looked a little better. We moved in to 400 and and got a good look at him. At this point I had pretty much decided that if the opportunity presented itself I would try to kill this goat. 400 yards is well within my range but I looked at the terrain and decided I could get closer. 15 minutes later I was 275 yards away from a sleeping goat. We set up the spotter to confirm(again), settled into a good shooting position and waited for the goat to stand. And waited, and waited. About 90 minutes later I got bored and set up in a better shooting position. We talked, joked and threw things at each other to stay awake. After 2.5 hours the billie started to stir. Suddenly he stood up, turned a little and pooped, then he laid back down all in about 5 seconds. Not enough time for me to shoot since we were busy being dumb boys. At least this time when he laid down he was in a good position. I settled in behind my rifle cranked up the scope, slid the safety to fire and squeezed the trigger.
As with most goat kills it took a little while to get to him. One we got there we had a few smiles, some high fives and handshakes took a bunch of pictures. I caped him out for a full size mount, which none of us had ever done but it turned out well. We boned him out and headed back to camp. Once back at camp we drank a bunch of water, ate a delicious Mountain house meal and broke down camp. The hike out with full packs after a long day was as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. We arrived at the truck at 10:02 pm. All in all was a fairly short hunt that was on then heels of one of the best summers I’ve had, sharing it with good friends in Gods Country made it a an everlasting memory.
Video attached after last photo.
the little guy
I scouted 8 weekends and my buddy Bill was with me every step of the way. This was mostly to learn all of the drainages and access points for getting into areas as well as out. Seeing goats some of the times and seeing nothing on a few trips. Fishing was much better than I expected and the areas I typically went to had less people than a lot of places around the area. A friend of a friend gave me a couple of areas to key in on and helped me cement a plan for the hunt.
Opening day came and went and I had decided to give it a couple of weeks before I took a run at getting my goat. The third weekend of Sept found me in what was now a familiar area. We located a what appeared to be a decent Billie from camp the first morning. After all the waiting it seemed like this would be quick and easy. We made a hard push to where the goat was and got all set up. I had the goat at 300 yards and a solid rest. We looked at the goat through the spotting scope, confirmed it had balls and waited for a shot. The longer I waited the more I was hesitating. The billie turned and gave me a full broadside look. I slipped of the safety, put my finger on the trigger then I hesitated again. At this point it hit me that if I was hesitating this much I shouldn’t shoot. I slipped the safety back on looked back at my buddy and said “nope”. After a closer look at the goat we figured out it was the same young billie we had seen in August. We saw this goat for the next two days in the same 200 yard area. The rest of the day we spent in our tents riding out the weather.
Sunday we saw a few goats, decent billies in bad spots or just not what I was looking for. Sunday evening we located one that I really liked along with a very old one horned billie but didn’t have the time to make the trek before dark so we made a plan for the morning. We were on the trek before daylight in an area we weren’t super familiar with and ended up popping out in the wrong spot from where we thought the big billie would be. He ended up seeing us first and started to slip up over the top. I had him dialed in at 400 yards but I had told myself before the hunt that I would not take a marginal shot. Based on his location, the wind and my heart rate I watched him waddle away. That was the end of the first weekend.
Two weeks later found me in the same familiar trail with my same familiar friend Bill and one reinforcement, my buddy Jared. The 6 mile trek in was starting to become very comfortable after the summers scouting and the previous hunt a couple weeks prior. This trip we saw a nanny and kid well before camp, which had never happened before. About a mile before camp we spotted what we though was a billie high up in a ridge. We looked at him through the spotter for a while and decided he would do if I couldn’t find the one from 2 weeks ago. We arrived at camp sent up tents and spotters. The big billie from 2 weeks ago was out as was his one horned buddy. We decided to wait until morning again.
As the sun rose we were behind the glass looking for my goat. After an hour or so we couldn’t find him so we headed to the area where my little buddy that I almost shot liked to hang out. We found him again as well as a nanny and kid. We passed on by to another glassing area overlooking a different drainage. The whole time we were hiking We kept stopping and glassing where we had seen the big boy but he had disappeared.
Once we got to our new glassing spot we started seeing goats. One ok billie, another one horned billie and another nanny and kid. After sizing them up and deciding there was nothing worth the effort on the first morning we moved on. 200 yards down the spine we were on we jumped what we think were 2 nanny’s and a kid. Just a glimpse and they disappeared. We have no idea how we never saw them again but it happened.
We continued down the spine headed in the direction where we had seen the billie on the hike in. Jared found him in his bino’s so we set up the spotter to confirm. At 1500 yards we decided it was worth closing the gap to get a better look. At 700 yards he looked a little better. We moved in to 400 and and got a good look at him. At this point I had pretty much decided that if the opportunity presented itself I would try to kill this goat. 400 yards is well within my range but I looked at the terrain and decided I could get closer. 15 minutes later I was 275 yards away from a sleeping goat. We set up the spotter to confirm(again), settled into a good shooting position and waited for the goat to stand. And waited, and waited. About 90 minutes later I got bored and set up in a better shooting position. We talked, joked and threw things at each other to stay awake. After 2.5 hours the billie started to stir. Suddenly he stood up, turned a little and pooped, then he laid back down all in about 5 seconds. Not enough time for me to shoot since we were busy being dumb boys. At least this time when he laid down he was in a good position. I settled in behind my rifle cranked up the scope, slid the safety to fire and squeezed the trigger.
As with most goat kills it took a little while to get to him. One we got there we had a few smiles, some high fives and handshakes took a bunch of pictures. I caped him out for a full size mount, which none of us had ever done but it turned out well. We boned him out and headed back to camp. Once back at camp we drank a bunch of water, ate a delicious Mountain house meal and broke down camp. The hike out with full packs after a long day was as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. We arrived at the truck at 10:02 pm. All in all was a fairly short hunt that was on then heels of one of the best summers I’ve had, sharing it with good friends in Gods Country made it a an everlasting memory.
Video attached after last photo.
the little guy
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