Post by: RB on November 16, 2016, 01:49:22 PM
Post by: 180-GRAIN on November 16, 2016, 02:05:24 PM
Post by: grundy53 on November 16, 2016, 02:23:00 PM
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Post by: Southpole on November 16, 2016, 02:29:21 PM
Post by: bowhunterforever on November 16, 2016, 02:32:29 PM
Post by: HighCountryHunter88 on November 16, 2016, 02:37:30 PM
Post by: hollymaster on November 16, 2016, 02:48:25 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on November 16, 2016, 09:28:00 PM
Post by: fishngamereaper on November 16, 2016, 10:05:56 PM
Post by: zoorda on November 16, 2016, 11:24:37 PM
Post by: RB on November 16, 2016, 11:51:58 PM
These mountains are out all the time and I enjoy having them in my backyard. After reading the posts from last year’s adventure by Zoorda it made me want the tag even more. It took a few days for it to really sink in that I had actually drawn an OIL tag. There are three mountains in the unit, Whitehorse, Bullon, and Three Fingers.
Whitehorse is where last year’s Goat was taken and what an incredible story of how it came about, I read that post multiple times and gleaned as much as I could from it. After a few PM’s with Zoorda and talking with several friends, and other local’s that have knowledge of these mountains, I decided to put my energy into Three fingers for my hunt.
This picture is taken about one mile from my place and see this mountain often
Post by: RB on November 16, 2016, 11:59:54 PM
Picture taken from the Arlington airport. The mountain with snow on it is Three Fingers, the peak to the left is Mount Bullon, the Peak to the far left is Whitehorse.
Post by: RB on November 17, 2016, 12:04:55 AM
Did ya buy a lotto ticket too?!? :yike:
Probably should have this has been an epic year! :tup:
Post by: RB on November 17, 2016, 12:06:43 AM
Been looking forward to this.
Kinda figured you would like to hear about this :)
Post by: Skyvalhunter on November 17, 2016, 05:48:44 AM
Post by: Gringo31 on November 17, 2016, 09:04:40 AM
Post by: X-Force on November 17, 2016, 12:52:09 PM
Post by: whacker1 on November 17, 2016, 12:52:41 PM
Post by: 2MANY on November 17, 2016, 01:07:05 PM
Post by: RB on November 17, 2016, 11:12:12 PM
After talking with a guy who knows a guy who has a friend that goes up to that area quite often I heard that people were driving up close to the trail head and the road was passable. I drove up to investigate and found that indeed there was enough room to drive up the road and it was in really rough shape! I never had to use four wheel drive, but I think I bruised a kidney on all the huge pot holes in the road.
In the end I was able to make it to a washout that was impassable for my truck. If I had a Jeep I could have drove right to the trail head. The washout was two miles from the trailhead which was way better than 10 miles. I found this in July, but due to being short handed at work (mandatory OT) and a huge family road trip to Wyoming in August I would not make it back to this spot until early September.
Post by: Skyvalhunter on November 18, 2016, 05:30:50 AM
Post by: mtndew on November 18, 2016, 07:39:28 AM
Post by: 2MANY on November 18, 2016, 09:54:43 AM
LOL
Post by: RB on November 18, 2016, 10:30:31 PM
Show me a WA trail head that doesn't have a Subaru parked at it!!!
LOL
No doubt! Lots of Subies up there, one day there was an Audi A4 parked there, but almost every time I got up there a Jeep was parked at the trail head. That is how I was able to get to the washout the local Jeep crowd made it happen :)
Post by: RB on November 18, 2016, 10:34:20 PM
I felt very strongly that I would draw this tag this year. Just had a gut feeling that my 18 points would pay off for me. I was genuinely surprised to see that I didn't draw it. The disappointment was tempered by drawing a moose tag. I will be following this post with great anticipation!
I had 20 points and had put in about 4-5 times (can't remember it has been so long) prior to points, so i figured it was about 25 years to draw. If you draw PM me :)
Post by: RB on November 19, 2016, 10:52:53 AM
So here are the maps I used, and add two miles to all the distances due to washout.
Post by: RB on November 19, 2016, 11:04:16 AM
The plan was to have someone go with but due to my schedule it just did not work out and I did this entire hunt solo, so I picked up a Delorme in reach and was very thankful to have it!
