Just got back from a central WY goat hunt. First buck tag I've drawn,killed several does through the years and taken others for their bucks but I've been waiting on a good tag for 10 years or so. I knew this year wasn't going to be the greatest after the winter but it's the year that worked out so I thought I'd make the most of it.
Left Memphis,Tennessee Tuesday morning,stopped at the house to swap trucks and pick up the wife. We were pulling into Rawlins at daylight Wednesday morning. We got to the unit about 8am made sure the rifle was on then started glassing. We covered about 1/2 of the unit from the truck with the spotter. The herd was definitely thinned out from winter and the fact the season had been open for 10 days. I'd much rather skip the opener and trade more bucks for.less people. We found two bucks that would make the BC book and about 20 more 70"+ bucks. One Big buck was on the private boundary and the other was so skittish once I bumped him he wouldn't let us get within 1/2 mile. We had a meeting in Cody Thursday and wanted to do some elk scouting Friday so I really only had one day to hunt hard. So as we were hunting our way back to the hotel that evening we spotted a very symmetrical textbook goat with a herd of does just 250 yards off a good county road. The wife waited in the truck while I walked around to get a good shot location. She got to watch the whole thing through the binos and he ended up falling within 100 yards of the road. It was a very enjoyable hunt and we had the whole unit to ourselves it seemed like. I would much rather have my goat and our experience then fighting opening day crowds for a couple more inches of horn. He green scored 77" for those interested.
We were able to spend Thursday retrieving her buck from the taxi,did some shooting practice, and was able to go look at a lot of new elk country all in a 4 day trip.
Left Memphis,Tennessee Tuesday morning,stopped at the house to swap trucks and pick up the wife. We were pulling into Rawlins at daylight Wednesday morning. We got to the unit about 8am made sure the rifle was on then started glassing. We covered about 1/2 of the unit from the truck with the spotter. The herd was definitely thinned out from winter and the fact the season had been open for 10 days. I'd much rather skip the opener and trade more bucks for.less people. We found two bucks that would make the BC book and about 20 more 70"+ bucks. One Big buck was on the private boundary and the other was so skittish once I bumped him he wouldn't let us get within 1/2 mile. We had a meeting in Cody Thursday and wanted to do some elk scouting Friday so I really only had one day to hunt hard. So as we were hunting our way back to the hotel that evening we spotted a very symmetrical textbook goat with a herd of does just 250 yards off a good county road. The wife waited in the truck while I walked around to get a good shot location. She got to watch the whole thing through the binos and he ended up falling within 100 yards of the road. It was a very enjoyable hunt and we had the whole unit to ourselves it seemed like. I would much rather have my goat and our experience then fighting opening day crowds for a couple more inches of horn. He green scored 77" for those interested.
We were able to spend Thursday retrieving her buck from the taxi,did some shooting practice, and was able to go look at a lot of new elk country all in a 4 day trip.
