Got an OIL permit long before I'm due.....

[zwickeyman]

Great pics, great Goat. Congrats

[jackelope]

Josh,

Thanks for taking us along for the ride. It adds an element to document your journey on here and so many people pulling for you, but the pressure of an OIL has to wear on a guy when you face the conditions you did. Happy it worked out in the end for you.

Sorry if you've already touched on it, but I'm curious on your shot. What gun, what bullet placement. These animals are tough, and that pic of you standing below your goat, you can see that a quiver from that thing would have sent it down a rocky roller coaster.

Thanks,

Cody

Cody-
I took my TC Encore in .300 Win Mag. It's a nice, light compact rifle that I really really enjoy shooting. I did a lot of shooting with 180 grain accubonds and the 185 grain Bergers. I shoot factory ammo. Both shot great but I decided to go with the Accubond only because I wasn't going to be shooting long range. So the shot was ranged at 99.7 yards. Rick pretty much described the rest of it. I was amazed that he didn't move. Bullet took out both front shoulders. We did the gutless method breaking him down so I didn't look at the innards, but I assume by the location of the shot, it took out his lungs too. A little high for the heart. I mentioned 17 or 18 probably times to Rick how I was concerned he would tumble. He could have gone a long way down I think if he did. 

[BrownGoinDown]

Josh,

Thanks for taking us along for the ride. It adds an element to document your journey on here and so many people pulling for you, but the pressure of an OIL has to wear on a guy when you face the conditions you did. Happy it worked out in the end for you.

Sorry if you've already touched on it, but I'm curious on your shot. What gun, what bullet placement. These animals are tough, and that pic of you standing below your goat, you can see that a quiver from that thing would have sent it down a rocky roller coaster.

Thanks,

Cody

Cody-
I took my TC Encore in .300 Win Mag. It's a nice, light compact rifle that I really really enjoy shooting. I did a lot of shooting with 180 grain accubonds and the 185 grain Bergers. I shoot factory ammo. Both shot great but I decided to go with the Accubond only because I wasn't going to be shooting long range. So the shot was ranged at 99.7 yards. Rick pretty much described the rest of it. I was amazed that he didn't move. Bullet took out both front shoulders. We did the gutless method breaking him down so I didn't look at the innards, but I assume by the location of the shot, it took out his lungs too. A little high for the heart. I mentioned 17 or 18 probably times to Rick how I was concerned he would tumble. He could have gone a long way down I think if he did.

That's sweet. Thank God he bedded at the proper angle, just the gravity of him dropping in his tracks would have likely been enough for gravity to take over. Awesome stuff. Great pics and videos. Thanks again for sharing.

[Whitenuckles]

 

[Rainier10]

That gutless method is the way to go, so much cleaner.  I barely had any blood on my hands.

Speaking of the blood on my hands, with deer I get all itchy but didn't have that same issue with goat blood. 

I will say I was shocked by the amount of meat on a goat.  The backstrap was almost as long as an elk but it was smaller diameter than a deer.  I guess maybe in volume the backstrap was the same as a deer.  I was also surprised that there was really no fat at all like you find on a deer going into winter.

[Pathfinder101]

Awesome write up Josh.  Congrats!

[Jpmiller]

Am I to understand you didn't bring the heart out?!?  that's the best part of the whole thing, and really what's another pound or two when you've already got a hundred or three to get out of the wilderness.

[3nails]

 Finally got time to go through all of this. WOW! Great write up and thanks for taking the time to share everything. What a beautiful animal! God is good!

[tlbradford]

Am I to understand you didn't bring the heart out?!?  that's the best part of the whole thing, and really what's another pound or two when you've already got a hundred or three to get out of the wilderness.

Good chance it was shredded with a perfect shot

[jackelope]

Finally got time to go through all of this. WOW! Great write up and thanks for taking the time to share everything. What a beautiful animal! God is good!

I agree. He was definitely there with us. Thank you.

Am I to understand you didn't bring the heart out?!?  that's the best part of the whole thing, and really what's another pound or two when you've already got a hundred or three to get out of the wilderness.

No heart.

[jstone]

Fantastic Video

[steen]

What a cool write up on it and beautiful pictures!! I hope I draw that tag and can still hike! Lol Loved the story!! Great lesson on peeing!

[trophyhunt]

Now that you've had a few days anything you'd do different looking back on it? Other than being able to control the weather seems like a dream way for it all to play out.

I don't know what I could have done differently. I would have scouted more. Specifically I would have scouted the Rimrock GMU so I had a backup plan for bad weather. Bad weather happened and I didn't have a clue what to do.