Post by: RB on November 19, 2016, 12:55:13 PM
The day was overcast and raining hard the Kuiu rain gear worked good, but I was sweating so much from the hike it did not help much. About four hours in the rain let up and was able to dry off a bit. After finally getting to Goat Flats there were several good tent sites, so it was easy to set up camp. When camp was done it was time to glass!
Post by: RB on November 19, 2016, 01:03:16 PM
I found multiple Goats in this area including a nice Billy
Post by: RB on November 19, 2016, 01:10:13 PM
Post by: cbond3318 on November 19, 2016, 01:15:41 PM
Post by: Timberstalker on November 19, 2016, 02:37:02 PM
Post by: Falcon on November 20, 2016, 08:11:06 PM
Post by: elkrack on November 20, 2016, 09:04:38 PM
Post by: fish vacuum on November 21, 2016, 02:09:27 AM
Post by: RB on November 23, 2016, 07:52:36 PM
After I returned from my scouting trip it was very apparent I needed to change a few small things, one of them being my pants. I was given a pair of Sitka wind stopper fleece pants by a buddy a couple years ago and had been using them for Deer/Elk hunting. The problem with these was on the way in and out they were just too hot and pardon the too much information, but when I got home my inner legs looked and felt like I had taken a belt sander to them!
After looking around I settled on a pair of Sitka Mountain pants and they are the best hunting pants I have ever owned! They worked flawlessly on the Goat hunt and for my late Buck tag as well.
Here are a couple pictures of the gear I took for the hunt. I originally planned for six days. Taking two Mountain House for each day (breakfast and dinner) and four cliff bars for each day to keep the weight down. Water was not a problem because there were several small lakes around, and I just took a 10 liter filter bag to hang by camp and carried a two liter camel back for the trip in and out. When it was put together my pack weighed in at 60 pounds.
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 12:19:05 AM
The September date just seemed right, and I am very glad I picked these dates. The day I took off for the mountain was a Wednesday and the plan was if a Goat could not be had by Tuesday I would return. The weather was absolutely spectacular, blue sky sun and mild temperature. To say I was happy was an understatement, out of bed before the alarm, dressed, breakfast eaten, and on the road.
My happiness soon faded when I arrived to the bridge leading to the trailhead and a sign was posted by the forest service that read "This road will be bouldered and closed indefinitely Monday morning at 9AM" This left me with only Thursday, Friday, Saturday to hunt because it would take a day to get in and a day to get out. My mind raced with what would happen if I could not get one down, or if they changed their mind and bouldered the road a day or two early. Even this could not make me stop and it did not stop others as well, there was one other vehicle at the washout, and another arrived before setting off for the trail.
Knowing I could not stay as long as planned I went through my pack and tossed out half my food and a couple other items to lighten the load, and headed for the trail. About 30 or so minutes in I noticed my legs sure seemed to be sweating a lot in my new Sitka pants. It was not until two miles in when the mystery of the overly sweaty legs was solved. Somehow during the shuffle and excitement of getting up the trail the hose to my camelback had pulled loose and two liters of water had leaked down my pack into my pack cover (that holds water really nice), over my sleeping bag and down the back of my legs!
Well crap! so tossed my pack took the rain cover off dumped out the excess water in it, repositioned the camelback and reconnected the hose, and checked my sleeping bag, it appeared ok but was fairly wet along with my pants. About an hour or so later made a pit stop and refilled the camelback from a nice little stream along the trail.
The half way point is approximately Saddle Lake and the map showed a shelter, this intrigued me and figured I would check it out and see if it would be a good place to fall back to if the weather were to change for the worse. By the time I arrived to the shelter my Sitka pants were nearly dry which was a welcome relief. The shelter is really rough and the ground in it is uneven, so it is not a good place to stay, although it would do in a pinch rather than stay in the complete open.
On the way up there were two guys heading down, they had parked at the trail head the night before, in their Jeep, to stay in the lookout, they said there was one more person up the trail and she was going to spend the night at Goat Flats, so looks like company at Goat camp. Arrived about 1:30 in the afternoon after taking about six hours to get in again, about six miles or so from my truck. Set up camp and got the glass out to start looking for Goats.
About five minutes in there was a white blob that moved and a Nanny with kid started working their way down toward camp. I sat and watched them for over an hour as they fed closer, this time though I had brought a Phoneskope and was able to get a few pictures through my spotting scope. As the daylight started to fade the sunset over the straights was spectacular and was able to get a couple cool pictures, have some chow and off to bed.
