Mk7mmSTW
WKR
Just returned from a true dream come true hunt. This was hands down the most up and down roller coaster hunt I’ve ever been on. Short hand version is I fulfilled my dream by drawing a mountain goat tag in my home state of WY. Shortly after the Feds came in and helicopter slaughtered half the population in the Grand Tetons. The WY Governor/citizens flipped out over the slaughter, leading to the feds halting the slaughter leaving roughly 40-50 goats in the entire mountain range. I dedicated many trips/countless miles learning the area knowing I will likely be one of the last people to ever kill a mountain goat in the Grand Tetons.
As the hunt got closer, the feds once again tossed a curve ball by allowing teams of people apply to be “shooters” within the actual park to eliminate the mountain goats to help the big horn population recover. These teams would be with a Park Ranger and could not photograph or keep the goats, strictly a eradication. My tag was a actual tag on the backside of the Tetons and ended at the ridge/park boundary.
Knowing Mtn Goat was a true dream of mine, my hunting partner Josh took the 9 days off to join me on the journey. Once we were in the mountains we quickly discovered my fears were a reality and the basins I scouted were completely free of all goats. As it goes, everything changed when I spotted a lone billy over a mile away glassing through a small split in the ridgeline into back of the neighboring drainage. He was in a crevice completely concealed to anyone within the drainage he was in. You couldn’t have picked a worse location to find a billy in but we went for broke!
A few thousand feet down followed by a few thousand feet up and we were in place, waiting for him to get out of his bed. Everything fell into place and a life long dream was fulfilled. We couldn’t get to him that night due to cliffs and had to descend back down to camp. At first light we packed up camp and climbed up and over to the base of the slide he was up and spent the better part of the morning trying not to fall to our death or trigger a rock slide getting him out. Very blessed to be able to fulfill this dream.
Being a gear guy:
Lane Precision 7mm STW/proof barrel/EH5
(Best gunsmith ever)
NF 5.5-22x50 MOAR-T
Kifaru DT2 on hunter frame
Seek cimarron
BA spike lake 15 bag
Swaro 15x56
Swaro STS 80
Leica 2400
Schonfeld tripod/pan head
Kenetrek hardscrabble
Head to toe FL merino
As the hunt got closer, the feds once again tossed a curve ball by allowing teams of people apply to be “shooters” within the actual park to eliminate the mountain goats to help the big horn population recover. These teams would be with a Park Ranger and could not photograph or keep the goats, strictly a eradication. My tag was a actual tag on the backside of the Tetons and ended at the ridge/park boundary.
Knowing Mtn Goat was a true dream of mine, my hunting partner Josh took the 9 days off to join me on the journey. Once we were in the mountains we quickly discovered my fears were a reality and the basins I scouted were completely free of all goats. As it goes, everything changed when I spotted a lone billy over a mile away glassing through a small split in the ridgeline into back of the neighboring drainage. He was in a crevice completely concealed to anyone within the drainage he was in. You couldn’t have picked a worse location to find a billy in but we went for broke!
A few thousand feet down followed by a few thousand feet up and we were in place, waiting for him to get out of his bed. Everything fell into place and a life long dream was fulfilled. We couldn’t get to him that night due to cliffs and had to descend back down to camp. At first light we packed up camp and climbed up and over to the base of the slide he was up and spent the better part of the morning trying not to fall to our death or trigger a rock slide getting him out. Very blessed to be able to fulfill this dream.
Being a gear guy:
Lane Precision 7mm STW/proof barrel/EH5
(Best gunsmith ever)
NF 5.5-22x50 MOAR-T
Kifaru DT2 on hunter frame
Seek cimarron
BA spike lake 15 bag
Swaro 15x56
Swaro STS 80
Leica 2400
Schonfeld tripod/pan head
Kenetrek hardscrabble
Head to toe FL merino
Last edited:
. Beautiful billy.
