IChaseCoues
Lil-Rokslider
I'll start off with.... I posted this here cause its the closest animal forum that I could find.
They are goats that live on a mountain up high! If it needs to go somewhere else please let me know or move it if you like.
Last years live hunt thread was a bust since service was spotty on the mountain and where I was sleeping. Sorry guys.
I struck out last year but did get to spend five days within rifle distance of a few monsters. Just waiting for them to let me in distance again after drawing on them coming out of a rock opening morning but not having a shot opportunity.
Being lucky enough this year to draw again was a blessing, but a lot of other higher priorities opportunities had taken most of my time off leaving me with one long weekend to hunt. Needless to say it was plenty of time after all and I ended up getting a 21" billy the first day on the rock.
Here's the story.
I drove down after work Friday and slept in a little the first (Saturday the 7th) morning since I didn't go to bed till early morning. Finally leaving the truck I made my up to my favorite spot on the rock glassing along the way. Nothing was to be seen in the canyons near by but that's no surprise as they don't usually hang around that canyon after someone starts up the bottom. I made it to the top in a couple hours and slipped into my spot in the shade to glass the bowl on the back side of the ridge that seems to always have animals.
After an hour or two of snacking and glassing the area I decided for some reason or another there weren't any in there and my next move is to make my way down the ridge through some more spires as I headed out for the evening. As soon as I stood up and my head hit the sunlight I heard the alarm "mert". Crap that's close I thought. How did I miss them? I quickly found two nannies and a small billy on a rock 209 yards right below me. They must have snuck in while I was looking across the canyon because the rock they were on was about the third one I glassed as I slipped into the bowl. Anyway I decided to just go after them head on since there was no way to sneak or stalk from where I was to them. I made all of 10 yards before they got up and left but I thought "Lets see if I can just go straight to them and get closer once they are out of sight". So after another 20 or so not so sneaky minutes I made my way around the rock where they disappeared. Sure enough they were standing on the side of it at 58 yards! But also sure enough they quickly left before I could get a shot. So I stood licking my wounds (or at least inspecting them) as I heard rocks tumbling down the hill, underneath me then turn and go up the other side of the bowl. The few I saw turned into a lot more. Seems Ibex always do that to me. They magically multiply when spooked! There were two groups leaving the bowl. One with about 20 nannies and kids then another with 20 or so billies all 30" and under. As I stood there watching them all I could think about was Osso Buco and an IPA at the Adobe Deli. Man that meal is the only reason other than Ibex to go Deming!
The hunger grew in a few seconds and after looking at my watch I realized it was time to go and I was still a few hundred yards down the back side of the bowl. With less than two hours before dark I better make my way down because coming off that rock in the dark is not something I recommend! I've done it before and didn't plan on doing it again. I strapped my bow to the pack and started up the hill.
Just as I crested the ridge I heard the alarm "mert" and right there on the rock face to my left was a couple nannies and kids. Man I must have looked like a badger after a prairie dog trying to get my bow off my pack! I was unbuckling strap and flailing pretty bad there for a few seconds. To my surprise when I finally looked up with my rangefinder raised the ibex were just standing there looking at me like they had no idea what was going on down there! I quickly ranged 79.2 yards and dialed my Option sight to 80 and raised my bow. As I drew I could see a billy appear from right below the nannies. He walked right up behind the nanny I ranged and stopped. It only took a second for the pin to settle right on his off side shoulder and the bow released. It all happened so fast and fluid (after the bow was off the pack of course). All the practice over the last two years paid off as I watched the arrow fly and disappear into the ibex. He took off across the rock as I watched a bloody spot appear and grow on his side. Maybe it was a little back was my thought but it was still in the right area for a clean kill.
Many years of hunting has taught me to not get excited until the animal is in my hands but this was a little different. I was excited but totally nervous since these critters have a tendency to disappear when hit with any weapon. The nannies he was with disappeared then reappeared on the adjacent rock a little closer to me so I ranged and drew but the billy never followed. I sat down and waited for a few minutes to give him some time and had to restrain myself from going up the rock. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore and went up the rock slide to the rock face he was on as carefully as I could. As I reached the top of the rock slide I found blood crossing the slide and going straight up the other face. The blood spots were pretty good sized and had some foam in them. That's a good sign! But he was going up a dome that I really wasn't sure I could climb! well I waited around another 20 minutes preparing myself to go up. This stuff is literally rock climbing looking for finger and toe holds as you scale the side with a bow in one hand. I don't recommend it by the way. I climbed up to the first ledge and looked around the side of the rock into a hole following blood. He wasn't there. As I turned around I saw the trail back track down the ledge and go up another face. At that time I decided to climb back down and leave the bow at the bottom for the next climb. Down and back up the rock then up some more and I came up to another shelf. As I glance over the edge I saw a white thing 20 feet in front of me on the shelf. Its him! He was laying there upside down on the only spot where he wouldn't have fallen off. At this point I screamed a few times, thanked the Lord many times, and actually had to sit down because my legs got shaky and weak! I haven't had that feeling in a lot of years. This one is definitely something special, something I have been dreaming about for two years. I had just killed a 21" billy ibex with a bow. The shot couldn't have been any better entering at the front edge of his stomach and exiting through the other side arm pit. Although it took me two years of prep and trying I finally got it done.
