Montana Mountain Goat- at wits end

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Bambistew said:
Kind of like those massive rams shot in MT off the mirror of a pickup... that isn't a hunt.
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, I would agree with you though. The ewe hunt is tougher than finding a book ram. Or used to be at least.
 
Greenhorn said:
The bridge outage will not keep you from having a very good hunt, and you don't really need horses, but you'll need a tent. From the looks of one of your maps, you were in a good place, but doesn't look like you ventured off the USFS trail. You walked in about 3 hours on a trail, turned around and walked out, not able to see shit from the trail. Had you plopped a tent down instead of turning around, climbed up on the north side of bridge creek (323) and glassed south into bridge lake and the basin to the southeast of there, I'm 100% sure you'd have seen goats to hunt, probably plenty of them had you been patient. That's your starting point, not your turning around point. A friend of mine killed a 10" monster at Bridge lake a few years ago, the weekend after Thanksgiving. Look what you can see if you climb 600' up off the trail into the rocks to the icon I marked for you.

GO BACK!

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I'd PM'd the OP after the initial post about the road going out to go to Bridge Lake, camp at the lake for water purposes, and make the 400' climb up the southeast ridge each day to glass. There are always goats in that country, and if you can play the unit boundary game, they walk back and forth into the south bowl throughout the day, ripe for the taking. It's an even lesser hike than @Greenhorn's suggested glassing point, and takes an able bodied individual about 15-20 minutes to climb to from camp each morning. As far as the Absarokas and Beartooths, it's as forgiving as they come. Despite there being a "road" that appears to cut into the unit, even with the bridge in, this is not a road huntable unit, and never has been. Many a tag has been eaten as guys wait for a goat to show up on Monument that they can hunt from the Jeep trail. This is a pipe dream.

@Marshian- I'm sorry to hear of your struggles, and I'm not sure what turned you around on the hike into Bridge before reaching the lake- the last half mile to the lake is steeper, yes, but you were so close. I'm disappointed you did not make it there, as I think you would have stayed and eventually harvested. I stand by my initial advice, and hope you are able to get into that country yet again. I would listen to @MTGomer about having emergency provisions for staying the night, as if you find success, you will likely be packing it out the next day, and this is not the time of year to risk it in those mountains.

Best of luck, and it's too bad this hunt wasn't what you had expected. I would not anticipate Alaska being any easier having spoke with many who have done those hunts.
 
@Marshian .....these posts are tough to read but there is some awesome free advice and as hard as it is to take.....everyone that has posted that has been harsh on you and your situation.....every single 1 wants you to GO BACK!! and get a Billy!! We would love to have your tag and we want you to do it justice!! If you don't kill 1 that doesn't mean it was unsuccessful but...work your ass off and know that we are pulling for you,... if you give it your all, get out and earn it man!!! Nobody wants you to fail.....
 
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YoungGun said:
I'd PM'd the OP after the initial post about the road going out to go to Bridge Lake, camp at the lake for water purposes, and make the 400' climb up the southeast ridge each day to glass. There are always goats in that country, and if you can play the unit boundary game, they walk back and forth into the south bowl throughout the day, ripe for the taking. It's an even lesser hike than @Greenhorn's suggested glassing point, and takes an able bodied individual about 15-20 minutes to climb to from camp each morning. As far as the Absarokas and Beartooths, it's as forgiving as they come. Despite there being a "road" that appears to cut into the unit, even with the bridge in, this is not a road huntable unit, and never has been. Many a tag has been eaten as guys wait for a goat to show up on Monument that they can hunt from the Jeep trail. This is a pipe dream.

@Marshian- I'm sorry to hear of your struggles, and I'm not sure what turned you around on the hike into Bridge before reaching the lake- the last half mile to the lake is steeper, yes, but you were so close. I'm disappointed you did not make it there, as I think you would have stayed and eventually harvested. I stand by my initial advice, and hope you are able to get into that country yet again. I would listen to @MTGomer about having emergency provisions for staying the night, as if you find success, you will likely be packing it out the next day, and this is not the time of year to risk it in those mountains.

Best of luck, and it's too bad this hunt wasn't what you had expected. I would not anticipate Alaska being any easier having spoke with many who have done those hunts.
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Are there at least 15 good camping spots there? Just planning for the 2024 opener…
 
My biggest regret in any of this is actually the very first post, asking for advice. Not everyone likes to hunt the same way, and the egos around here seem demand it. My initial plan before the bridge washed out was to essentially car camp (take a side by side with more gear and comforts) to the meadows at the end of the road and do aggressive day trips from there. I never sleep whatsoever backcountry camping so have a low threshold to not do that. Hiking 15-20 miles a day is no issue for me, and another flaw is I lack patience to sit and glass for hours on end. This is my favorite hunting style and I don’t ever plan to change that even though I know it limits my success at times, which seems to anger many here greatly. As for bridge lake, i knew that it had goats, it’s well documented even on non hunting websites such as Alltrails. I do appreciate people reaching out to me, and I’m sorry my hunting style doesn’t align with yours. I will most likely try and get back there a few more times and do it my way. As for the asinine notion that I only went twice or something to that effect, I obviously didn’t post OnX tracks of every trip I took.

A simple FWP results search shows this area to have a roughly 10/15 success rate for thelast three years at least. Per many of you, there are five pathetic losers out there. The amount of passive aggressive and vindictiveness evident in many posts says much more about that person than me and my experience. I used to like this site, and my past posts have shown me to not be a quitter (see the one where I nearly went blind from a retinal detachment and came back two months later needing ski goggles to protect my eye and get a dandy buck. This also means I must wear glasses now which makes inclement weather hunting even harder as contacts are no longer an option). I owe no one any apologies. I posted about my tent to show in a way the frustration that can happen and even admitted it wasn’t my proudest moment. I’m sure the mockery will continue and I hope that cheers you up in your own life, again saying more about you than me. Best wishes and happy hunting to all.
 
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EYJONAS! said:
All I have to say is...........

EVERYONE SHARING ALL OF THESE WAYPOINTS ALL OF THIS ADVICE IS GOING TO RUIN THIS HUNT!!!! THE ONLY THING THAT IS GONNA SAVE IT IS THE DISTRICT ISN'T IN THE FKN TITLE!!!!!!
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I’m fine if the moderator deletes completely for the sake of that.
 
EYJONAS! said:
Why would he do that this is now the greatest goat thread probably in the history of hunt talk.
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I think shank the tent needs to enter our common vernacular.

“I’m about ready to shank the tent.”

“He really shanked the tent on that one. What a pussy.”

“Don’t shank the tent. Get the #*^@#* out there!”

From a popular yet unnamed Hunttalker!
 
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