MT Mountain Goat!

[whiskeydog]

Every year two of my best buds from my USMC days make the trip up to MT from AZ and TX to retell the same old stories and join me on a mountain fishing trip. This year, I happened to have the luck of drawing a mountain goat tag, and I convinced them to spend a week up here for fishing/scouting. They came up a few days before the opener and we hiked back to a pretty well known spot for a few days relaxing and fish catching...





On season opener, we started putting some miles on the boots and saw quite a few goats, even one decent billy that I probably would have shot later in the season. My buddies were excited to see critters neither had ever seen before and would have love to help pack one out, but this early, the coats weren't in yet, and the one good billy I saw still had patches of hair that hadn't been shed from summer yet.



After one hell of a fun trip, we headed down and they went back to the states that don't have winter.

 

[whiskeydog]

I took three weeks off (from Mtn Goat at least) with plans to go back the weekend of the 9/23. Those from MT know that that weekend a good majority of the state was socked in from weather. Well, my brother called me on Saturday and suggested doing a one day hunt on Sunday. I left home at 0-dark thirty, picked him up halfway, headed to the trail, and was hiking by 7am. We did a fairly "easy" first 3 miles and then had a ~1000' decent over 1/4 mile to gain the ridge...not fun. We covered several miles along the ridgeline and saw a few goats ahead that we wanted to check out, but that would mean a nasty descent in the dark. Got a few bars of cell service and got ahold of a buddy who was willing to drive 3 hours to meet us at the bottom of a different trail to take us back to our vehicle! Great friends are hard to find! The goats didn't pan out, and we ended up with a 16.8 mile day getting back to town late, late, late sunday night/monday morn. no pics from that trip...

 

[whiskeydog]

The following weekend my brother and I loaded up the packs for 4 nights and headed back to the mountains. I've got several other tags that need filling and a kid due around the end of hunting season (which the wife keeps reminding me can come early), so I really wanted to make this trip count. We met up Thursday night, slept at the trailhead, and got an alpine start on Friday morn. 1/2 mile up the trail I saw something...


...another 5 miles and several pints of sweat and we were on top



We dropped our packs, changed our shirts, and sat down for a snack. My brother took a short stroll and came back to grab me...there was a goat just a few hundred yards down the hill. We watched him for quite a while, there was some debate as to whether he was a nanny or a young billy but either way, not what we were looking for. I was going to eat my tag before shooting a nanny, but I didn't want to shoot a young billy either...no pictures of the little guy.

After drying out, we loaded up again and started heading onward. It was still early afternoon, but we had a couple miles of huntable ridge in front of us before reaching the bowl where we would camp for the night. Less than an hour in my brother spotted a white "rock" that turned out to be this guy...




We watched him for a good hour or so. We knew he was a billy, and I knew if I could get a shot, I'd take it. He was 1000 yards away across a draw, and we could only get 200 yards closer by dropping down a bit from our side. After a nap, a stretch, and another nap he started side-hilling a bit and as we paralleled him the distance started to drop. We probably repositioned 5 or 6 times before finally finding a spot that set us up for a 470 yard shot...except he had fed into a small draw that took him out of sight. We waited, and after a bit he popped out just above where he went in. Didn't have much time and brother said, "shoot!" First shot was about 8 inches back from where it should have been, but he hunched up, spun 180, and turned broadside again for shot number 2. That did it and he dropped. He probably slid/tumbled 400-500 feet before coming a stop. It was probably lucky that he fell as far as he did, because when we got to him, the area above was a lot steeper than it looked!
But...I had my, most likely, once-in-a-lifetime goat!!!



Of course it rained on us while we were taking care of him. It was steeper then hell getting out...especially with 4 days gear and 1/2 goat each on our backs. We got to the bottom just as it got dark and had another hour or so to get to a trail. When we finally got to a spot were we could camp, we decided that being soaking wet, smelling like dead goat, and being in grizzly country was reason enough to pound out the last 6 miles of trail back to the truck. After getting back and having a beer and a bite to eat, we finally got to sleep around 2am. Another great hunt in the books!!!

 

[whiskeydog]

In the past several years I've had the opportunity to hunt this area 3 times with other tag holders before drawing my tag. I had a decent amount of knowledge of the area, but every little bit is appreciated! Much thanks to MTGomer, mtmiller, and Big Fin for the info they so graciously shared! And best of luck to Montana Advocate who is going to be closing the deal on his own goat by this time next week!!

 

[whiskeydog]

[video=vimeo;185596882]https://vimeo.com/185596882[/video]...

 

[Matt/VT]

Great story- well done! Congrats!

 

[backsmasher23]

Great read! Congrats! Looks like a really nice goat!

 

[duckhunt]

Congrats on an awesome hunt.

 

[fulldraw]

Great story and a very nice goat. Thanks for sharing.

 

[----]

Looks like a great goat hunt! Congrats.

 

[JohnCushman]

Well done!

 

[Spitz]

Great story and photos! Thanks and congrats.

 

[SixPoint]

Great Billy! Congratulations!

 

[Flatrock]

Congrats! That's awesome.

 

[Nameless Range]

Beautiful Goat in some beautiful country. Congrats!

 

[mtmiller]

Great hunt. You definitely put in the time for that horse of a billy.....congrats. Nothing like being bloodied up and in griz country.
Thanks for the write up and the story.

I think GuNR knows that first spot. hahaha.....

 

[Festus]

Awesome! Congrats!

Someday................

 

[1_pointer]

Super! Great goat and company. Well done.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Congrats on a great goat, and fun hunt!

 

[FishN4Eyes]

Sweet story and some really great photos!

Congrats on a very nice billy, nice work!