After regaining my composure it quickly sank in that I needed to hurry things up and I wasn't going to make it down before dark. Down the rock, put bow on pack and pack on, back up the rock. As I took a bunch of pictures my mind was reeling from what I had just accomplished. That and the fact I was going to be going down in the dark soon. So in an attempt to speed up the process my decision was to gut the animal and take it off whole. this would allow me to get going quicker and try to get as far down the hill before dark, SOLO. Fairly soon I was downclimbing that rock with a full ibex and day gear on my back. And to make it worse my quads were cramping already. I dang near fell a few times but got off the rock to the rock slide below it before falling my first time. It was going to happen 5 more times before reaching the bottom too. A few of the falls had me on my side sliding a little until hanging up in the brush enough to stop and stand back up. So in an hour or so I made off the top north facing slope on to the spine that leads to the truck. The hardest part was over before dark and at that point I had been up and down that ridge enough I had a good idea of the best route down....in the daylight. Fortunately the decision to take it whole was paying off in the fact that I was in familiar territory before the headlamp came out. Making my way down the ridge it turned dark, then darker. Man the moon just wouldn't come up soon enough. As I made it down to where I needed to sidehill around to another face I peered off the ridge with my better flashlight and had two eyes looking at me a ways down the hill. I made a fuss yelling go away deer (thinking it was a deer) for a minute and it left. Back to the task at hand. Walking around a little I found my track where I came up and started following it side hilling my way around to the other face. Well about a hundred yards later the eyes were looking at me right in front of me this time. I started yelling go away deer as the brighter light came on and I focused a little better it wasn't a deer, because it was in the top of the tree! I had a lion staring at me less than 50 yards away right above where I had to go. No way around it. The terrain gave me one option, underneath it. The yelling immediately got louder and a little frantic. I reached down and grabbed a softball sized rock and chunked it at the tree just missing the cat. It jumped left and perched on another branch but wouldn't leave the tree. I picked up another rock and threw it just barely missing the cat and it bailed out of the tree into the darkness. I was at this point completely out of gas but also jacked up on adrenaline. That's a bad combo! I couldn't control my legs very good but they were moving faster for sure.
After that I just followed my tracks checking all around me often with the brighter light. Once on the other face from the lion encounter I looked back over and sure enough the eyes were in another tree just below the one it jumped out of. The next hour I had a fairly loud conversation with Billy while stumbling my completely spent legs off the rock to the road near the truck. When I finally took off the pack at the road for the last half mile to the truck I literally couldn't feel my legs and was hurting like heck everywhere else. I'd like to think I'm in decent shape putting about 120 miles with a pack on in the last two months and a quarter of that with a bit of weight. The Rock, Mother nature and stupidity will always remind you who's the boss though. I'm still sore today and I walked funny for three days after. I did however make off the rock, from the top, with a whole Billy in the pack in 3 hours with no rest stops.
Once the billy was in the truck the slow drive to town got us to the motel at 11:30. The only restauraunt left open was McDonalds. No Osso Buco at the Adobe Deli for me. I was sad! Maybe next time. A burger, hot shower and nice motel bed completed the night.
Maybe I'll get to try it again next year!
For the gear junkies, a list:
Matthews Halon 6 29" draw 70 lb
Easton axis 340 arrows
Rage 125gn Hypodermic broadheads
Option 8 Platinum sight wit 3 fixed and one adjustable pin
Scott LittleBitty Goose release
Stone Glacier Sky 7400/Krux Pack
Platypus 3 liter Big Zip bladder
Swarovski 10x50 SLC's in Kuiu Bino pouch
Sig Kilo 850 range finder
Lowa Tibet LL boots
Kuiu Alpine pants
First Lite Minaret Shirt
Kuiu Socks with liners
Kestrel Ovis Hunter Skeleton knife
I love pretty much all my gear on this list. It all worked great except one piece.
Really the only piece of gear that I will change out of this list is the factory Sig range finder pouch. I had to fight to get the RF out every time. Its going away! Now the hunt is on for a proper replacement.
