Hairy Beasts and Smell Korns

[NDGuy]

That’s an awesome hunt

 

[Caseknife]

That is a stud goat, congrats. I did a Euro on mine also and had the hide soft tanned.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Congrats on a great hunt. How's the Billy for table fare?

It is actually pretty good. I think the flavor is good. You do get a good workout chewing it though. I make my own summer sausage and am planning to make some more of that with some of my goat. He had a ton of fat on him, probably from eating all those huckleberries! I have no idea if he was actually eating the berries or not but he was definitely feeding through a great huckleberry patch.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

I got back home on Wednesday night and with Archery season for elk starting that saturday I was in a rush getting things wrapped up. I process my own game so I took care of the goat, got the head to the taxidermist and had a number of other things that needed my attention so I didn't actually get out for the opener. I did have a backpacking archery hunt scheduled in a couple weeks with another buddy that I was looking forward to.

Day 1 - On Sunday afternoon I had all my errands wrapped up. So I took both of my son's out and we went to a BMA that wasn't far from my house. I wasn't expecting much as it was hot and dry but this BMA was right below one of the spots I had a camera with some decent results. We hiked to the back of the property and went into public lands a bit. A nice area with some water that I thought we might see something just before dark, but it didn't happen. No elk spotted

Day 2 - After work I drove into a spot I had seen on google earth. It looked promising and was a short drive and hike in. The first mile was just getting in there but after that it looked like it would be good. On the hike in I could smell elk but didn't see anything except a couple deer. Its amazing how much light you have this early in archery season and how much country you can cover on just a hike after work. I hiked around 4 miles. This area certainly had some promise. There were stretches of old growth douglas fir with grass underneath everywhere that you could see 120 yards or so in with an opening in the bottom of the valley that ran along the small creek. Bugled a bit and did get a reply. The reply came from the neighboring private land and I knew there was a house up there a ways. At one point I could hear voices up above me where the bugling came from so I think it might have been people but one never knows. No elk spotted, not a great start to the season but neither hunts were serious affairs either.