ElkhuntrMT
FNG
Going through this goat thread brought back great memories of my Northwest MT archery goat in 2006. It was September 17. The season had started two days earlier but the woods in my hunting unit were shut down due to fire danger that year. I knew the area I was going to hunt very well as it is also the area my family has hunted elk for many years and also the area my uncle had killed a nice billy with his bow two years prior. The walk in took just under 3 hours to get to camp and another hour to get to decent goat glassing country. My uncle, Dad, and I headed in together that day but my uncle split off to another basin to the north to hunt mule deer and elk. The plan was to keep in contact through out the next few days via radios and if someone killed something the others could head that way to help. We all had deer and elk tags in our pockets but I was the lucky one with a goat tag as well. It was looking to be a great few days of hunting with the weather reports telling us we had cool conditions and no moisture on the way. Dad and I set up camp and headed out to do some glassing for the evening. We spotted several goats and went to bed very encouraged and excited about the following morning.
As daylight arrived we were well on our way towards the goats we had spotted the previous evening. Immediately we spotted what looked to be a descent billy feeding by himself. I had made up my mind already I was going to try and kill my goat with a bow and i wasn't going to wait for late October/November when Goats tend to have a better hide because I knew that this country was treacherous when covered with snow. Especially up where the goats were living. So I told myself the first billy I see I was going to go after. So after glassing the goat for about 15 minutes, I had come up with my stalk plan and was on my way. The goat was feeding away from me but he was in the middle of a large opening and I wondered how i was going to get within bow range with the little cover available. I slowly inched closer and closer until after about an hour of picking and choosing my route, I was 80 yds away from the billy with no more cover between us. Now I know lots of people will take 80 yd shots with their bows but I am not one of those guys. A lot of things can go wrong in the time it takes that arrow to go 80 yds and I did not want to take the chance of wounding this magnificent animal. At this distance my belief that this was a good billy was confirmed. His body was massive. He looked abnormally large to me body wise and this heightened my excitement and desire to harvest this particular goat. I also realized that he had a large dark spot high on his back. I couldn't tell what had caused the spot but that spot would prove to be helpful in this hunt. As it was, The only chance I had at this point was to crawl at a snails pace through the short grass and hope the wind would stay in my favor. I had made it only 10 yds when i felt the wind on my neck. The Big Billy's head shot up and looked right at me. His laser eyes pierced right through me and within a couple seconds he was kicking up dust across the hillside until he was out of sight. I sat there for a minute trying to think about what i could have done different and came to the conclusion that i had done what i could do in that situation. The trek back down to where my dad was watching and waiting took me only 15 minutes. When i got to my dad he said through a smile, "Well that was exciting"! He had been watching the whole thing through his binos. It was now afternoon so we sat and had a bite to eat and discussed our plan for the rest of the day. This particular area consists of several small basins within one large basin. I had made my first stalk on the goat in the southern most "small basin" and we thought maybe, since he headed north when he took off that the goat might have made his way to one of the other northern "small" basins. After a hearty honey stinger lunch, and some basking in the sun, we made our way north towards the other basins to see what we could find.
We moved North rather quickly by way of a large game trail that we had learned about through many years of hunting this country. In no time we were set up and glassing the next basin. It wasn't long before we spotted a goat bedded down high in the rocks and upon further glassing I noticed a large black spot on the back of the goat. It was my goat! He was bedded on a rock out crop seeming like he was staring right at us far below. Dad and I started talking about our options. We decided because of where he was laying his probable escape route had to be one of two places. We glassed and studied the rocks and topography and decided on which route the goat would most likely go if he spooked again. So the plan was i would head up one side of the basin and set up in the general area we thought the goat would run and Dad would go up the other side and make a bunch of racket to distract the billy. After a quick hand shake and a "good luck" we headed our separate ways. I could see Dad for a while as he made his way up the south side of the basin. He was throwing and rolling rocks as he climbed the hill. I could also see the goat as I made my ascent up the north side of the basin and his attention was solely on my dad. I moved quickly while stopping frequently to glass the billy and make sure he hadn't turned his attention to me. I could hear Dads rock rolling the whole time. Even if I couldn't see him, I knew where he was due to the noise he was making. That goat didn't look my direction once. He was totally focused on what was apparently to him a goat who didn't know how to climb the rocks to well. Soon i found myself on a nice bench with a large goat trail on it and I thought to myself "this is the place". So I set up and waited for Dad to do his magic and push that goat to me. I waited and waited and realized I hadn't heard my Dad for quite some time. I could not see the goat from where I was set up so after a while I began to think the gig was up and that goat took the other exit route above me and was gone. Just then I heard my dad yell. To me it sounded like a yell of alarm like my Dad needed help. As I jumped up and trotted around the small ridge to get a better look in his direction I spotted my dad standing on a rock pointing in my direction. Just then the big billy came into view about 100 yds out heading my way fast. I hustled back to my set up spot, knocked an arrow and set on my knees. As I peered around the rock I was hiding