My mountain goat points went from 15 to 0? Colorado G13! whoo hoo!

[Tony Trietch]

Great pics. Good luck BGG! Looking forward to the pics of you with your Billy.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Scouting update. Trip #3

Got another chance to get into the mountains again.

Changed my tactics a little. decide to try to cover more country by staying a bit further away. Packed onto a ridge between two remote basins.
No trails leading into this particular area. Only had to hike in 4.5 mi but it was bushwhacking the whole way. Took 4 hours to cover the 4.5 mi and 2500 vertical feet. PITA! need to find a better route.

So I got up on the ridge and found a great spot for a camp. Future Goat base camp.


Got in here Sat. mid day and set up camp and went to glassing. over the course of the afternoon and evening saw 9 goats.

This is pretty much the entire area that we could glass from our spot. (my brother in-law tagged along this trip)


Saturday night the wind picked up as the NOAA forecast had predicted and Sunday morning it was windy and cold. Started glassing
and started spotting the goats from the evening before plus a few more. We went from 9 the night before to 16 on Sunday morning...
Glassed for a few hours, had 6 bulls in the little pocket basin on the right. No bugleing and no cows.

Had pretty crappy weather all morning with the wind and some low clouds and lite rain. Finally broke up about 10.00.
We decided to hike up to the saddle on the far right of the above pic and take a look into another small side basin off the next main drainage over to the east.


Got up to the saddle and had gale force winds and sleet/snow and pour visibility. That blew over pretty quick. Started glassing and picked up 11 goats right away. One large group of nanny's with some 1 1/2 olds and a couple 2 1/2's one kid. Had 3 big mature nanny's in the group.
Looked to be a lone young billy in the basin off away from the big group.



Whatched them for awhile until they dropped off the edge of the lower part of the basin out of sight.
headed back to camp to finish off the day.

Spotted 27 goats total on Sunday. All the goats were in the main basin or along the upper part of the ridge on the left except the 11 in the other basin. A few probable billy's ( singles, and a pair) one for sure billy and a big one at that. We saw him all three days and he stayed with in a 100 yd area. In the most inaccessible spot too!
If you look at the above pic of the area that we could glass. The peak on the right in the foreground. There's a peak in the background that is the tallest peak in the area just shy of 14k. It has two small bumps going down the ridge line to the left. He stayed on the face between those two bumps about a 100 yds from the top the whole weekend.

Had the probable pair of billy's on the same peak a little lower and closer to us and at one point I could get all three in my scope if I zoomed out all the way out and he still appeared to way larger than the other two even being farther away. At one point I could make out his gonads when he was facing straight away. But he's un huntable anywhere on that peak imo. I want to kill a nice goat but I'm not risking my life to do it.

It was a great goat scouting trip. Saw lots of goats and figured out a few logistic things. Have a great jumping off camp spot for opening day.

I learned that I'm not going to be able to be as selective as I thought I would be. The specific location of the goats is going to determine which one I can go after. I think I can get close to some of the bigger nanny's but I'm not sure that big billy will come off that peak. I'll do my best but time will tell.

I'm amazed at how a white goat can appear and disappear. We went from 9 goats Saturday evening to 16 Sunday to 11 on Monday morning?
I also learned that they move around a lot. Not sure if it was the wind that made them move or if that is just normal?

The early season goat hunt started today. When we came out Monday mid day, not one vehicle parked at the end of a dead end road. It's a pretty rough road and I would expect if someone was hunting there, they would at least have a base camp at the end. That's a good sign that none of the first season guys are hunting the area. At least they're not starting there hunts there anyway. Pretty tough area to get into which should give me an advantage and more goats to choose from, I hope.

To cap off a great weekend. We saw a bunch of elk and two huge bull moose!


and this one. Theese bulls were in two seperate drainages 5mi apart.

also saw a cow and calf too.

16 days until I start my hunt. I cant wait! Looks like timing is going to work out and my brother in-law is going to be able to tag along for the first four days. Gonna try to take advantage of the extra help and get it done..

Take care,
BGG

 

[Shrek]

Wow ! Great story and pictures. That country looks more than a little challenging , be safe !

 

[endorice]

Thanks for the update! Great to live through your scouting pictures.

