2016 BC Goat hunt Recap

[Craig Van Arsdale]

This adventure began in the spring of 2015. After attending the annual Wild Sheep Foundation “Sheep Show” as I do every year in January ( I highly recommend it if you’ve never been). I had spoken with several outfitters with the intent of booking an archery Mountain Goat hunt. The hunt we ended up settling on would be a 14 day horseback Goat/Moose combo hunt in very far Northern BC in 2016. I was lucky enough to draw and harvest a nice Shiras Moose in Idaho in 2014 but I really wanted a moose with my bow and Jon was chomping at the bit for an opportunity at a big bull as well so we elected to take the combo option.
Fast forward to September 2016 and it was time for Jon and I to pack our bags! This would be my first guided hunt and first time hunting Mountain Goats.
We elected to drive to BC in the hopes that we would both harvest game and be able to take home as much meat as possible! We brought my chest freezer from home to allow us for plenty of room and we could stop and plug it in on the 36 hour drive each way to keep the meat cold.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

Our first stop was Banff National Park where we stopped to check out Lake Louise. What a sight!

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

This isn’t good… Jon’s feet after making the poor decision to hike to the top of the look out in his steel toe cowboy boots! What do you think…? New Lathrop and Sons Ad? T- Minus 48 hours till we would be on a 14 day Goat/Moose hunt!

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

We arrived at the hunting lodge on the 27th where we checked the zero on our rifles and shot our bows one last time. That night we met the other hunters that would be hunting other areas during the next 14 days, had drinks and laughs with new friends and ate Moose steaks for dinner before doing a final check and packing of all of our gear for the morning.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

The next day was our travel day into camp. Which consisted of a 35 kilometer quad ride to where we would meet the horses and from there we saddled up the ponies and went another 20 or so kilometers to reach our wall tent base camp deep into the mountains of BC. I hadn’t ridden a horse since I was fourteen and the soreness of my groin and hips after that first ride was a good reflection of my hiatus.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

The plan was to focus on Moose for the first few days as the Moose rut was winding down and our opportunity for a good archery encounter with a bull would lessen as the hunt unfolded. Meanwhile we would also keep an eye out though for Goats as they would typically be in the same country just much higher. Each morning we would saddle up the horses and head either up river or down river stopping to call and gain elevation on glassing points in hopes of spotting a shooter bull. The Moose weren’t hard to find but a shooter bull had yet to show himself.

On day three Jon and his guide grabbed a few days of gear and headed north to an area where they would spike out from the horses in hopes of finding a shooter bull or a billy up high in the rocks.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

 

[ryan0786]

Great right up.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

Day four came and me and my guide decided to take a walk down the river and slowly cow call as we made our way down. We had heard a bull grunting the day before down river but never did see him. About a mile down the river my guide was glassing the cliffs to our right and spotted a couple goats. We set up the spotter for a quick look and one of the goats looked like taking a closer look. The location the goats were in was also looking like it could be possible to pull off an archery stalk. We bucked brush through the willows and up onto a bench to get a closer look with the spotter. After looking through the spotter to determine if we wanted to commit to the stalk we decided it was a stalk worth the effort.
We went around the back side of the cliff the goats were on and gained elevation until we were only about three hundred feet below them and out of sight. I off loaded my pack and my guide wished me luck as I made the final stalk alone.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

As I came over the top of the cliff I started to realize just how steep it really was where the goats were bedded. It was literally straight down and one wrong step would likely be a fatal mistake! I started inching my way out onto each pinnacle I could find and peaking over the edge in hopes of spotting the goats below. On the fourth attempt there they were! Up and feeding now and at 64 yards and a 60 degree shot angle. They were right in the open and had no idea I was there but that angle was just way too steep and I wasn’t confident I could make such a shot at that distance.

I waited the goats out and after about 30 min of feeding they made their way into the avalanche chute to my left and started slowly feeding up towards me. Eventually the target goat fed up to what my rangefinder said was 55 yards at a 50 degree angle. I knew my rangefinder would not tell me the truth at this steep of an angle (even with the angle compensation) so I cut 5 yards off of that and dialed my sight for 50 yards. Slightly quartering away I slowly drew my bow and attempted to settle the pin on the goat’s vitals… I couldn’t though. The angle I was drawing from and my shooting position was forcing my bow cam directly into the rock I was shooting from and would surely grenade my bow if I were to shoot. Trying to remain calm and not be seen I slowly let the bow down and repositioned my body to attempt another time. Same result! Too steep to shoot from the sitting position I was in and I was getting more and more exposed as I tried to inch myself up to clear the rock. I let down again.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

At this point my verves were not calm anymore! I decided I would hunker down and calm myself before waiting for the goat to put its head down again to feed, then I would stand up and draw as I leaned back against the rock behind me to clear my bow limb from the rock below. That was the trick and soon enough I was settling my pin on the goat’s vitals, the shot went off and I watched my arrow sail just over its back… The goat didn’t even budge just looked around confused. Surprised at the miss and in the moment I loaded another arrow and executed the exact same result as before! The goat jumped forward a couple feet this time and I came to my senses that I must not be cutting enough yardage for the angle. I dialed my sight to 45 and executed the third shot. This time my arrow flew perfectly into the goats vitals passing straight through and smashing into the rocks beneath. The goat lunged forward at the impact of my arrow and didn’t even make it 30 yards before tumbling down the chute into a patch of alders that stopped it from going all the way to the bottom! I couldn’t believe it!

I went back to get my guide and tell him the good news! We spent the rest of the day packing back to camp and taking care of the hide. All with just a couple bars in our packs and very little water. It was just supposed to be a little hike down river after all right?

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

I was almost on the top of this rock where i shot from.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

Goat tenderloin

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

We got word that night on the SAT phone that Jon had also tagged out on a goat and they would need the wrangler to meet them with the horses the following afternoon.