Boulder River Mt Goat

[cbond3318]

Dang man! I skipped over this twenty times assuming it was questions about the upcoming draw!

 I'm hooked into it now man, just what the doctor ordered!!   

[zoorda]

This is the ravine I ended up on the wrong side of, once again picture doesn't do it justice.

[Kit Carson]

Get em!!

[zoorda]

My next few scouting trips would be up the Neiderprum trail and ultimately would be where I would focus on hunting.

[zoorda]

My goals for this hunt was to have a fun, safe hunt and obviously, hopefully get a nice goat. Being that this unit hadn't been open before and I had the only tag, dreams of a record book goat was something I hoped for, but I wasn't going wait to last day for. The biologist I talked to said there was around 125 goats in the area and I know I probably saw less than half of them in all my scouting trips. Most of them from more than a mile away. Judging goats is somewhat difficult, a quote I read is that a lot the time hunters don't know  how big the goat really is until they walk up to it after they have shot it. That being said, I was able to spot a very large bodied billie with his rear flanks rubbed and dirty. I think he his a very nice billie.  I wont keep you guys in suspense, I did not get this goat. After spotting this billie and several smaller ones from the Neiderprum trail I decided that this is where I would start my hunt from. Another goal of mine was to let the goats hair up a bit, but I didn't want to wait to long and have to contend with bad weather. My first trip up carrying my rifle was in late September. We set up camp on one of the few semi flat areas we had found, and also it had a really nice water supply. Water had been a constant concern with my scouting trips.

[stew pidasso]

You put in work. Good job.

[zoorda]

A pic from goat camp.

[zoorda]

From my camp I could usually see a dozen goats at any given time. There was a group of nannies and kids that were inside 500yds and 3 or 4 billies that were 1000 or 1500 yds out. I could also see several lone goats on the cliffs to the east over a mile away.

[zoorda]

During the first few days of the hunt this goat showed up and bedded down about 600yds out. He looked pretty decent, the biggest billie that I had seen so far other than the big bodied billie that I hadn't been able to get a better look at yet. We worked inside 400yds and could see he was a good sized billie. I had him in my scope for quite awhile but couldn't pull the trigger. The thought of the big bodied billie and that this was a once in a life time hunt kept me from shooting this goat. I know they say don't pass on an animal the first day that you would shoot on the last day but I'm going to bet most would agree that doesn't apply in this case.

[zoorda]

A little better pic of this goat. Still tough to judge from this distance.

[X-Force]

Loving the story and all the photos!

[zoorda]

Wish I had a better pic of this goat, it will have to do.

[Kit Carson]

Nice!! 

[zoorda]

The Big Bodied Billy aka The Waterfall Goat.
I spotted this goat on the first scouting trip up the Neiderprum trail, he stayed at the base of the waterfall  the majority of the time. We decided to not try and go after him on the first trip up packing my rifle due to time constraints and having to be back to work in a few days.   



He is the small white spec, bottom left corner of the grass by the waterfall

[zoorda]