70th birthday present

[Machias]

 

[Jpmiller]

No pics yet?

[X-Force]

The weather last Friday and Saturday was ugly and with a flexible schedule my dad decided to push the trip and head out Sunday morning and stay until Tuesday.

We got to the trail head Sunday morning 0630 and it was pea soup so instead of jaunting down the trail Saylean and I caught a couple more minutes shut eye and waited for our dad, brother and brother in law to show up.

Hikes in with a group of people is always fun, lots of banter back an forth and lots of antipcation for the clouds to clear. Around 1030 the clouds began to lift and we could pick out a few goats here and their off in the distance.

Our goal for Sunday was to find a camp spot and start picking apart the country.

[X-Force]

As we got camp set up Saylean grabbed a spotter and started picking apart the mountain side. He spotted a nice goat within 15-20 minutes and camp started to scramble.

The goat was 1,200 yards line of sight and 500' lower in elevation.

Saylean stayed back with our little brother to continue to glass the area. Our dad, myself and B-I-L headed toward the goat. Side hilling wasn't easy and we were going up and down draws, across boulder fields and closed to within 375 yards.

The goat left his bed and went into a draw on the backside of the hill and no one could see it for about 30 minutes. After feeding the goat went back to the same bed and started kicking dirt around. Man these animals are fun to watch!

Our Dad didn't feel comfortable with 375 yards so we worked out a plan to get within 200. As he was working to within range the goat must have spotted him or heard him coming because at about 225 yards out the goat stood up and walked off.

The fog rolled back in and everyone sat in limbo for 20 minutes waiting to see if the goat was coming back to its bed or if we could find it some where else on the hill. We all came up empty.

It was about 430 and my little brother just shot a bear 1000' below and a mile from camp so my dad and BIL went back to finish setting up camp. I wanted to wait until the bear was deboned and ready to pack out  so I stayed and glassed for another hour before dropping elevation to help.

I spotted another goat worth looking at but he was almost 2 miles from camp and we had already put on 7 miles (plus whatever elevation) that day so putting a stalk on him was not in the cards.

[X-Force]

Monday morning was more of the same pea soup. Without much opportunity to glass and half of the camp packing a bear out after dark we were moving a little slow.

Everyone finally got ready and with the heavy clouds we split up to cover more country.

I doubled back the way we came in and tried to glass as much country as possible but with fog rolling in and out and flurries coming in waves it was difficult.

I ended up coming upon a covey of ptarmigan in winter plumage. Beautiful birds and my photos don't do them a justice.

[X-Force]

Saylean again spots a good goat and we all start working back towards him. At this point my dad and BIL are about a mile away and 500' or so lower than Saylean and I am about 2 miles away and 1000' higher... It takes time to go anywhere in this country.

We all close in on Saylean and the goat disappears... its incredible how they can find little nooks and crannies in areas you just cant access.

The clouds never really lifted until just before dark. By this time everyone was ready for hot food and a warm tent.

The temperature up there would drop rapidly as soon as the sun went down... Within minutes it seemed like the wind would pick up and you were bundling up as fast as possible.

[X-Force]

Tuesday we wake up to picture perfect sky's but we decided before the trip that this would be the last day so we started packing up camp.

Everyone commented on how much food they packed and how much they were going to eat for breakfast...

By 0900 camp was broke and we were going to glass/hunt our way back to the trailhead.

My BIL decided to check his phone for cell service and wouldn't you know it... My mom said the weather is looking bad after Wednesday so stay out another night.

I was basically out of food... So was everyone else because we ate everything we had left for breakfast!

[X-Force]

Saylean and our little brother had to get back to the real world so they already had it in their minds that Tuesday was it, My dad, BIL and myself scavenged food from the two parting members and decided we could make it another day.

Since camp was already packed up we all decided to move to a different area.

We found a couple different goats but nothing we could close distance on.

Saylean and LB hit the trail with excess gear and bear in tow.

[X-Force]

The trail in this unit is a hikers highway. Even in the middle of the week or in bad weather there were people all along the trail. We ran into a couple people who were standoffish but a couple pieces of bear summer sausage and talking to them about the meat we get and the effort we put into that meat and most seemed to be more accepting of what we were doing up there.

[jackelope]

The trail in this unit is a hikers highway. Even in the middle of the week or in bad weather there were people all along the trail. We ran into a couple people who were standoffish but a couple pieces of bear summer sausage and talking to them about the meat we get and the effort we put into that meat and most seemed to be more accepting of what we were doing up there.

Way to be the diplomatic type. It's important for us hunters to act that way.



Edit. I couldn't help but notice that you're not online as I type this. How dare you leave us hanging like that.
On with it!!!

[X-Force]

Wednesday was a make or break day for my dad. I think that after looking at the forecast he didn't want to risk burning the tag so he was ready to put the effort in to find a good goat.

The morning was fairly slow, we couldn't locate any goats in a stalkable positions, we had nannys and kids near camp but all we could do was sit and glass.

Around 9 am we found a goat 750' below us and almost a half mile away. I stayed high to keep an eye on the situation while Dad and BIL went to cut off the goat as it worked its way out of the canyon. They worked down to a chute as the goat closed distance, 275, 230... then it went behind some glacial till and up the backside of hill.

At 99 yards and a perfect broadside shot is all it took!

 

[Jpmiller]

what a beautiful goat. great pic of your dad. congrats to all of you! great story

[X-Force]

Man what an experience. It couldn't be any more rewarding. Spending this much time with my family in the woods is awesome!

We got busy photos, sharing laughs checking out our trophy, etc.. These animals are awesome, horns are so unique, great hides, its hard to focus because you just want to sit an marvel.

Then the real work began. My dad decided on a rug so we started that process, and with 3 guys deboning was pretty easy. Everyone gravitated toward a job and we went to work.

By 2 my dad was loaded up with the hide and heading back to camp, BIL and I worked on finishing up deboning and loading up all our miscellaneous items.

By 4 we were all back at camp and took the time to make one last hot meal along with some goat tenderloin fried and fat. We brought salt, pepper, steak seasoning, and garlic salt so we tried a little of everything. The meat is tougher than deer or elk but its flavor was awesome. We ate a tenderloin, packed up camp and got to the trail 520.

The weather was already turning, winds had picked up around 3 and clouds started rolling in before that.

It was bitter cold with biting wind but with a big grin on our faces we slogged all the gear, meat, etc. back to the trailhead.

Our adventure was over but the memories will last a lifetime.

[X-Force]

 Couple more photos

[saylean]

nice write up brother, what a privelage to be on this hunt