Quick Goat Hunt

[TBinKodiak]

Well I was supposed to be sheep hunting this week, but my hunting partner is closing on a fishing boat this week so had to cancel about 5 weeks ago. He made it up to me by telling his herring and salmon spotter (pilot) to drop me anywhere on Kodiak I wanted to go. I thought about going after caribou on the southend just to finish off my Kodiak slam, but figured it was a little green and too buggy. A friend of mine wanted to take a goat so that sealed the deal on what we were going to hunt. The southend is a registration hunt so it was just a matter of going into F&G and getting a tag. Flew in at 7:30 Sunday night after giving the area a once over. We had a pretty good hunt even though we got weathered in for a day and a half. I guess teasers are the way to go this year so here you are...
About 12 billies hanging on this 2 mile stretch of razor back ridge (taken from camp).

Drying out, waiting for the flight home Wednesday afternoon, of course we didn't make it out until Thursday afternoon.

 

[mconway951]

Come on.....really your gonna do us like that i already see the ending tell us the hole story,
congrats though

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Looks like great country. Congrats on a great hunt. Electric fence around the camp???

good luck to all
the dog

 

[mtmiller]

No need to be a beach...giddee up. More data.

Man I gotta get up there again.

 

[the nikster]

Nice lookin billies, that one in the back looks about an eighth of an inch on my screen!

 

[Brentster7189]

Did that fence make you sleep better? Did you run into any bears?

 

[Oak]

Nice! Now let's see the closeups and hear the details.

Man I gotta get up there again.

Agreed.

 

[TBinKodiak]

Like I said we flew in Sunday night and got camp set up. I'm used to just packing camp on my back so having a base camp was a change. We had flowen the area and knew we had a couple of options as far as goats go. Of course we have spot a dandy billy about a half mile from camp making his way through the low country to another mt range. Looked to be about 9 and a half inches. Spot 8 or so billies on the mt ridge we plan to hunt in the morning. First day of hunting we haul the 2 miles up to the base and spot a few bedded billies. Decide to side hill down, hitting the bottoms of the rock out croppings so they don't see our approach. The problem with that was we could see if they got up and moved, which they did. Ended up side hilling the entire ridge and got within 100-300 yards of 4 different billies. The problem was they had all spotted us first and by the time my friend got his gun out and got lined up on them they were heading for new country. We decided to sit out on a hill that gave us a view of the entire ridge and about 4 the goats that we had run off started to come back over the top and feed down the mt. Clouds started to roll across the tops of the mts, which gave us cover to make a stalk. We got to within 300 yards of two billies and got set up for the shot, the closest one was a young billy probably a year and a half old with about 7.5 inch horns. The other one with him looked like a shooter though and my friend took the shot the next time the clouds clear. He took some shooting to knock down and ended up with three holes in him, and rolled most of the way down the mt, about 700 feet.
A three and a half year old billy with 9.25 inch horns.

 

[JohnCushman]

Awesome!! Congrats!!

 

[TBinKodiak]

