MT Mountain Goat 2018

[Hawk Tuah]

Best of luck on a great tag!

 

[publichunter1]

Rooting for you. Good luck!

 

[e300winmag]

After Travis's successful hunt in the unlimiteds, (Congrats on your second beautiful Ram Travis!!!) we headed into a basin that Julie and I had tried to scout in August. I had discussed with the biologist and she recommended this basin as it was generally very popular with Nannies and Kids. This should be perfect as I have the Nanny only tag. Travis and I got a late start due to the constraints of life but we descended into the basin slightly after dark by our headlamps. The dark was accompanied by fog and mist. When we arrived in the basin we could hear people talking and could smell a campfire. Further down the trail, the voices became directed at us and we went to investigate. After a short discussion with the two gentlemen, they informed us that they too were hunting Mountain goat and had missed a "big billy" a day ago in this basin. They informed us of a good, relatively flat campsite nearby and we set up our home for the next several days. I was exhausted as the hike in felt like it was going to kill me despite my training efforts and sleep came quickly.

 

[e300winmag]

 

[e300winmag]

 

[el unit]

Good luck! Hope to see you with a goat soon!

 

[duckhunt]

Great stuff

 

[Bluejeep]

Good luck and don't quit!

 

[elkrchr]

Looking forward to the "rest of the story"! Go get'em Ethan!

 

[brownbear932008]

I love a good mountain goat thread not to many tags on here this year it seems.

 

[e300winmag]

Travis and I hunted the basin for several days and we were able to find several goats but they all turned out to be billies, one of which appeared to be a very big one. I have a nanny only tag and we could only enjoy the beautiful views of the likely record book billy.
We did find a nanny and kid about 3-4 miles away late that afternoon in an inaccessible place.
The next day the weather was supposed to turn nasty and we decided to hike out of the basin. Travis needed to head home so I decided to head into the east end of the unit.

Here is where we spent a few days on the west side of the unit.

 

[e300winmag]

The views did not disappoint even if we were unable to find a nanny in a huntable place.

 

[e300winmag]

I hiked into the East end of the unit and on my way in I found two goats within 400 yards of the trail. Sadly they were both billies. I continued on into a lake system for the night.

Camping in the bivy was definitely not as comfortable as the tipi.