You have great taste in tents (I have the same one)

I remember not being able to find the goats in the last couple weeks leading into my season. I sure did get nervous, but it all turned out OK.

The first bull moose in your pictures - very, very good Shiraz for Colorado.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Thanks for the update! Great to live through your scouting pictures.

You have great taste in tents (I have the same one)

I remember not being able to find the goats in the last couple weeks leading into my season. I sure did get nervous, but it all turned out OK.

The first bull moose in your pictures - very, very good Shiraz for Colorado.

Thanks endorice.

It's been a fun adventure just going scouting. Two weeks until the hunt starts!

I know we talked about meeting for breakfast and talk goat hunting. Been a busy summer.
Do you want to meet and chat hunting for a bit? I can usually do a early am breakfast just about any day of the week.

BGG

 

[Phillip Hathaway]

Best of luck from indiana

 

[endorice]

I know we talked about meeting for breakfast and talk goat hunting. Been a busy summer.
Do you want to meet and chat hunting for a bit? I can usually do a early am breakfast just about any day of the week.
BGG

PM sent!

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Well, It's almost time. I'm heading out Thursday early am for 5 days. Hunt starts Friday. Time to see if my scouting pays off?
I wish I had better coverage up there. I would love to turn this into a live hunt.
Anyways, I'll post an update when I return. This first 5 day outing will most likely be a billy only hunt, but if an absolutely huge nanny is found then she'll be in trouble.

Wish me luck!

BGG

 

[JustOneMoreShot]

Good luck buddy! Stay safe and I hope you tag a big one!

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Good luck! Take lots of pics

 

[endorice]

Well, It's almost time. I'm heading out Thursday early am for 5 days. Hunt starts Friday. Time to see if my scouting pays off?

After talking with you, and listening to all the scouting you've done, I can't imagine your hunt lasting more than 3 days. Good luck! Looking forward to the pictures and story.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

After talking with you, and listening to all the scouting you've done, I can't imagine your hunt lasting more than 3 days. Good luck! Looking forward to the pictures and story.

Thanks, It was great meeting and talking with you. After talking with you and looking at the maps, I know with your info I have a solid back up area if needed.

I'm going to do my best to be patient and not go chase after the first goat I see. I've seen at least 5 billy's in my area. Going to try to get a look at all of them and then make a good decision on which one to chase.

BGG

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Game On!!!

I'm outa here!

BGG

 

[Shrek]

Good hunting !

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

1st weekend Hunt report

Hey guy's

Time for a hunt report. Headed to the mountains Thursday am. Got to the end of the road about 11:30 and made final additions to the packs and headed up the trail


I made a change in our plan of attack and changed to the East ridge of the drainage instead of the West that we scouted from. Hiked in the 3.5mi up onto the ridge and found a good spot for camp right at treeline. Pretty much dumped our packs on the ground and started glassing the basin.

As I had hoped we could see a bit more of the basin from the east ridge. Plus when we scouted, there seemed to be more goat activity along the east side of the main part of the drainage.


Spotted a goat right off. Our old standby. The old billy I mentioned in my last scouting post. This old billy never leaves the top of the peak in the center of the above pic. This peak is called Ice mountain and it is one nasty rugged mountain!
Over the lst scouting weekend my brother inlaw had nick named this goat Gandolf the wizzard.(don't ask me where he came up with that)could be because he had a way of just disappearing and reappearing even though you were looking right at the face of the peak. We also had some nanny's with kids along the ridge to the right of Ice. Then little later we had a billy come over the V saddle between Ice and West Apostle to the left. Shortly after that we had another billy come out of the cliffs of West Apostle just above the pyramid knob on the left. We decided to take a quick trip up the ridge to get a better look at him and see if he was a shooter for the morning.

Got up there and had a great view of the drainage.

Put the glass on the billy and knew right away that he was a young billy. Started glassing the drainage with the new angle for more goats. Still had Gandolf up in the top 1/4 of Ice and found a nanny with a kid on the far right side. Took awhile to find the billy that came over the saddle. Surprisingly he turned up in the very bottom of the drainage. Got the big glass on him and knew we had a shooter. I was guessing he was in the 4 to 7 year range but would need to get a closer look. We came up with a strategy for a stalk for in the morning. The billy in the bottom came out in the little flat spot just to the right of the pyramid knob at the bottom of the far rock slide. Stayed on the point until dark and put all the goats to bed. We had two billy's in very stalk-able positions as long as the stayed put for the night plus the old billy up top.

