Shank it? or Crank it? Only the Billy knows

A few of the ground rules I've set mentally for myself also some prep ideas I have for this excursion that I've never done before.

1. NO NANNIES, I'll eat my tag if I have to.
2. I'm not shooting the first billy I see. Unless he's the one after multiple days of hunting. A friend on here who also happens to have a goat tag in another state said this. "It's not just any billy, it's a big white gorilla or bust!" Words can't be true enough.
3. Hair is very high on my lists of musts. I understand it's a risk to wait but this area presents some great opportunities for late season action if needed.
4. I want the full backpack experience. I've already got 10 or so days carved out in October for it. If the conditions are right.
5. Enjoy every single moment of it I can. My goal is to push the limits on this, I've already warned my wife that this is probably gonna be a fairly significant test for us. She's all good with it though.

Prep work.

1. Elevation training. I stay pretty active but will mix in some Saturday rips throughout the season to do some tougher but quick hikes.
2. Repelling training for a sketchy retrieval.
3. Multiple routes and hunts throughout the unit. Have a plan A-Z if needed.
4. Get back into a full Mountain Tough designed workout. Why, because I've done 2 series of them and they're dick stompers and have a high level of mental prep work to them.

Man I can't wait.
 
You are going to get this done! I figure this is no less of a mismatch than Nikola Jokic playing against a junior high team's center so maybe you need to only wear flip-flops to give the billies a chance. Looking forward to the updates!!
 
Congrats on the tag. I drew my mountain goat tag in 1987. Long enough ago that I was a young man. Also long enough ago, that taking a nanny did not have the disapproval it does presently. My journey started with a Billy as the goal, ultimately ending with me killing a nanny.

I can say without any reservation that it was the most physically demanding hunt in my hunting career.

A friend also drew a tag in the same unit that year. We started out with a plan of backpacking in and hunting from that camp. We scouted two or three times in August, and picked a campsite that put us close to some Billies that we had seen during the scouting trips. Well, that plan fizzled out, with bad weather and a good bit of snow. More problematic was the mountains were fogged in. We were camped in the fog.

Ultimately, we decided long hard day hunts, when the weather was half decent was our best option. Each trip began leaving Billings early enough to be at the trailhead south of Livingston before daylight. To gain the ridgeline that opened up many options was 3.5 miles in and 3500' in elevation gain. We would hunt either together or not, depending on our work schedules. Many stalks were ended either by getting stymied by cliffs or running out of daylight.

A journey that began in August, concluded in mid October with many many miles trekked in the mountains. The day the journey concluded was bitterly cold. I was wearing everything I had brought, and still wishing I had another layer. The wind was howling once we left the timber. We ate our lunch after ganging the ridge. After all of the hard work of many hunts, we found ourselves with goats right in our laps. Since my friend spotted them first, he took his choice, and I shot after he had taken his shot. Both of them were nannies, his a bit longer horned, mine oa bit over 9 inches. We got off the mountain with the meat and capes, as darkness was gathering.

Both of my achilles tendons were sore for many months afterwards. The first half dozen steps each morning were short and painful. Sometime the next summer, all of that had resolved.

I do at time reflect there was the time that I could and did take on such a demanding hunt. It is beyond me now, but the memories are still there.987A3204-33C3-494E-819B-0BB118ADA966_1_201_a.jpeg
 
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