behind, the goat made his way into view. He was now only 40 yds. He was on a bee line right towards me. I ducked back behind the rock and drew my bow. Just then jumped up on the flat rocks right in front of me and came to a sudden stop right in front of me. He was 5yds away quartering to me and staring right at me. Now I had always been told that a quartering to you shot was not a good shot so I held my draw. Our eye contact in reality only lasted about 5 seconds but it felt like an eternity. I can still see that big brown eye staring at me in my memories. The look he gave me was the look of aggression and for a second I thought he might actually run right over me. It all happened so quickly and when he went to swirl and run i released my arrow and saw it hit my mark. He dove right off the edge of the bench and was out of sight. I knocked another arrow and ran to the edge of the bench to see him standing 15yds below looking back up the hill. I aimed and placed another arrow down through his back and through the vitals. After this shot he ran off another 60yds and bedded down on a slab rock right on the edge of a drop off. At this I was perturbed because I knew that goats for some reason perform the "leap of death" just before they die. I had heard many stories of others who had shot goats just to see them leap off a cliff and tumble hundreds of yards down, many times breaking their horns in the process. So as I sat and watched. As I sat there, emotion and adrenaline came over me and I couldn't help but feel the excitement that every hunter knows about. Its a mix of joy and sorrow when you know you have harvested one of Gods amazing creatures. I have such a respect and love for mountain goats in particular just because of the conditions and the terrain they live in and how tough they are. Sitting there looking at my goat I felt greatly blessed.
I looked back over to where my dad was and he was making his way over to me. I could see he was talking on the radio. During the time he was approaching that goat, it had also came time to check in with my uncle. Come to find out, He was giving my uncle play by play of what was going on all the way up to that point. As he neared I could hear my uncles voice come over the radio and say "Well we have our work cut out for us then because I just shot a mule deer over here as well". It was September 17, 2006 at 4:30 pm and we had a lot of work to do. After several hugs, high fives and pictures Dad and I went to work caping and boning the goat. I said earlier in the story how abnormally big the goat looked the first time I saw him and now there was absolutely no ground shrinkage. If anything he looked bigger than ever. When we were done boning and caping, our packs were much heavier than either of us wanted and we had a long ways to go back to camp. The trip to camp was slow and it was well after dark by the time we arrived. Upon arrival all we wanted was food and sleep. After a quick meal of ramen noodles and canned chicken we were fast asleep. Morning came way to fast but soon we were packed up and ready to head out. When we had dropped out of the basin and hit the trail we met up with my uncle again who had his own large load of meat in his pack. As we pounded out the long trail a sense of joy and accomplishment overcame the pain of the heavy loads. The taxidermist had to order a special form for my Billy. He said it was the largest bodied goat he had ever done. This has been my favorite hunt of any kind of animal to date. I had killed a large billy goat on my first day out with my bow at 5yds and being able to share that experience with my Dad and Uncle will always hold a special place in my heart.
As daylight arrived we were well on our way towards the goats we had spotted the previous evening. Immediately we spotted what looked to be a descent billy feeding by himself. I had made up my mind already I was going to try and kill my goat with a bow and i wasn't going to wait for late October/November when Goats tend to have a better hide because I knew that this country was treacherous when covered with snow. Especially up where the goats were living. So I told myself the first billy I see I was going to go after. So after glassing the goat for about 15 minutes, I had come up with my stalk plan and was on my way. The goat was feeding away from me but he was in the middle of a large opening and I wondered how i was going to get within bow range with the little cover available. I slowly inched closer and closer until after about an hour of picking and choosing my route, I was 80 yds away from the billy with no more cover between us. Now I know lots of people will take 80 yd shots with their bows but I am not one of those guys. A lot of things can go wrong in the time it takes that arrow to go 80 yds and I did not want to take the chance of wounding this magnificent animal. At this distance my belief that this was a good billy was confirmed. His body was massive. He looked abnormally large to me body wise and this heightened my excitement and desire to harvest this particular goat. I also realized that he had a large dark spot high on his back. I couldn't tell what had caused the spot but that spot would prove to be helpful in this hunt. As it was, The only chance I had at this point was to crawl at a snails pace through the short grass and hope the wind would stay in my favor. I had made it only 10 yds when i felt the wind on my neck. The Big Billy's head shot up and looked right at me. His laser eyes pierced right through me and within a couple seconds he was kicking up dust across the hillside until he was out of sight. I sat there for a minute trying to think about what i could have done different and came to the conclusion that i had done what i could do in that situation. The trek back down to where my dad was watching and waiting took me only 15 minutes. When i got to my dad he said through a smile, "Well that was exciting"! He had been watching the whole thing through his binos. It was now afternoon so we sat and had a bite to eat and discussed our plan for the rest of the day. This particular area consists of several small basins within one large basin. I had made my first stalk on the goat in the southern most "small basin" and we thought maybe, since he headed north when he took off that the goat might have made his way to one of the other northern "small" basins. After a hearty honey stinger lunch, and some basking in the sun, we made our way north towards the other basins to see what we could find.
