New to the idea of Goat hunting (MT - 100)
- Thread starter hk_willow
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hk_willow
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Full story to come, super tired, but i know the suspense was killing all the fourm guys out there.. 
Got my goat on Thursday!
Got my goat on Thursday!
Gerald Martin
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- Jul 3, 2009
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Oh Yeah! He makes the cut! Can't wait to hear all about it. Big time congratulations, you earned him.
MT_Wyatt
Member
Awesome news, congrats on your goat! Looking forward to your story.
Fidel
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- Oct 25, 2010
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Yeah, great work! Congrats, Pumped for the story
fishing4sanity
Well-known member
I'm a goat rookie, but I've been enjoying your pics and everyone's advice. Looks like a true trophy to me, a well earned trophy!
hk_willow
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- Jun 18, 2013
- Messages
- 90
Well Fellers, its not a final draft but you've waited too long already!
Oct 16th: I arrived at the rock lake trail head at 4pm and set up the camper. The plan tomorrow is to head lamp into Rock Lake head up to the glassing spot and find goats. If by noon there are no goats I’ll head up to St. Paul pass and possibly Libby lakes. If a big billy is on Elephant peak tomorrow I will be after him! My buddy Neil hasn’t arrived yet so this will be a solo trek into the wilderness.
Oct 17th:
Woke up at 2:18AM thinking my alarm didn’t go off (you may have guessed it, I’m pretty excited). Fell back asleep, and woke at 5AM to my alarm sounding. Bacon and eggs and coffee is a great start to the morning. Sipping my morning coffee my thoughts always turn to my family and God. I knew this hunt is wearing on them so I’m going to get my goat on this trip. I don’t like to try to Babe Ruth it, but this is hunting trip #4 and its got to happen. Sunrise is at 7:57AM I’ll leave the camper at 6AM looks like the trail should be pretty easy as the moon is bright. Headlamping up the trail stating “Hey Bear, Hey Moose” is always fun. About ½ hour before sunup I meet the aforementioned bear / moose via head lamp and we had a 30 min stare down with bear spray at the ready. I can see that there are 2 pairs of eyes, one bigger and one smaller and all I can think of is Bear with cubs. As the sun slowly comes up I finally am able to make out that its a moose with a calf and they trot up into the woods finally. I continued hiking to the cadence “No Bear, No Moose.” Upon setting up at the glassing point I turned up 5 goats on the Rock peak side, 3 nannies and a Kid together and a billy farther up the mountain but in a very inaccessible spot. Later at about noon I turned up a pretty good goat on the Libby lakes side and needed a closer look. When walking around the lake I checked back on the band of four nannies and found that one nanny had only one horn. I wonder if this is a genetic issue as earlier in the season I glassed up a one horned billy on Elephant peak. I finally make it up to view this bedded billy and decide if the opportunity presents itself I’m going to take this billy its a pretty good goat. The stalk is on! I climb down the ridge and cross the creek but I think the billy has spotted me and is staring me down at about 500 yards I had to close the distance. I sneak another 100 yards and drop my pack. I knew this billy is going up and I need to close the distance even further. I run up the hill, do some rock climbing, and find a rock that will work as a good rest. Trying to gather myself and my breath I settle down and the billy comes out from behind a few trees at about 350 yards on a pretty steep angle. I give my best goat bah / neigh and he looks right at me broadside and I squeeze one off and miss… What… Now the billy is climbing a cliff he stops to look back again broadside and I shoot again, and hit him! He comes hurtling down the mountain and I try to shoot him again but miss 2 more times and he disappears behind a rock band while I’m reloading. My heart sinks as I always want a clean quick kill and to see them go down. I start the climb to where I last saw him praying that I’d find him. After what seemed like an age I’m at the spot where I last saw him but no billy… I climb the next ridge and there are his tracks with good blood in them!!!! I follow them a little ways and put what I thought was the finishing shot in him.