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 12:22:24 AM
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 12:25:30 AM
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 10:17:39 AM
It only takes about eight minutes for the mountain house to be done and in that amount of time several Goats could be seen from camp towards the top of ridge about half a mile or more in a straight line. I took care of business and breakfast loaded my pack and headed out to check out the ones I could see and look for a Billy.
It took an hour or so to get into a position to get an ok look with the spotting scope and snap a couple pictures. Ultimately there was four Goats on the ridge and one was a dandy Billy. Range finder would only get close by ranging a rock down from the Billy and it was over 600 yards, WAY to far for me.
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 10:34:44 AM
Luck was with me in the beginning and a small band of clouds covered the ridge the Goats were on for an hour or so to give me some cover. When I was finally in position the lower three Goats did look my way but did not get up and the big Billy just lay there eating and then closing his eyes to sleep for a bit.
As I moved further up the rocks the lower three became visibly nervous, so I stopped and sat for a bit. While crouched behind some rocks I started to look for a good shooting spot and settled on a small area about 50 yards ahead of me. After getting the spotting scope set up I was able to snap a picture of the Billy and range him at 331 yards.
This still seemed a bit far, but some practice at the range had showed my rifle was capable (.300 Winmag with 180 grain Nosler Partitions) and the point of aim inside the scope was known.
After everything was set up the wait was on for the Billy to stand. In the 30 or so minutes crouched behind the rocks a million questions flowed though my mind including am I too far, should I move up, should I have stalked from a different spot etc.
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 11:01:24 AM
Having had nearly an hour to find a shooting rest I felt ready and got into position, ranged him agin still at 331 yards pretty much straight up. He was facing me and did not present well with a shot so waited for a better angle. He turned and presented with a great broadside shot, so I lined up and BOOM!
After the shot the other three Goats bounced up and stood looking down at me and the big Billy just stood there! He chewed his cud a couple times looked around a bit and started feeding again MISSED! Lining up again made sure cross hairs were dead on squeezed the trigger BOOM! the other three moved up towards the big Billy, who was still standing there looking down towards the other three and chewing his cud MISSED!
Taking a deep breath I repositioned and made absolutely sure I had a good rest and point of aim was good as the Billy still just stood there broadside. Final round in the rifle BOOM! absolutely ZERO reaction from the Billy no hair flying, no blood, not so much as a twitch! He just slowly lowered his head and fed away from me towards a bush and casually kept feeding behind a small bush.
I could not believe I had missed this Billy three times! I repositioned and watched him for about 40 minutes feed and could clearly see both sides of him when he turned but he never presented a clear shot again and showed zero indication of any sort of hit from my bullets. Plus the other three Goats milled in around him and kept a watchful eye on me the entire time so another stalk was out of the question.
Post by: cumminsbassguy on November 24, 2016, 11:04:03 AM
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 12:20:04 PM
As I sat and pondered how to get after him again the decision was to stay put for a bit re-group have lunch and hydrate to continue up the ridge and find another way. There were only eight rounds left in my pack, so I best make the next shot count!
After wallowing in my own self pity for a bit I gathered up my stuff and was getting ready to move up when I caught some movement to my right (the big Billy was to the left) and holy cow there was a fifth Goat! The spotting scope was put away but my range finder was handy and ranged it at 200 yards, but it was standing on top of a shear cliff wall that went down about 100 feet. It stayed there long enough for me to get my spotting scope out and take a look, sure enough it was a Billy and looked decent.
Plans changed lets see what this Billy does was the thought going through my head, but he turned and went over the far side of the peak he was on and was gone. Well ok guess back to plan A head up the ridge. I had only gone about 100 yards when the Goat to the right popped out at the bottom of the cliff this time and was walking towards me!
Binoculars up looked at it and yup it was the Billy that was just up top. I looked down for one second to get a better footing to step up and then looked back to the spot where the Billy was and there he was GONE! How in the world did he just vanish into thin air?? Evidently there was a dip and he had stepped into it the second I looked away because as soon as I was no longer in a shooting position he appeared again.
This Billy only let me look at him for a few seconds and by the way he was positioned he was going to walk right in front of me on his way to join the other Goats on the ridge above me. I quickly set up and waited about two minutes and sure enough he stepped out from behind the rocks and started walking broadside from right to left in front of me. Rangefinder up locked on 127 yards!
