2021 Raffle Mountain Goat Tag!!!

[Karl Blanchard]

Haha love it! Kids are so much more capable than we give them credit for. Good on you for getting him out and pushing him. He will be a beast when he gets bigger.

[actionshooter]

Congrats on the tag!  Always loved seeing your pics and good job dragging the kids along!

[SpicyTacos]

Congratulations. You’re an inspiration. I know you’ll find what you’re looking for up there. Amazing how your father took you up to the mountains as an 8yr old kid and now you’ve got the tag of your dreams. Kudos to your dad. I think all of your posts are top notch.
Good luck Shane.

[shanevg]

One of my goals with this hunt (and honestly in life in general) is to involve my family and kids as much as possible.  I have an 18 month old son (Jubal), 4 year old daughter (Nova), and 6 year old son (Baker.). Both Nova and Baker have been on overnight hunting trips with me in the past, Baker was even along on a successful backcountry bear hunt when he was just 4 years old.  It may sound crazy considering I have a goat tag in my pocket considering the habitat that goats live in, but I really want to involve the kids as much as possible in this hunting experience.  So far that's been 2x scouting trips for Baker and as of this weekend a scouting trip with both Nova and Jubal along as well.

With my wife out of town for 6 days to cheer on her sister at the CrossFit Games, I wanted to find a way into goat country despite having 3 kids in tow.  With the road to the trailhead closed, I packed up our RadRover and hauled all 3 kids to the trailhead:


The smoke from all the eastside fires had moved into our country which thankfully tempered temperatures a bit and made for some interesting lighting for pictures.  I loaded our water, food, bug spray, coats, spotting scope, tripod, and Jubal into our child carrier backpack.  Nova and Baker were to hike the entire way themselves. 





While the hike itself wasn't too bad (3 miles, 1250 feet elevation gain), the big rocky terrain is a lot more difficult for short legs than for full grown adults.  The wildflowers were in full bloom and the terrain was breathtaking as always.





I always make an effort when hiking with kids to help them engage in what they are seeing.  We marvel at God's handiwork, at the different terrain, rocks, mountains, etc. at different elevations and in different areas of the state/country.  We appreciate the different animals that live at 5k+ feet ("glacier spiders" , marmot/pika, ptarmigan/grouse/Rosy finches, cougars/bear/deer/mountain goat, etc.). We thank God for his creation and also appreciate our part as caretakers in creation and the gift of the resources that God provides for us through his creation (specifically meat!)




I had a goal in mind for this hike with a great viewpoint where I very frequently am able to glass up goats and was not disappointed on this day.  We ended up glassing up a small herd of 7 goats and was able to get a few pictures through the PhoneSkope. 




The hike out was slow and truthfully arduous for the kids but the feeling of achievement they had at the end of the hike was priceless.  We had a really fun ride back to the truck and stopped for pizza on the way home.  We got home around 7:30 and they crashed hard and slept in late the next morning.  .

Hunting season is here!  Not sure how much I'll be getting out this month with a wedding in the family but I'm not concerned.  I know this country well and am planning on using September/early October basically as goat scouting while I try to fill my deer, 2x bear, and ideally cougar tags.  Hopefully I can locate a great billy or two by the time November rolls around!

[elkrack]

Pretty dang epic! 

[Ironhead]

Awesome, the kids look like they are having a blast too.

[trophyhunt]

So fricken cool, dad of the year award for sure!!!!

[Rainier10]

So fricken cool, dad of the year award for sure!!!!

[elkrack]

!

[Jpmiller]

There are days taking all three of my kids to the store is daunting lol good on you for taking them out like that. That's alot of planning and a huge sacrifice on the productivity of a scouting trip but I'm positive it'll benefit your kiddos in the long term.

[Timberstalker]

That's so awesome.  Such great memories for all of you.

[Bushcraft]

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS Shane!!!

Keep us posted on your hunt of a lifetime.

[pianoman9701]

I can't wait to see the culmination of your efforts, Shane!

[MountainTracker]

I made it out on my first scouting trip this past weekend.  My 6 year old son Baker and my 4 year old daughter Nova really want to be involved in this hunt as much as possible.  Realistically I can't foresee them getting out with me when I'm actually hunting so I'm making an effort to have them both with me on scouting trips as much as possible.  Baker is quite the hiker and was all in on a scouting trip this weekend.  We hit one of the common goat hunting areas around Baker (I'm sure a lot of you will recognize the area based on pictures) and Baker hiked the entire way into the heart of goat country.  I did put him in my Kifaru pack for the final 150 foot snow field to the ridge top as it was just too steep for him to safely navigate on his own. 

More photos always available on my website: https://www.lonegoatmedia.com/Hunting/2021-Washington/

Here's a video of a past hunter in this area.  Around 5:30 mark of the video you can see how I get down the snowfield when I don't have a kid with me. 

The weekend was a huge success.  I do hope to put together a full video recap of the day but for now some pictures will have to do:

Mt. Baker goat country!


Bug nets were definitely needed this weekend. 



This country never gets old!



Baker was having the time of his life!


Getting tired on the final ascent:


Some ptarmigan were a great distraction.  (Baker REALLY wanted to pet one!)
(Notice 2x ptarmigan, one on left of trail one on right.)



Successful summit!


Goat country:




Ended up spotting a nursery herd of 60 goats:

Total trip was 8 miles with 2250 feet elevation gain.

Don’t know how I didn’t see this post. Congrats on the tag. This is by far one of my favorite hikes. Good thinking on the mosquito net that first part in the trees is a killer with those bugs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bearpaw]

Job well done dad! Lifetime memories for everyone involved!