Arctic_Beaver
Lil-Rokslider
I finally have some time to share my story and pictures from my goat hunt during the last week of September. This was a registration hunt in Prince William Sound area. My Dad and I took the 26' Osprey out and left the dock on the morning of 9/28. He stayed on the boat and I ended up renting 2 satellite phones to communicate, I also had my InReach which I was using as a GPS. I was very fortunate as the weather was cooperative for the entire trip, in that at least no days were completely lost to rain/fog for hunting.
Once we entered the area for this registration hunt, it was not hard to spot goats all the way down close to the shore. The issue isn't being able to spot them, the first consideration has to be where can I land the raft without flipping it and dumping myself at the beach (speaking from first hand experience). There were many nice goats down low I saw but the surf break was just too much and I knew it would not be smart to attempt a landing. It was tough to look at these nice billies just 100-200' above a rocky beach or one with large surf breaks. I had some thoughts to myself for next year about a goat hunt that involves a long board, thick wetsuit and just my rifle in the dry bag. But how are you supposed to get that animal back off the beach?! And the wild scheming for a surf trip/goat hunt ended there.
I have learned from experience that it does not take much more than about a 2' break in a 9’ raft to have water spill over the back where the motor is mounted. All my gear is in dry bags and clipped to the raft and I wear full Simms chest waders. I've also learned how to maneuver the raft best to land and also launch from the beach, it's all about timing it with the incoming waves.
I spent 2-3 hours driving around slow with my Dad glassing goats up high and assessing access points, trying to determine what areas would be the most huntable with multiple options for goats in the area. I spotted a large open alpine bowl which looked promising, not just steep terrain and jagged cliffs. I glassed at least 10+ goats in this area and knew it was what I was looking for. There were at least 3 lone goats also which told me it likely wasn’t just all nannies and kids, there were probably options for some nice billies up there. I had taken a smaller billy last year, and knew I wanted a mature billy this trip.
After I had my gear packed, we loaded it in the raft and paddled to the beach. Before I left the boat we tested the sat phones one more time, and discussed when I would call and check-in. This smaller bay was well protected, I could have almost just put on Xtratuffs instead of the waders for the beach landing! Dad dropped me off and I watched him paddle back to the boat and climb aboard before I turned and faced the valley and entered the jungle.
It took me about 3-4 hours on this first climb up to bust above the treeline. I took the most direct route I could manage, used all fours to climb when it got steep. I had trained hard this summer for my sheep hunt and this goat hunt so I still felt good after climbing up from the salt. Once I got above the treeline, I found a flat-ish area to set up camp, which was around 1600 ft. I dropped most of my gear then grabbed the spotter and my rifle and some snacks to use the remaining 1 hour of daylight to glass for those goats I had seen earlier from the boat. It did not take long once I set up to spot a group of 7-8, several nannies with kids and some I thought were billies. Promising! Also spotted a lone black bear up as high as the goats but further away. I have hunted this bay for bears before, but wanted nothing to do with them this time. I called to check-in with Dad, he was making good progress on The Hobbit and drinking wine. Back to my camp to cook dinner and hit the sack.
Once we entered the area for this registration hunt, it was not hard to spot goats all the way down close to the shore. The issue isn't being able to spot them, the first consideration has to be where can I land the raft without flipping it and dumping myself at the beach (speaking from first hand experience). There were many nice goats down low I saw but the surf break was just too much and I knew it would not be smart to attempt a landing. It was tough to look at these nice billies just 100-200' above a rocky beach or one with large surf breaks. I had some thoughts to myself for next year about a goat hunt that involves a long board, thick wetsuit and just my rifle in the dry bag. But how are you supposed to get that animal back off the beach?! And the wild scheming for a surf trip/goat hunt ended there.
I have learned from experience that it does not take much more than about a 2' break in a 9’ raft to have water spill over the back where the motor is mounted. All my gear is in dry bags and clipped to the raft and I wear full Simms chest waders. I've also learned how to maneuver the raft best to land and also launch from the beach, it's all about timing it with the incoming waves.
I spent 2-3 hours driving around slow with my Dad glassing goats up high and assessing access points, trying to determine what areas would be the most huntable with multiple options for goats in the area. I spotted a large open alpine bowl which looked promising, not just steep terrain and jagged cliffs. I glassed at least 10+ goats in this area and knew it was what I was looking for. There were at least 3 lone goats also which told me it likely wasn’t just all nannies and kids, there were probably options for some nice billies up there. I had taken a smaller billy last year, and knew I wanted a mature billy this trip.
After I had my gear packed, we loaded it in the raft and paddled to the beach. Before I left the boat we tested the sat phones one more time, and discussed when I would call and check-in. This smaller bay was well protected, I could have almost just put on Xtratuffs instead of the waders for the beach landing! Dad dropped me off and I watched him paddle back to the boat and climb aboard before I turned and faced the valley and entered the jungle.
It took me about 3-4 hours on this first climb up to bust above the treeline. I took the most direct route I could manage, used all fours to climb when it got steep. I had trained hard this summer for my sheep hunt and this goat hunt so I still felt good after climbing up from the salt. Once I got above the treeline, I found a flat-ish area to set up camp, which was around 1600 ft. I dropped most of my gear then grabbed the spotter and my rifle and some snacks to use the remaining 1 hour of daylight to glass for those goats I had seen earlier from the boat. It did not take long once I set up to spot a group of 7-8, several nannies with kids and some I thought were billies. Promising! Also spotted a lone black bear up as high as the goats but further away. I have hunted this bay for bears before, but wanted nothing to do with them this time. I called to check-in with Dad, he was making good progress on The Hobbit and drinking wine. Back to my camp to cook dinner and hit the sack.
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