Pics will come soon.
They are goats that live on a mountain up high! If it needs to go somewhere else please let me know or move it if you like.
Last years live hunt thread was a bust since service was spotty on the mountain and where I was sleeping. Sorry guys.
I struck out last year but did get to spend five days within rifle distance of a few monsters. Just waiting for them to let me in distance again after drawing on them coming out of a rock opening morning but not having a shot opportunity.
Being lucky enough this year to draw again was a blessing, but a lot of other higher priorities opportunities had taken most of my time off leaving me with one long weekend to hunt. Needless to say it was plenty of time after all and I ended up getting a 21" billy the first day on the rock.
Here's the story.
I drove down after work Friday and slept in a little the first (Saturday the 7th) morning since I didn't go to bed till early morning. Finally leaving the truck I made my up to my favorite spot on the rock glassing along the way. Nothing was to be seen in the canyons near by but that's no surprise as they don't usually hang around that canyon after someone starts up the bottom. I made it to the top in a couple hours and slipped into my spot in the shade to glass the bowl on the back side of the ridge that seems to always have animals.
After an hour or two of snacking and glassing the area I decided for some reason or another there weren't any in there and my next move is to make my way down the ridge through some more spires as I headed out for the evening. As soon as I stood up and my head hit the sunlight I heard the alarm "mert". Crap that's close I thought. How did I miss them? I quickly found two nannies and a small billy on a rock 209 yards right below me. They must have snuck in while I was looking across the canyon because the rock they were on was about the third one I glassed as I slipped into the bowl. Anyway I decided to just go after them head on since there was no way to sneak or stalk from where I was to them. I made all of 10 yards before they got up and left but I thought "Lets see if I can just go straight to them and get closer once they are out of sight". So after another 20 or so not so sneaky minutes I made my way around the rock where they disappeared. Sure enough they were standing on the side of it at 58 yards! But also sure enough they quickly left before I could get a shot. So I stood licking my wounds (or at least inspecting them) as I heard rocks tumbling down the hill, underneath me then turn and go up the other side of the bowl. The few I saw turned into a lot more. Seems Ibex always do that to me. They magically multiply when spooked! There were two groups leaving the bowl. One with about 20 nannies and kids then another with 20 or so billies all 30" and under. As I stood there watching them all I could think about was Osso Buco and an IPA at the Adobe Deli. Man that meal is the only reason other than Ibex to go Deming!
The hunger grew in a few seconds and after looking at my watch I realized it was time to go and I was still a few hundred yards down the back side of the bowl. With less than two hours before dark I better make my way down because coming off that rock in the dark is not something I recommend! I've done it before and didn't plan on doing it again. I strapped my bow to the pack and started up the hill.
Just as I crested the ridge I heard the alarm "mert" and right there on the rock face to my left was a couple nannies and kids. Man I must have looked like a badger after a prairie dog trying to get my bow off my pack! I was unbuckling strap and flailing pretty bad there for a few seconds. To my surprise when I finally looked up with my rangefinder raised the ibex were just standing there looking at me like they had no idea what was going on down there! I quickly ranged 79.2 yards and dialed my Option sight to 80 and raised my bow. As I drew I could see a billy appear from right below the nannies. He walked right up behind the nanny I ranged and stopped. It only took a second for the pin to settle right on his off side shoulder and the bow released. It all happened so fast and fluid (after the bow was off the pack of course). All the practice over the last two years paid off as I watched the arrow fly and disappear into the ibex. He took off across the rock as I watched a bloody spot appear and grow on his side. Maybe it was a little back was my thought but it was still in the right area for a clean kill.
Many years of hunting has taught me to not get excited until the animal is in my hands but this was a little different. I was excited but totally nervous since these critters have a tendency to disappear when hit with any weapon. The nannies he was with disappeared then reappeared on the adjacent rock a little closer to me so I ranged and drew but the billy never followed. I sat down and waited for a few minutes to give him some time and had to restrain myself from going up the rock. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore and went up the rock slide to the rock face he was on as carefully as I could. As I reached the top of the rock slide I found blood crossing the slide and going straight up the other face. The blood spots were pretty good sized and had some foam in them. That's a good sign! But he was going up a dome that I really wasn't sure I could climb! well I waited around another 20 minutes preparing myself to go up. This stuff is literally rock climbing looking for finger and toe holds as you scale the side with a bow in one hand. I don't recommend it by the way. I climbed up to the first ledge and looked around the side of the rock into a hole following blood. He wasn't there. As I turned around I saw the trail back track down the ledge and go up another face. At that time I decided to climb back down and leave the bow at the bottom for the next climb. Down and back up the rock then up some more and I came up to another shelf. As I glance over the edge I saw a white thing 20 feet in front of me on the shelf. Its him! He was laying there upside down on the only spot where he wouldn't have fallen off. At this point I screamed a few times, thanked the Lord many times, and actually had to sit down because my legs got shaky and weak! I haven't had that feeling in a lot of years. This one is definitely something special, something I have been dreaming about for two years. I had just killed a 21" billy ibex with a bow. The shot couldn't have been any better entering at the front edge of his stomach and exiting through the other side arm pit. Although it took me two years of prep and trying I finally got it done.