I learned a lot about goat hunting, gear, backpacking, navigation, you name it.
If I was going to share 2 things from all of this....
1--I can't remember for sure why I chose the Goat Rocks but I think it was because there are 5 tags issued there and it seems like simple logic that that might make for better odds of drawing. I really wanted to shoot a goat with longer hair, which obviously means you have to wait till later in the season to do it. This is not something I thought about when I was applying. I don't think it's as important with the other OIL's as it is with goats, but access is a major concern. My good friend Drew told me about 150 times that the real trophy with a goat is the hair....wait for the hair...wait for the hair...so I did. If you want to shoot a goat with hair, you need to apply for and/or draw a unit that you can access. No messing around. All the goats in the Goat Rocks are at least a few miles from the road so make sure you can hike and either have the gear to spend the night out there or be prepared to buy it all. I can't really see day hiking from the car as a viable option. A lot of the access, trailheads, etc are up a road that is not well maintained and not at all maintained when it snows. And it's not at sea level. So be aware of that.

The other thing I would stress is nanny/billy identification. If you're not a "goat guy"(I'm not), be prepared to scour over hundreds of pictures practicing ID'ing them. From a conservation standpoint, I would have eaten my tag before I killed a nanny. I understand accidents happen, and I was prepared for that myself, but I still sat 99.7 yards from a goat I was pretty much positive was a billy for 45 minutes before I shot him. I had to convince myself I was right. (I second guess myself a lot...) Bushcraft posted this video on here a month or so ago. It's the best video I've seen for this purpose.
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,218833.msg2911419.html#msg2911419
The state also sends you a bunch of material on ID also. The state of Alaska requires you take an ID test. WA sends you some of their info. Don't take it lightly. One thing I learned was that it's pretty easy to ID a billy when it's a billy. When it's a big nanny, things get more difficult. If you happen to be on FAcebook, the Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance puts up a guess the sex billy/nanny pic. These were extremely helpful too. Also join the Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance. It's an org that is working hard with goat conservation. They do projects here in Washington too, with the end goal being more opportunity for us to draw tags in the future. Well....for you guys to draw tags in the future. I guess I'm done with that game.

Congrats again Josh, epic journey!  And your insite will surly help future goat hunters, including myself.  You brought up very important points and that video on Identifying Billy’s was great.  Let next years draw begin!!!!   You did it right and gave the respect to the hunt that it deserves! 

[jackelope]

Now that you've had a few days anything you'd do different looking back on it? Other than being able to control the weather seems like a dream way for it all to play out.

I don't know what I could have done differently. I would have scouted more. Specifically I would have scouted the Rimrock GMU so I had a backup plan for bad weather. Bad weather happened and I didn't have a clue what to do.

I learned a lot about goat hunting, gear, backpacking, navigation, you name it.
If I was going to share 2 things from all of this....
1--I can't remember for sure why I chose the Goat Rocks but I think it was because there are 5 tags issued there and it seems like simple logic that that might make for better odds of drawing. I really wanted to shoot a goat with longer hair, which obviously means you have to wait till later in the season to do it. This is not something I thought about when I was applying. I don't think it's as important with the other OIL's as it is with goats, but access is a major concern. My good friend Drew told me about 150 times that the real trophy with a goat is the hair....wait for the hair...wait for the hair...so I did. If you want to shoot a goat with hair, you need to apply for and/or draw a unit that you can access. No messing around. All the goats in the Goat Rocks are at least a few miles from the road so make sure you can hike and either have the gear to spend the night out there or be prepared to buy it all. I can't really see day hiking from the car as a viable option. A lot of the access, trailheads, etc are up a road that is not well maintained and not at all maintained when it snows. And it's not at sea level. So be aware of that.

The other thing I would stress is nanny/billy identification. If you're not a "goat guy"(I'm not), be prepared to scour over hundreds of pictures practicing ID'ing them. From a conservation standpoint, I would have eaten my tag before I killed a nanny. I understand accidents happen, and I was prepared for that myself, but I still sat 99.7 yards from a goat I was pretty much positive was a billy for 45 minutes before I shot him. I had to convince myself I was right. (I second guess myself a lot...) Bushcraft posted this video on here a month or so ago. It's the best video I've seen for this purpose.
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,218833.msg2911419.html#msg2911419
The state also sends you a bunch of material on ID also. The state of Alaska requires you take an ID test. WA sends you some of their info. Don't take it lightly. One thing I learned was that it's pretty easy to ID a billy when it's a billy. When it's a big nanny, things get more difficult. If you happen to be on FAcebook, the Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance puts up a guess the sex billy/nanny pic. These were extremely helpful too. Also join the Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance. It's an org that is working hard with goat conservation. They do projects here in Washington too, with the end goal being more opportunity for us to draw tags in the future. Well....for you guys to draw tags in the future. I guess I'm done with that game.

Congrats again Josh, epic journey!  And your insite will surly help future goat hunters, including myself.  You brought up very important points and that video on Identifying Billy’s was great.  Let next years draw begin!!!!   You did it right and gave the respect to the hunt that it deserves!

Thanks buddy. I learned a lot from other folks in this adventure. If I can help someone next year, then I’ve done my part.  These hunts are a huge deal from a conservation standpoint and that aspect shouldn’t be taken lightly as Bushcraft mentioned in that other thread.


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[Elkstuffer]

Fantastic goat Josh!!!! I knew you'd get it done. A huge congratulations my friend. Well deserved!!!!!!