Alaska Winter Mountain Goat Hunt! Just gonna send it!!!!!

[BULLBLASTER]

Frozen guns are no fun!...

Ask me how I know... 

[Karl Blanchard]

With frozen muskeg and no rain top on, we were cranking out the paces on our way to the goats.  From two miles away we could see 3 nannies and 2 kids and then a separate group of 3 which we thought at the time were billies. The plan was pretty simple.  Run the alder tangles until we were below them and then start climbing until we got close enough to make a comfortable shot.  Up, up, and up we went.  We lost sight of our 3 goats for a while but as we peeled around a rock ledge they came into view. I took a range and the Leica told me 570 yards.  We crept closer another 20 yards until we had some contour to shoot off of as the slope was almost vertical.  We did the math, dialed for 440 yards.  Wind was gonna be a 2 minute hold left to right.  We settled in and began to size up our quarry.  This is where some mixed emotions set in.  I wanted a Billy, but more than that I wanted February hair so I wasnt apposed to killing a nanny especially since F&G urged us to use a tag or two on nannies as the goat population is over carrying capacity for the landscape.  At first glance I assumed we had a group of 3 billies.  They were away from the nanny/kid group, mine had a dirty rump spot, and moments before I shot I watched her stretch out just like a Billy looks when he takes a leak.  The horns and face told me otherwise though.  This was a group of 3 nannies. 

Decision time.  Pass on these goats and continue our search or go for birds in hand?  Our lone low Billy from a few days before had disappeared, weather forecast was saying that realistically we would have one more good day of weather (boy did that hold true), and we had exhausted our huntable/glassable terrain within a 5 mile stretch.  We both agreed we wanted winter hair more than anything so we made peace with killing nannies and got ready for our shots.....

[Ghost Hunter]

Frozen guns are no fun!...

Ask me how I know... 

Yup, a frozen bolt under the armpit while staring at your quarry.    

[PlateauNDN]

Frozen guns are no fun!...

Ask me how I know... 

Yup, a frozen bolt under the armpit while staring at your quarry.    

  Wait...so you guys don't sleep naked with your rifles in the tent? Ummm...yeah, me neither...

 

Great story so far Karl.

[trophyhunt]

No regerts!  Epic adventure!

[BULLBLASTER]

Frozen guns are no fun!...

Ask me how I know... 

Yup, a frozen bolt under the armpit while staring at your quarry.    

I jetboiled my rifle.    mine was ice in the chamber. Couldn’t chamber a round. Cost me a nice buck.

[Karl Blanchard]

The goat Michael wanted was bedded so the plan was I would shoot first and then when his stood he would torch off a round.  Not naming names but someone forgot their bipod we had ditched our packs back by the rocks so I had to get creative with my rest.  I took off my bino harness off and propped it in the snow.  I tucked my forearm under my buttstock and settled in.  She took a big long stretch (exactly like a Billy takes a leak) and turns broadside. 

At the shot I lost her momentarily from the recoil of the rifle, but as I came back into the scope I see a goat, upside down, falling through the air! Ok well I guess I made a good shot I get on Michael's goat right as he touches off and he rocked her through both shoulders! She fell down to the next ledge, tried to get up but Michael had another round on it's way in an incredibally short amount of time! She was dead right there. We had just doubled on freaking mountain goats

I continue to suck at pictures and video.  I took literally 6 pics on the hunt.  I did shoot a lot of little videos so I've been taking screen shots from those.  This was  a post kill vid where we were trying to point out the dead goats.  Epic fail

[Boss .300 winmag]

That’s better than a double rainbow.🤣👍

[jasnt]

Nice work and good shooting. Bet your glad to be home.   Those teepees are great. Haven’t put mine through that kind of weather but it’s taken a beating and just keeps going.

[Karl Blanchard]

We soaked in the moment a bit, but there was work to be done and the clock was ticking down till dark.  We dropped back to our packs, strapped on the crampons and began our grind up to the goats.  We were about 50 yards into our ascent when Michael tells "heads up!" I look up to see a ball of white fur sliding 30mph right for us she goes screaming past us and with a swoosh she shoots off the ledge and into the alders far below.  Well that's one way to get them down the mountain.  We continue the climb up the shoot and finally get to my goat.  She is tangled in the alders above a ledge on an impossibly steep slope.  With no way to work on her there (or anywhere up there) we come to the conclusion that we gotta give her a kick and send her on the same path as Michael's.  "1...2...3...push!" She flips, slides 2ft and snags the next alder down well *censored* haha.  The next shove though and watch out! They ended up almost next to each other over 600 yards down the mountain from where they died.  We took some pics and some video and then got to work. 

[Karl Blanchard]

A short drag put them on a nice work bench with a killer view.  We boned out Michael's first.  We couldn't bring ourselves to chop the Cape for a mount so we skinned them both for rugs

[Karl Blanchard]

After Michael's was all bagged up we took mine apart.

[Karl Blanchard]

Randoms of my wee little baby brother

[Karl Blanchard]

With both goats taken care of we rolled up hides and heads, dropped meat bags in packs and headed off the mtn and back for camp.  The muskeg was no longer frozen and we picked a terrible line back to camp and man were the alders terrible again. 

[Timberstalker]

Awesome! Thanks for taking us along!