After regaining my composure it quickly sank in that I needed to hurry things up and I wasn't going to make it down before dark. Down the rock, put bow on pack and pack on, back up the rock. As I took a bunch of pictures my mind was reeling from what I had just accomplished. That and the fact I was going to be going down in the dark soon. So in an attempt to speed up the process my decision was to gut the animal and take it off whole. this would allow me to get going quicker and try to get as far down the hill before dark, SOLO. Fairly soon I was downclimbing that rock with a full ibex and day gear on my back. And to make it worse my quads were cramping already. I dang near fell a few times but got off the rock to the rock slide below it before falling my first time. It was going to happen 5 more times before reaching the bottom too. A few of the falls had me on my side sliding a little until hanging up in the brush enough to stop and stand back up. So in an hour or so I made off the top north facing slope on to the spine that leads to the truck. The hardest part was over before dark and at that point I had been up and down that ridge enough I had a good idea of the best route down....in the daylight. Fortunately the decision to take it whole was paying off in the fact that I was in familiar territory before the headlamp came out. Making my way down the ridge it turned dark, then darker. Man the moon just wouldn't come up soon enough. As I made it down to where I needed to sidehill around to another face I peered off the ridge with my better flashlight and had two eyes looking at me a ways down the hill. I made a fuss yelling go away deer (thinking it was a deer) for a minute and it left. Back to the task at hand. Walking around a little I found my track where I came up and started following it side hilling my way around to the other face. Well about a hundred yards later the eyes were looking at me right in front of me this time. I started yelling go away deer as the brighter light came on and I focused a little better it wasn't a deer, because it was in the top of the tree! I had a lion staring at me less than 50 yards away right above where I had to go. No way around it. The terrain gave me one option, underneath it. The yelling immediately got louder and a little frantic. I reached down and grabbed a softball sized rock and chunked it at the tree just missing the cat. It jumped left and perched on another branch but wouldn't leave the tree. I picked up another rock and threw it just barely missing the cat and it bailed out of the tree into the darkness. I was at this point completely out of gas but also jacked up on adrenaline. That's a bad combo! I couldn't control my legs very good but they were moving faster for sure.
After that I just followed my tracks checking all around me often with the brighter light. Once on the other face from the lion encounter I looked back over and sure enough the eyes were in another tree just below the one it jumped out of. The next hour I had a fairly loud conversation with Billy while stumbling my completely spent legs off the rock to the road near the truck. When I finally took off the pack at the road for the last half mile to the truck I literally couldn't feel my legs and was hurting like heck everywhere else. I'd like to think I'm in decent shape putting about 120 miles with a pack on in the last two months and a quarter of that with a bit of weight. The Rock, Mother nature and stupidity will always remind you who's the boss though. I'm still sore today and I walked funny for three days after. I did however make off the rock, from the top, with a whole Billy in the pack in 3 hours with no rest stops.
Once the billy was in the truck the slow drive to town got us to the motel at 11:30. The only restauraunt left open was McDonalds. No Osso Buco at the Adobe Deli for me. I was sad! Maybe next time. A burger, hot shower and nice motel bed completed the night.
Maybe I'll get to try it again next year!
For the gear junkies, a list:
Matthews Halon 6 29" draw 70 lb
Easton axis 340 arrows
Rage 125gn Hypodermic broadheads
Option 8 Platinum sight wit 3 fixed and one adjustable pin
Scott LittleBitty Goose release
Stone Glacier Sky 7400/Krux Pack
Platypus 3 liter Big Zip bladder
Swarovski 10x50 SLC's in Kuiu Bino pouch
Sig Kilo 850 range finder
Lowa Tibet LL boots
Kuiu Alpine pants
First Lite Minaret Shirt
Kuiu Socks with liners
Kestrel Ovis Hunter Skeleton knife
I love pretty much all my gear on this list. It all worked great except one piece.
Really the only piece of gear that I will change out of this list is the factory Sig range finder pouch. I had to fight to get the RF out every time. Its going away! Now the hunt is on for a proper replacement.
Pics will come soon.
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