GOAT ROCKS BILLIE DOWN! long story and lots of pics

[DeerThug]

I finally got to embark on my once in a lifetime Mountain Goat hunt.  We left on Thursday and arrived at the trailhead late by late afternoon.  As we increased in elevation, the temperature steadily dropped and it began to drizzle.  We made it to where we were going to set up camp just after dark.  As soon as we stopped hiking we all froze and could hardly get the tents set up.  We struggled to get a fire going and managed to dry out before bedding down.  I was not optimistic of having any visibility the following morning, but when the sun came up only the peaks were fogged in.  We started up the trail to find my goat but it was too cloudy.  Five minutes up the trail Matthew spotted a bear across the valley.  Two of the boys had never tagged a bear, so I handed my rifle to them and off they went. As they closed the gap to 350 yards, the bear was moving a lot.  Without a good rest and having a foggy scope, it was a matter of minutes before it disappeared into thick brush.  It was exciting to sit up on the ridge and watch as they worked the situation, but they could not seal the deal - no bear.  We continued up the ridge and into the next basin that was still in the clouds.  Finally about 10 o’clock they started to dissipate and we spotted several herds from a distance.  Most were nannies with kids, but one group contained 6 billies. Since we had not found the goat we had previously scouted, we decided these billies were worth a look.  After a treacherous hike across several snow fields we were 200 yards from the billies.  A few tense minutes of discussion yielded a group consensus that they were all too small.  Just as the last billie disappeared beyond the skyline, Tanner said that he had spotted the big boy on his cliff about two miles from our location.   Sure enough, he was right where we left him three weeks earlier.    He was on the side of the basin where we had just come from, but must have been hidden by the clouds earlier.  It took about 3 hours to get back around the ridge across the rugged snow fields.  Bradlee and Matthew stayed high on the ridge, but I could not make it that way so Tanner, Jeff and I separated and circled lower.  You guessed it, five minutes later Bradlee and Matthew spotted the goat just above them on the ridge, meaning we would have to tackle treacherous terrain anyway.  Luckily he was bedded and by the time I found a way up he was still there.  Tanner and Jeff decided to wait and watch from below.  Bradlee and Matthew had him ranged at 170 yards and confirmed he was the goat we were after.   He was in the perfect place for a sure shot that would allow us to retrieve him and keep him from getting torn up.  I got into position and began to wait.  We waited so long that we convinced Jeff and Tanner to make the climb and join us.  It took him about 45 minutes to finally stand up.  I settled on his shoulder and shot.  We saw the bullet hit and he stood there for a second and turned the other direction.  Jeff said to hit him again.  I put a second shot into his other shoulder and he took one step and went down.   He rolled several times down the slope and stopped just before going over a small cliff.  As Bradlee said, “Perfect!”  My once in a life time trophy was on the ground.  He was 9 ½ inches, good bases and a good hide.  We were able to get him off of the ridge and down to the trail right at dark.  It took another 45 minutes to get back to camp.  We were greeted by a big fire at camp started by the archery elk hunters that we shared a spot with.

This was truly an epic adventure from the first scouting trip to the last step back at the trail head.  It was great to hike many miles and spend a lot time with Matthew and my buddies.  I also got to see some great country.  It was a hunt that took planning, research, physical challenges and luck.

I am very grateful that I was drawn before I got too much older and most of all that no one got hurt, besides a few good bruises.

I want to thank Jason and the other guys from here for all of the help and the elk hunters for the fire.
Most of all I could not have done this without Matthew, Jeff, Bradlee and Tanner.  Thanks guys – another fantastic hunt and adventure in the books.

Here is a link to a cool video – I think if you copy and paste it into another tab it will work.  Turn up the sound and listen carefully.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=220763771312086#

[DOUBLELUNG]

Right on 

[shanevg]

Great job!  I've been waiting for this post for the last two days now, glad to finally seethe pictures!!!  Looks like a great goat, did you get a chance to rough score him?  I would love to hear how close I was on my estimate - I am definitely still fine tuning my field scoring skills! 

You got a great tag (arguably one of the best in WA) and made the most of the hunt!  I'm glad you could share it with your friends and family and glad you could share the experience with us!  Again congrats!  Hope you enjoyed every second of it because you probably will never top that one! 

[Widgeondeke]

nice write up and thx for sharing the pics

[Lunchbox1981]

Congrats.  What a great story and hunt.  Looks and sounds like it was a very good time had by all.  Again Congrats on a beauty.

[carpsniperg2]

Congrats and thanks for sharing it looks like a great goat

[PacificNWhunter]

Nice goat!

[jamesjett]

Congrats! Thanks for sharing!

[BOWHUNTER45]

right on ....group efford , sounds like everyone enjoyed the experience  Nice Goat !!!!

[NWBREW]

Very nice, Thanks for sharing that.

[firefighter4607]

Congrats nice Goat!!!!

[Skyvalhunter]

congrats on the goat, looks like you had fun with the Motley crew.

[Huntboy]

Nice story, congrat's on the Goat.

[JPhelps]

Victor,

That hunt looks like it was an EPIC adventure shared with friends and family .  I'm still kicking myself for not being able to make it.

[Jason]

Congrats on a nice Goat!