Full Circle- Montana Mountain Goat Video

[Gerald Martin]

Many of you are aware of how cool I think mountain goats are. I am not alone in this opinion.

Last year several of us Hunttalkers got to share an amazing and unforgettable experience that revolved around Oreamnos Americanus, in the words of Doug Chadwick, “a beast the color of winter.”

Some might think this video is only about mountain goats. To me it is more. It’s about relationships, both between friends and family members, between humans and nature and between animals and the habitat they live in.

It’s about dreams, goals, perseverance, sacrifice, and sharing the sense of accomplishment that comes from doing something that is important to you in the way you want to do it.

I am excited to share this documentary of Ross Niebur’s goat hunt with you. I hope you enjoy it. I also hope it will inspire you to want to help conserve mountain goats and the habitat they depend on.

 

[mtmiller]

That was great fellas. Thanks for sharing.

 

[gbfan]

Nice video and really nice goat. Congrats to hunter and helpers alike. Just in time to pump us up before the MT deadline.

 

[JohnCushman]

Thanks for sharing!! Congrats Ross and company!

 

[Nameless Range]

That was SWEET! Well done and thank you for sharing.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Excellent!!

 

[MTHunter1321]

Awesome video and an excellent goat!

 

[JLS]

Outstanding video Gerald. That was a fun watch.

I laughed at the bipolar black cat story.

 

[----]

I wonder if 6 dudes sharing a (flying) wall tent is considered social distancing?

One of the funnest year-long adventures of my life. Can't wait for the next one.

Congrats Ross, and fantastic job on the video, Gerald.

 

[Werty]

Great video!

 

[Gerald Martin]

Outstanding video Gerald. That was a fun watch.

I laughed at the bipolar black cat story.

No one can tell a cat story as well as Randy.

There is a lot more to this hunt than I could convey in the time I allowed myself with this video. Every medium has its strengths and weaknesses and telling the story in video is a bit different than print.

I hope Ross will come on and share a bit of the back story of how he came up with his plan and how he was able to follow through with it because of his amazing wife.
I will say his humility and lack of desire to draw attention to himself is inspiring and apparent to anyone who spends much time around him.

That chapter of the story is his to share so I won’t say much more about it.

There are several more memorable episodes that punctuated the time we spent scouting and hunting together that I may expound on later in the thread. I have a lot of pictures to share as well.

I hope Randy 11, Theat, J.R.Young, Ed, and Zach all feel free to add pics and their stories to this thread. This was all of our story and even though Ross was the one who took home the goat, I took home trophy experiences for my memory wall.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I expected it would be outstanding and it was; great stuff.
I imagine this is more the type of thing the Eastmans had in the very old days before spiking the bs meter. Good friends, cool scenery, awesome animals.

 

[Sytes]

Fantastic video, Gerald! Great story of a few good hunt friends and the adventure that unfolded!

Grats to all and of course, Ross. I'm sure the memorialized experience with friends made this tag Wonka dubbed Golden Ticket worthy.

 

[handwerk]

Thanks for putting that up, fantastic!

 

[Dsnow9]

Great video and hunt! Awesome work by all parties!

 

[EYJONAS!]

That was awesome great work!

 

[JMG]

That was a great video. Congratulations to Ross and the "group". Thank you for sharing.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

First thing, I am really thankful for an understanding wife, and the group of guys I get to call friends. Without them this whole thing either wouldn't have happened, or wouldn't have been near as fun.

So obviously in the video, you get some sense about what drove me to have the passion for mountain goats that I do. The plan to try and get the MT governor's tag was hatched at @Gerald Martin house with him and @Randy11 during a mountain lion hunt in January of 2018. The idea being that for what the tag had been costing, you could hunt goats for less than a sheep hunt in AK would cost, and you had all season and any unit to do it in. As a NR The chances of me ever drawing a tag in the lower 48 were not great, and given I was 39 at the time, this seemed like it might be the way that I could have a DIY mountain goat hunt. Also, some on here have probably seen threads with our group of buddies all coming together and having a blast helping out when one of us has a great tag, I definitely wanted to be able to do this if I drew one of these really good tags. All of this came together in my head: 1. I can scout all summer 2. My buddies can come along 3. I can come out multiple times during the season to hunt 4. in MT, most of the money goes back to the goats via FWP. All of this worked out to be a much greater value than saving some money and doing an outfitted hunt in BC.

Fast forward to December and my wife and I decided that 2019 was going to be the year I tried to make this happen. In March, Gerald, Randy, and I headed over to Great Falls and crashed the SCI banquet. Long story short, at the end of the night I walked out with the the MT Governor's Tag.....

Immediately I started researching units. I had many conversations with biologists, buddies, Pete from RMGA, and others. I tried to narrow things down to 3-4 units that I would scout over the summer. I spent 20+ days, over several trips scouting last summer; some solo, but a good chunk of it with at least one buddy along. If I recounted every trip I could write a book, but suffice it to say I covered a boat load of ground and spent a ton of time looking at goats in 4 different units. One of the trips in July, @theat, @Gerald Martin , and @Randy11 participated in the RMGA goat survey in the Bridger's; if you get a chance check one of those out, it is a blast.

My last scouting trip was in August and that was where I finalized the plan for the hunt. By this time work had interfered with my hunt plans and I was down to 8 days of hunting. on this trip I did a big solo backpack push through the country that would be plan A, and then spent the last few days scoping out plan B with Randy. I easily looked at over 200 goats that trip, saw several really nice mature billies, and felt good about where I was at. At that point I felt like I got everything I needed from that tag, and regardless of the outcome I would be happy.

When time came for the hunt the crew met up around Bozeman, and the rest is history....

As for how the hunt ended. I could have been more happy with my goat. I went into the hunt wanting a mature billy with a big horse face, and that is what I found. He was a tank, and I knew it from the first time I saw him with short hair in July. I was never hung up on measurements, I still haven't had it officially measured.

Like I said, I cannot thank my friends enough that made the ride that much more fun(@ewludwig, @jryoung, @Gerald Martin, @Highlands Hunter, @Randy11, @theat), and the fact the Gerald put this film together to capture this hunt for me is amazing. It will be something I always treasure.

 

[MThuntr]

Had to watch it twice! I'm glad that I got to follow along in the text and email strings. Fingers crossed for another in the crew to get a goat tag. Also every time I see Travis's videos I get more jealous of his job

 

[Deleted member 16014]

...In March, Gerald, Randy, and I headed over to Great Falls and crashed the SCI banquet. Long story short, at the end of the night I walked out with the the MT Governor's Tag.....

That had to have been extremely satisfying, knowing that probably no one else in the room could or would put it to such good use. A less scrupulous group might have flipped SCI the bird on the way out the door.