I settled in and soon as he crossed in front of my sight BOOM! Hair flew off his back and I could see blood. He stood there looked at me and tried to move forward quickly but my second round was already going down range BOOM! Blood spray on the rocks, ok he is hit hard now. Put my third round in the chamber as he stumbles and skids to a stop at the base of a rock, BILLY GOAT DOWN!
After lots of hoots and hollers I set off after him (remember 127 yards) it took nearly 30 minutes to finally get to him due to the steepness of the rocks!
Post by: elkboy on November 24, 2016, 12:45:16 PM
Post by: Falcon on November 24, 2016, 12:45:35 PM
Congrats on a great billy and truly an adventure in some rough country. Loved the write up and great pics. Memories that will last forever :tup:
Post by: dreadi on November 24, 2016, 12:59:04 PM
Post by: JoeE on November 24, 2016, 01:09:37 PM
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 01:23:33 PM
Set everything out and began butchering by making a cut down the back to skin the entire hide off of him. I was not one hundred percent sure what I was going to do for a mount yet and after talking with my taxidermist it was decided to skin for a full mount then decide since hide could not be added later, but could be cut away. It took quite a while to get the first half off boned out and put in bags, then roll over and get the other half of the meat off and finally the rest of the hide. One of the hardest parts was doing this on a steep slope.
I was so engrossed with cutting I did not notice the clouds and fog that rolled in until visibility was only few feet! It was then I realized my exit plan would not work due to the steepness, weight of my pack, and now not being able to see more than about 100 feet. I fired up my GPS and knew the trail was down the other side of the ridge I came up so I hauled everything to the top. My idea was to leave the pack (which was around 90 pounds) and pick my way down the rocks to the trail in the fog with rifle and GPS in hand. I wanted to make sure I could get to the trail and not burn excess energy if I could not easily get to it.
As I made my way through the fog the trail showed on my screen and was not too far in front of me, but the fog was really thick and visibility was still about 50-100 feet depending on the wind gust. Thankfully my GPS was spot on and I was able to safely get to the trail, so back up the hill I went to get my pack. I was running low on gas so a quick snack and more hydration then on with the pack and down the rocks to the trail.
When I finally reached the trail it was nearly on cue the clouds parted and it was clear and sunny again! As I made my way back to camp lots of emotions started to flood over me (mostly due to fatigue) but sense of pride, accomplishment and thankfulness for such an amazing day. When I reached camp off came the pack and a quick celebratory shot of whiskey from my flask before taking the meat bags out to cool and get ready for dinner.
I think I sent a text to most of the world from my Delorme InReach while I had dinner in the dark then off to bed.
Post by: X-Force on November 24, 2016, 01:25:04 PM
Post by: hunting4sanity on November 24, 2016, 01:52:13 PM
Doing this alone and coming out with a great goat has got to be as satisfying as it was exhausting.
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 01:56:52 PM
I finally settled on loading as much as I could into/onto my pack and what did not fit would go into a big trash bag and hand carried. Daylight came and I was not moving very fast, but knew it had to get done, so up and at it. The worst part was it had clouded up in the night cooled way down and was raining hard! After breakfast I walked over to use the pit toilet and on my way back notice a giant pile of Bear poop about 50 yards from camp time to go!
I have carried some heavy loads before, but this one took the cake. My trash bag had probably 30 pounds of gear in it and my pack was busting at the seams! Down the trail I went! Made it about 100 yards and had to switch hands with the trash bag. As I walked my arms began to fatigue between using my rifle as a trekking pole and caring the trash bag, so I set a goal make it to Saddle Lake with the bag and regroup there.
To say it was slow going would be a gross miss understatement, but I was making progress. After reaching Saddle Lake I dropped my pack and added a few layers to warm up, hydrate, have a snack, and stash my trash bag to retrieve in a couple days. Grunt and groan to pack up again and down the trail for the truck.
When I reached the trail head mild hypothermia was setting in, but I knew there was only two miles to go. I have to say the last two miles were the worst even walking on a smooth gravel road. I finally reached my truck nine hours after I had left my camp. I dropped the tailgate and heaved my pack into the back, and almost fell face first onto the ground.