We moved North rather quickly by way of a large game trail that we had learned about through many years of hunting this country. In no time we were set up and glassing the next basin. It wasn't long before we spotted a goat bedded down high in the rocks and upon further glassing I noticed a large black spot on the back of the goat. It was my goat! He was bedded on a rock out crop seeming like he was staring right at us far below. Dad and I started talking about our options. We decided because of where he was laying his probable escape route had to be one of two places. We glassed and studied the rocks and topography and decided on which route the goat would most likely go if he spooked again. So the plan was i would head up one side of the basin and set up in the general area we thought the goat would run and Dad would go up the other side and make a bunch of racket to distract the billy. After a quick hand shake and a "good luck" we headed our separate ways. I could see Dad for a while as he made his way up the south side of the basin. He was throwing and rolling rocks as he climbed the hill. I could also see the goat as I made my ascent up the north side of the basin and his attention was solely on my dad. I moved quickly while stopping frequently to glass the billy and make sure he hadn't turned his attention to me. I could hear Dads rock rolling the whole time. Even if I couldn't see him, I knew where he was due to the noise he was making. That goat didn't look my direction once. He was totally focused on what was apparently to him a goat who didn't know how to climb the rocks to well. Soon i found myself on a nice bench with a large goat trail on it and I thought to myself "this is the place". So I set up and waited for Dad to do his magic and push that goat to me. I waited and waited and realized I hadn't heard my Dad for quite some time. I could not see the goat from where I was set up so after a while I began to think the gig was up and that goat took the other exit route above me and was gone. Just then I heard my dad yell. To me it sounded like a yell of alarm like my Dad needed help. As I jumped up and trotted around the small ridge to get a better look in his direction I spotted my dad standing on a rock pointing in my direction. Just then the big billy came into view about 100 yds out heading my way fast. I hustled back to my set up spot, knocked an arrow and set on my knees. As I peered around the rock I was hiding behind, the goat made his way into view. He was now only 40 yds. He was on a bee line right towards me. I ducked back behind the rock and drew my bow. Just then jumped up on the flat rocks right in front of me and came to a sudden stop right in front of me. He was 5yds away quartering to me and staring right at me. Now I had always been told that a quartering to you shot was not a good shot so I held my draw. Our eye contact in reality only lasted about 5 seconds but it felt like an eternity. I can still see that big brown eye staring at me in my memories. The look he gave me was the look of aggression and for a second I thought he might actually run right over me. It all happened so quickly and when he went to swirl and run i released my arrow and saw it hit my mark. He dove right off the edge of the bench and was out of sight. I knocked another arrow and ran to the edge of the bench to see him standing 15yds below looking back up the hill. I aimed and placed another arrow down through his back and through the vitals. After this shot he ran off another 60yds and bedded down on a slab rock right on the edge of a drop off. At this I was perturbed because I knew that goats for some reason perform the "leap of death" just before they die. I had heard many stories of others who had shot goats just to see them leap off a cliff and tumble hundreds of yards down, many times breaking their horns in the process. So as I sat and watched. As I sat there, emotion and adrenaline came over me and I couldn't help but feel the excitement that every hunter knows about. Its a mix of joy and sorrow when you know you have harvested one of Gods amazing creatures. I have such a respect and love for mountain goats in particular just because of the conditions and the terrain they live in and how tough they are. Sitting there looking at my goat I felt greatly blessed.
I looked back over to where my dad was and he was making his way over to me. I could see he was talking on the radio. During the time he was approaching that goat, it had also came time to check in with my uncle. Come to find out, He was giving my uncle play by play of what was going on all the way up to that point. As he neared I could hear my uncles voice come over the radio and say "Well we have our work cut out for us then because I just shot a mule deer over here as well". It was September 17, 2006 at 4:30 pm and we had a lot of work to do. After several hugs, high fives and pictures Dad and I went to work caping and boning the goat. I said earlier in the story how abnormally big the goat looked the first time I saw him and now there was absolutely no ground shrinkage. If anything he looked bigger than ever. When we were done boning and caping, our packs were much heavier than either of us wanted and we had a long ways to go back to camp. The trip to camp was slow and it was well after dark by the time we arrived. Upon arrival all we wanted was food and sleep. After a quick meal of ramen noodles and canned chicken we were fast asleep. Morning came way to fast but soon we were packed up and ready to head out. When we had dropped out of the basin and hit the trail we met up with my uncle again who had his own large load of meat in his pack. As we pounded out the long trail a sense of joy and accomplishment overcame the pain of the heavy loads. The taxidermist had to order a special form for my Billy. He said it was the largest bodied goat he had ever done. This has been my favorite hunt of any kind of animal to date. I had killed a large billy goat on my first day out with my bow at 5yds and being able to share that experience with my Dad and Uncle will always hold a special place in my heart.
