Upper Deck made the trip up from Kansas to meet me and another friend, Kirby, to chase goats in MT last weekend. UD has hunted this area around Baker a few times over the last four years and always found great numbers of goats.
We knew the antelope numbers were down significantly because the last two winters have been very hard on them. What we weren’t prepared for was the almost complete absence of goats!! A lot of miles, hiking, and glassing turned up about 50 antelope in three different herds over a huge area. Not much to work with and we decided we had better not make any mistakes.
We found the biggest herd tucked away a long ways from any road. After they bedded, we looked them over and decided there were a couple of good animals in the group. UD and Kirby moved to get into position for a shot. We let Kirby have first crack at the biggest one, as he has never taken an antelope before. I moved into a position where I thought they would go after the shot and waited. Well it worked almost perfectly. Kirby made a long shot to put his animal on the ground and when the rest of the herd came by me I made a good shot on another buck in the group. Kirby decided to mount his buck so caping and cutting up the animals to pack out took up what was left of the day. Considering what we had to work with, this was a stellar start!
The next morning we tried another a spot about 15 miles away. Again, no goats to be seen and we had lots of quality country to glass. I finally found a buck with four does on the back side of a butte a LONG ways away. UD set up his spotting scope and we watched them until they bedded. As soon as they laid down, he and I were off. We pushed hard for just under an hour to get into a position for a shot. UD connected a 357 yards, not bad for a guy who hasn’t shot a rifle in 15 years!
We didn’t have the luxury of looking over a bunch of animals on this hunt, but we came home with three nice bucks and had a great trip. UD and I are sitting on a bunch of WY antelope and deer points going into 2011. We are thinking we might burn them next year for a big combination hunt in some very good limited draws areas I know we can draw. If so, we can hopefully look over more than 50 goats in two and a half days!
Kirby's Goat
My Goat
Upper Deck's Goat
UD is a hell of a cook as well. It was nice eating something other than cold soup!
Even Homemade Apple Pie!
We knew the antelope numbers were down significantly because the last two winters have been very hard on them. What we weren’t prepared for was the almost complete absence of goats!! A lot of miles, hiking, and glassing turned up about 50 antelope in three different herds over a huge area. Not much to work with and we decided we had better not make any mistakes.
We found the biggest herd tucked away a long ways from any road. After they bedded, we looked them over and decided there were a couple of good animals in the group. UD and Kirby moved to get into position for a shot. We let Kirby have first crack at the biggest one, as he has never taken an antelope before. I moved into a position where I thought they would go after the shot and waited. Well it worked almost perfectly. Kirby made a long shot to put his animal on the ground and when the rest of the herd came by me I made a good shot on another buck in the group. Kirby decided to mount his buck so caping and cutting up the animals to pack out took up what was left of the day. Considering what we had to work with, this was a stellar start!
The next morning we tried another a spot about 15 miles away. Again, no goats to be seen and we had lots of quality country to glass. I finally found a buck with four does on the back side of a butte a LONG ways away. UD set up his spotting scope and we watched them until they bedded. As soon as they laid down, he and I were off. We pushed hard for just under an hour to get into a position for a shot. UD connected a 357 yards, not bad for a guy who hasn’t shot a rifle in 15 years!
We didn’t have the luxury of looking over a bunch of animals on this hunt, but we came home with three nice bucks and had a great trip. UD and I are sitting on a bunch of WY antelope and deer points going into 2011. We are thinking we might burn them next year for a big combination hunt in some very good limited draws areas I know we can draw. If so, we can hopefully look over more than 50 goats in two and a half days!
Kirby's Goat
My Goat
Upper Deck's Goat
UD is a hell of a cook as well. It was nice eating something other than cold soup!
Even Homemade Apple Pie!