I did it! Solo backpack into the wilderness shot a Goat and made it out. I changed my thermal top and added a layer before getting into the truck because I was shivering pretty hard. Down the mountain headed for home and a warm meal, and hot shower
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 02:27:40 PM
I made it to my taxidermist (shameless plug for Fidalgo Taxidermy :chuckle: ) and after quite a bit of deliberation I decided on a half mount. The taxidermist did a quick measurement for me and my Billy was 8 1/2 on the right and 8 3/4 on the left, I did not ask about diameter. Also he was estimated at six years old.
Home to finish wrapping the rest of the meat and gathering equipment for the next day to go retrieve the rest of my gear!
Post by: RB on November 24, 2016, 08:21:05 PM
I arrived to find three rigs at the washout and ran into four people on the trail. It is amazing how fast I was able to make it to saddle lake with an empty pack :chuckle: plus this time I did not have my rifle just my 45 tucked under my arm. I have not used trekking poles much, but those things are awesome.
I made it to my stash and thankfully it was all there, snapped a few pictures, had a quick celebratory shot of whiskey out of my flask and bombed down the mountain for the truck. When I arrived to my truck there were two more rigs and one of the others was gone. On my way out I did not pass another rig until almost to the bridge and a sheriff was on his way up. I stopped and told him I was on my way out and he thanked me for heading out and warned me about the coming road closer and asked why I was up there. When I told him why I was up there he thought that was really cool and wanted to see pictures. We chatted for a bit and we parted ways so he could check on the other rigs up the road.
If I could do this hunt again I would do it tomorrow!
Post by: Ridgerunner on November 24, 2016, 08:31:03 PM
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Post by: ShaneTyTrey on November 24, 2016, 08:37:53 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on November 24, 2016, 10:14:21 PM
Congrats, what an awesome adventure, thanks for sharing!
:yeah:
Someday I might draw the goat tag. Until this happens I'll just live in the stories of others great hunts. :tup:
Post by: hunting4sanity on November 24, 2016, 11:17:21 PM
Post by: lokidog on November 25, 2016, 12:10:55 AM
Post by: Timberstalker on November 25, 2016, 12:24:30 AM
Post by: cbond3318 on November 25, 2016, 06:43:15 AM
Post by: SuperDave on November 25, 2016, 08:44:35 AM
Post by: RB on November 25, 2016, 09:05:12 AM
Post by: DaleVR on November 25, 2016, 09:41:13 AM
Post by: Brushcrawler on November 25, 2016, 10:14:09 AM
Post by: fishngamereaper on November 25, 2016, 10:33:08 AM
Post by: jackelope on November 25, 2016, 11:36:23 AM
:tup:
Post by: elkrack on November 27, 2016, 10:05:50 AM
Post by: trophyhunt on November 27, 2016, 10:26:06 AM
Post by: bearpaw on November 27, 2016, 10:35:08 AM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on November 27, 2016, 10:38:29 AM
Post by: jeffitz on November 27, 2016, 12:22:08 PM
Post by: RB on November 27, 2016, 02:39:07 PM
Congrats Ryan!!! Thanks for sharing
My name is not Ryan, but I'll take the nice compliment, thank you :)
Post by: CaNINE on November 27, 2016, 03:51:06 PM
Post by: teanawayslayer on November 27, 2016, 06:02:10 PM
Post by: Muleyslyr on November 27, 2016, 08:45:26 PM
Post by: grundy53 on November 28, 2016, 06:29:58 AM
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Post by: Southpole on November 28, 2016, 07:04:46 AM
I'm serious... and quit calling me Shirley!Congrats Ryan!!! Thanks for sharing
My name is not Ryan, but I'll take the nice compliment, thank you :)
Post by: Duckhunter14 on November 28, 2016, 09:14:13 AM
Clint
Post by: Tschaefer72 on November 28, 2016, 10:26:36 AM
Post by: RB on November 28, 2016, 09:21:41 PM
I'm serious... and quit calling me Shirley!Congrats Ryan!!! Thanks for sharing
My name is not Ryan, but I'll take the nice compliment, thank you :)
hahaha awesome! :chuckle:
Post by: boneaddict on November 28, 2016, 09:35:03 PM
Post by: blacktailer on November 28, 2016, 09:58:49 PM
Post by: Yakirack on November 29, 2016, 12:27:26 PM
Post by: RB on December 08, 2016, 02:01:21 PM
Post by: Southpole on December 08, 2016, 02:07:43 PM
Post by: iflyils on December 13, 2016, 06:07:19 AM
Post by: addicted on July 23, 2018, 05:42:36 PM