Got up to our point early opening morning to veryfi if the billy's had stayed put.


Spotted the young billy still in his bed. found the billy in the bottom and he had a friend join him over night. They were bedded on the other side up in the grassy cliffs about dead center of the above pic.

It's a crappy pic but there are two goats there. One far left the other about in the middle



Then we spotted another goat further up the drainage at the top of the rock slides. First thought was that it was a huge goat. Further inspection of the top of Ice mountain and no Gandolf. looked him over in the spotter and there was no doubt that it was him. Hes is in a league of his own. Looked at our chances of a stalk on him and decided that our best chance was to continue after the other two billy's. (Gandolf is bedded behind the tree in the above pic, kinda where the trunk goes from green the tan, on a ledge 40' above the rock slides)


Started our stalk across the basin towards the knob in the center of the basin. It was tougher than we had planned to get across and the face of the knob was way steeper in person. As we crested the knob the two billy's had already moved up into the rock slide. No chance from there. I moved across the basin to the bottom of the rock slide to a boulder for a look at a possible shot. 474 yds. 25 deg angle. No way! I was so spent from climbing the knob and breathing so hard it would be impossible for me to make that in that condition.(I practiced well beyond that over the summer and it is within my capabilities in good conditions) I was thoroughly depressed as I watched them go up around the corner of the cliffs.

I sat on the rock and looked back at Bob and Mike who had stayed back 200yds. Then it dawned on me that we had another goat that I could take a go at. Gandolf. I glassed him up and he was still bedded on the ledge. 800yds and up a long ways. I was in plain view. I looked over at the guys and gave them a hand signal that I was going to go for him. I slowly picked my way up the basin towards a cliff face straight below him. If I could get up to it and then up it before he got up I might have a chance. Took me about 35-40 minutes to get up there but when I peeked over the top of the ledge I had climbed up. Looked up and he was still there. I could barely see him. I pulled up my binos and he was laying flat on his side with his head on the ground.

Ok, ranged him. 347yd 30 deg angle. got my angle range card out. calculated the angle. 347yd 30 deg. shoot as if it was 300yd. perfect. dialed my scope for 300. I had to crawl up to a big boulder that I could use as a rest. slid my pack up on the rock and started watching him in the scope.
I didn't have much to shoot at because of how he was laying on his side.
Finally about 30 minutes later he leaned up and reached back and chewed at his hind leg. Now he was up on his chest and presented a little better opportunity. The sun was creeping up the rocks towards him and I knew he would get up once the sun hit him.

As I watched through the scope I could tell he was going to get up. He was getting fidgety. I flicked off the safety. He started to rise. BOOM!
I missed! ( I admit I got a bit of goat fever and rushed the first shot and shot right where he was instead of letting him come to his feet and re-aiming) BOOM! missed agian! he came to a stop at the edge of the ledge and was facing directly at me. I put it on his chest below his neck, WHAPP!
He launched of the ledge and piled up at the bottom. I watched him through the scope and could tell he was not feeling well trying to hold his head up. I move to the side and put a final shot into him and he gave one last kick and rolled down about 60-70 feet and stopped at a big boulder. ( thank god for that boulder!)

I almost got a little emotional. I had just fulfilled a dream hunt! With a stud of a goat!
I was very fortunate that this old guy gave me an opurtunity. I saw this goat 4-5 times during my scouting and he never strayed from the top of Ice mountain. For some reason he decided to come down that night. I never really thought I could get up to him before he moved back up the cliffs.
I'm very thankful to have hunted such a majestic old warrior.


It took the guys about 45 minutes to get up to me and Gandolf. LOL! I just sat there in awe of this beautiful animal.

Continued.....

 

[Tanner]

What an awesome goat! Congratulations BGG, that's a fantastic hunt.

Tanner

 

[Trr15]

Congrats man! Awesome stuff

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Wow that's awesome! Congratulations. I've been eagerly awaiting your update. Glad it worked out for you. That's a beautiful animal.

 

[Shrek]

Congratulations ! Gorgeous goat !

 

[Stid2677]

Nothing like seeing hard work and preparation pay off. Wonderful photos and Trophy!!