I climbed back down to my pack elated, excited, or maybe I just floated down to my pack… I think the only thing I remember seeing was a bunch of churned up dirt from grizzlies digging for roots. My tag is punched and I’ve got a goat! Gathering my gear, quicker than I think I ever have, I head up to get my goat. I peek around the corner of this rock band and there he is, I let out a whoop but to my surprise he’s still alive. These goats are some of the toughest animals out there! I put a finishing shot in him and he rolls another 100’ down the mountain. Walking up to him he’s a narly and I measure him on my hand and think he’s prob 8.5” tall and about 4 yrs. My original benchmark was 9-9.5” tall and 6-7 yrs. Not quite what I had started out after but he is my trophy!! Skinning and boning out this goat (my first full skinning job on my first animal I’m going to get mounted) seemed to take an eternity. After all loaded up with the hide I hung the meat in the sparse trees I ate my lunch and then began my descent of the mountain via headlamp at about 6:30PM. I’m guessing with gear and hide that the pack weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 - 65lbs. My body was killing me as I wrote this as the trek out was anything but fun. Headlamping and saying “No Bear, No Moose” at least a thousand times. Upon arriving at the camper I see my buddy Neil has made it to camp, what a relief it was. Coming off the mountain with a heavy pack is one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever felt. We put a tape to on the billy and he actually measured 9.5” tall and 5” bases and is probably 4.5 - 5.5 years old… with great character! Neil and I had a roaring fire, a celebratory drink, and stogie and headed to bed knowing I had another gruelingly satisfying day ahead.
Oct 18th:
There is no better soreness than the one that is created by hauling meat out of the wilderness. Today with some groans and possibly some aleve we shall head in and get our meat. What a gorgeous fall day, sun was shining, about 55 degs, and the aspen and larch were in full yellow. The hike in was very uneventful and slow. We made it to the lake at about noon, sat for a bit to rest and have lunch. Neil and I tried our hand at a little home made fly fishing but the fish were not hungry. We gathered our packs and hit the trail. We got around the lake and up to the ridge and both the game bags were hanging in the same spot I left them the night before. We each grabbed a bag of meat, strapped it to our packs, snapped a few photos and got our butts in gear. This is grizzly bear country and I don’t want to linger. Snapping a few photos as we head off the mountain my thoughts move to my family and how much fun it will be getting them up here in back-country of Montana. I’ve worked hard to get where I’m at to be able to do this tag justice. I’m so very thankful for my family and good friends that I was able to share this experience with.
Oct 16th: I arrived at the rock lake trail head at 4pm and set up the camper. The plan tomorrow is to head lamp into Rock Lake head up to the glassing spot and find goats. If by noon there are no goats I’ll head up to St. Paul pass and possibly Libby lakes. If a big billy is on Elephant peak tomorrow I will be after him! My buddy Neil hasn’t arrived yet so this will be a solo trek into the wilderness.
Oct 17th:
Woke up at 2:18AM thinking my alarm didn’t go off (you may have guessed it, I’m pretty excited). Fell back asleep, and woke at 5AM to my alarm sounding. Bacon and eggs and coffee is a great start to the morning. Sipping my morning coffee my thoughts always turn to my family and God. I knew this hunt is wearing on them so I’m going to get my goat on this trip. I don’t like to try to Babe Ruth it, but this is hunting trip #4 and its got to happen. Sunrise is at 7:57AM I’ll leave the camper at 6AM looks like the trail should be pretty easy as the moon is bright. Headlamping up the trail stating “Hey Bear, Hey Moose” is always fun. About ½ hour before sunup I meet the aforementioned bear / moose via head lamp and we had a 30 min stare down with bear spray at the ready. I can see that there are 2 pairs of eyes, one bigger and one smaller and all I can think of is Bear with cubs. As the sun slowly comes up I finally am able to make out that its a moose with a calf and they trot up into the woods finally. I continued hiking to the cadence “No Bear, No Moose.” Upon setting up at the glassing point I turned up 5 goats on the Rock peak side, 3 nannies and a Kid together and a billy farther up the mountain but in a very inaccessible spot. Later at about noon I turned up a pretty good goat on the Libby lakes side and needed a closer look. When walking around the lake I checked back on the band of four nannies and found that one nanny had only one horn. I wonder if this is a genetic issue as earlier in the season I glassed up a one horned billy on Elephant peak. I finally make it up to view this bedded billy and decide if the opportunity presents itself I’m going to take this billy its a pretty good goat. The stalk is on! I climb down the ridge and cross the creek but I think the billy has spotted me and is staring me down at about 500 yards I had to close the distance. I sneak another 100 yards and drop my pack. I knew this billy is going up and I need to close the distance even further. I run up the hill, do some rock climbing, and find a rock that will work as a good rest. Trying to gather myself and my breath I settle down and the billy comes out from behind a few trees at about 350 yards on a pretty steep angle. I give my best goat bah / neigh and he looks right at me broadside and I squeeze one off and miss… What… Now the billy is climbing a cliff he stops to look back again broadside and I shoot again, and hit him! He comes hurtling down the mountain and I try to shoot him again but miss 2 more times and he disappears behind a rock band while I’m reloading. My heart sinks as I always want a clean quick kill and to see them go down. I start the climb to where I last saw him praying that I’d find him. After what seemed like an age I’m at the spot where I last saw him but no billy… I climb the next ridge and there are his tracks with good blood in them!!!! I follow them a little ways and put what I thought was the finishing shot in him.