My friend wanted a rug so we skin out the goat and bone out the meat. We are 4 miles from camp and the fog is on the ground now with mist. It takes 3 hours to get back and the last hour is in the dark, rain and fog running off the gps. Mountain house for dinner and in bed by 1am. Up the next morning and its now my turn at the rifle (although I did add one bullet hole to my buddies billy as it was trying to make the top of the mt). We hump up to the ridge line, but the late start has all the goats bedded high. Spot a billy making his way down the ridge line and he drops off our side. Waste a couple hours putting a stalk on him but can't keep up and only get to within 500 yards. Clouds cover the tops again so the afternoon is spent catching glimpses of billies and doing two climbs up to the top on wasted stalks. My friend wants to call it at 5:30, because he got a little freaked out hiking in the dark the night before, but I convince him to give it another couple hours with the plan of just gutting any goat we get and paking it out the net day. As luck would have it a dandy billy works his way down the mt of course a smaller one comes down about 400 yards closer. I have to try to make it past that one to get to the big guy. Time is running out and we are scheduled to get picked up the following afternoon. As I make my way down the base of the mt I start ranging the closest billy and figure he will be within range once I get below him. Sure enough he is 295 yards and I have to make the decision, he is big in the body and definitely heavy in the horn. I decide to take the shot instead of taking the chance of spooking this goat and having it run towards the bigger one. I pull the first shot but send him rolling on the second with a double lung shot. He does the 700 foot roll and I track him down the mt incase he pops a horn, but they are still there when he ends his roll in the shale at the base of the mt. A quick gut job and a few pictures then make time back to camp because the rain has started and visibility is down to 100 yards again. Morning brings rain and wind but we have work to do before our 5pm pick up. I had planned to take more pictures in the morning, but the miserable weather kept the camera in the pack. Back at camp by 2pm and it doesn't look good for a pick up so a nap is in order. The billy is broomed back a good half inch with the longest horn an 1/8th inch shy of 9, a good billy at 6.5 years old but could have been longer. Had I had a couple more days I would have held out for one of the big boys, but I din't have that option and I'm happy with the one I got. That 10 incher will just have to wait I guess.

He sure is a horse though and should make a nice rug.

 

[BiggWimm]

Very nice! Congrats!

 

[TBinKodiak]

Did that fence make you sleep better? Did you run into any bears?

I'm not making up a story when I say we saw over 300 piles of bear scat in three days, heck there were 4 piles within 10 feet of our tent. They use that area HEAVILY in early summer eating grass and lupin roots. Luckily they were down in the alders feeding on salmon and berries while we were there. The lake we camped on is at the head of three valleys so it is a natural highway for bears moving between drainages. Bear fences are effective about 95% of the time and my buddy had a friend that owned one so we took it along. We put it up once we had meat in camp and it does let you sleep a little better.
The pilot wasn't able to land on Wednesday but made it in Thursday afternoon. He shuttled us in two trips to salt water ad we were just under the max for his 180. I did see a dandy buck Thursday morning, but knew that would put us over the weight limit and would require another trip so I passed on him.
I still hate missing the sheep hunt, but I scratched an itch and got a white beast off the mountain. Planning to get after the sheep next year and I have a deer or two to put in the freezer yet this fall so it should be a good year.

 

[Oak]

Nice job. Thanks for sharing the story. It is still amazing to me that there are places in the US you can buy a goat or sheep tag over the counter every year. I really need to move....

 

[TBinKodiak]

OK a couple more.
See the billy?

How about now?

An unsuccessful stalk.

End of the line after a couple miles of side hilling.

The lake from the trail to goat country. Only 2 miles straight line from the goats, but there were a few alder choked canyons between there and camp so we had to hike two miles east then cut left for a mile and a half to get to the mountain.

Hiking up to my goat.

 

[TBinKodiak]

Nice job. Thanks for sharing the story. It is still amazing to me that there are places in the US you can buy a goat or sheep tag over the counter every year. I really need to move....

Buy? Who has to buy a goat tag? Heck they give them to us for free up here, well I guess technically it comes with the $25 hunting license along with sheep, deer, elk, caribou, moose, black bear, etc...

 

[Oak]

Oh yeah, that's right. Rub it in... But I could go up there today and buy tags, but there is that small issue of guide requirement, blah, blah, blah. Luckily my Dad, Jim Urban, is moving up there, so I'll probably be hunting with him next year.

 

[BOWUNTR]

That is so cool... congrats. I'm in awe.... how can i convince my wife that we need to move ... Ed F

 

[Big luke1981]

Congrats on a great hunt. I can't wait to get a shot at one of those guys some day.

 

[arffdog875]

Great Billy! Congrats on a awesome hunt! Thanks for sharing!

 

[TheTone]

Awesome looking hunt and great goats TB.

No need to be a beach...giddee up. More data.

Man I gotta get up there again.

When are we going? Kodiak is definitely on my list of destinations.