I climbed back down to my pack elated, excited, or maybe I just floated down to my pack… I think the only thing I remember seeing was a bunch of churned up dirt from grizzlies digging for roots. My tag is punched and I’ve got a goat! Gathering my gear, quicker than I think I ever have, I head up to get my goat. I peek around the corner of this rock band and there he is, I let out a whoop but to my surprise he’s still alive. These goats are some of the toughest animals out there! I put a finishing shot in him and he rolls another 100’ down the mountain. Walking up to him he’s a narly and I measure him on my hand and think he’s prob 8.5” tall and about 4 yrs. My original benchmark was 9-9.5” tall and 6-7 yrs. Not quite what I had started out after but he is my trophy!! Skinning and boning out this goat (my first full skinning job on my first animal I’m going to get mounted) seemed to take an eternity. After all loaded up with the hide I hung the meat in the sparse trees I ate my lunch and then began my descent of the mountain via headlamp at about 6:30PM. I’m guessing with gear and hide that the pack weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 - 65lbs. My body was killing me as I wrote this as the trek out was anything but fun. Headlamping and saying “No Bear, No Moose” at least a thousand times. Upon arriving at the camper I see my buddy Neil has made it to camp, what a relief it was. Coming off the mountain with a heavy pack is one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever felt. We put a tape to on the billy and he actually measured 9.5” tall and 5” bases and is probably 4.5 - 5.5 years old… with great character! Neil and I had a roaring fire, a celebratory drink, and stogie and headed to bed knowing I had another gruelingly satisfying day ahead.
Oct 18th:
There is no better soreness than the one that is created by hauling meat out of the wilderness. Today with some groans and possibly some aleve we shall head in and get our meat. What a gorgeous fall day, sun was shining, about 55 degs, and the aspen and larch were in full yellow. The hike in was very uneventful and slow. We made it to the lake at about noon, sat for a bit to rest and have lunch. Neil and I tried our hand at a little home made fly fishing but the fish were not hungry. We gathered our packs and hit the trail. We got around the lake and up to the ridge and both the game bags were hanging in the same spot I left them the night before. We each grabbed a bag of meat, strapped it to our packs, snapped a few photos and got our butts in gear. This is grizzly bear country and I don’t want to linger. Snapping a few photos as we head off the mountain my thoughts move to my family and how much fun it will be getting them up here in back-country of Montana. I’ve worked hard to get where I’m at to be able to do this tag justice. I’m so very thankful for my family and good friends that I was able to share this experience with.
hk_willow
Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2013
- Messages
- 90
Just a few images:
shoots-straight
Well-known member
Just love goat hunting. Congrats
thecrittergitter
Well-known member
El Jason
Well-known member
Fantastic!
Gerald Martin
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Awesome hunt. Goats are amazingly tough animals. I've seen them take hits that are fatal and stay alive for longer than you would think possible.
Not to second guess your aging of the goat but I think he's probably older than you think.??? I would guess 5-6 minimum. ???
Not to second guess your aging of the goat but I think he's probably older than you think.??? I would guess 5-6 minimum. ???
Gerald Martin
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Crittergetter, don't you have a goat hunting story you should be writing right now instead of posting to this thread?
hk_willow
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- Jun 18, 2013
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Gerald... He's hard to tell with his character on his horns I couldn't get a good age. Will validate with the bio when I check him in this week. It wouldn't surprise me if he was 5-6.
thecrittergitter
Well-known member
Crittergetter, don't you have a goat hunting story you should be writing right now instead of posting to this thread?
I know, still downloading pictures though............will have to wait till tomorrow.
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