Mt. St. Helens Goat

[CNELK]

A few weeks before packing in for my hunt, I had hurt my lower back, which stems from an old injury. It plagues me with excruciating pain and limits my mobility. Leading up to my hunt, many people prayed for me that my back would heal in time. I will never underestimate the power of prayer and faith because my back slowly improved. I was so thankful for the slight improvement because I had put in so much effort and preparation for this moment, not to mention I had friends who had committed time off work to help and a camera guy coming in from another state. My brother-in-law offered to pack in a day earlier, to get some of my dad's stuff in, get our camp set, and pack in some extra water. I have more to mention about the water later in my story. Not feeling 100% with my back, I called my brother and asked if he would be willing to help carry half of my stuff in for me, and I was delighted when he didn't hesitate with “I got you brother”.



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[HntnFsh]

Maybe your brother could finish the story for you too!

[CNELK]

Maybe your brother could finish the story for you too!

Bear with me, I apologize


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[CNELK]

Dad and I spent the first few days in camp before the other guys came in on Tuesday. Unfortunately, on Monday morning, my target goat, William 1, hiked across a nasty canyon and into an area I couldn't access safely. Although the goats on that side of the canyon were in shooting distance, they might as well have been on the moon. I would spend the next day and a half wondering if William 1 would spend his time on the other side of the canyon or find his way back. In the meantime, I had plenty of options and other great-looking goats to keep track of.




I briefly mentioned that we had enough water in camp to last a few days. I had said a few prayers leading up to my hunt that rain would come and replenish our water, but we still decided to conserve what we had. Our water source closest to camp had gone dry about a month before the season opened, which made me concerned, knowing our only water source was a 4-mile round trip from camp. Not only did Jesus answer my prayers, but he gave us an abundance of water in the form of heavy rain.

The heavy rain started on Tuesday, later in the day, around 4 p.m. One of my friends had made it into camp earlier that morning when the weather was still decent. My two other friends started their trek right when the rain started. By the time they made it to camp by 6 p.m., the rain was a complete downpour, and sustained winds of 18 to 20 mph with gusts of 25-28 mph. We quickly helped them settle in, set up their tent, and had some dry firewood so they could get their stove warm and dry off as best as possible. It was getting pretty late in the evening, and well after dark, I still hadn't seen or heard from our camera guy. The last time I got a text message from him was sometime after noon; his plane had just landed at PDX. To give you all a little more of a back story, I had only talked to Jon a few times over the phone and had given him a couple of waypoints so he had an idea of where to park and where our camp was. Other than that, he was going into an area 6 miles in, entirely in the dark, in the worst weather imaginable, in an area he had never been in before, looking for a group of guys he had never met, and not to mention his pack was stuffed with tons of gear for filming, making his pack close to 75 + lbs. It was a quick introduction from all of us, and we all helped Jon get settled in and out of the pouring rain. It would be a long, miserable night for all of us, but I was anxiously waiting for the morning, which was opening day.


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[CNELK]

With a long sleepless night, due to the relentless rain and wind that hammered our tents all night, the morning finally came. The dream I had for 26 years was finally upon me, opening morning with a goat tag in my pocket, in a location I had spent studying and observing these magnificent animals for the last couple of months, was here! When I finally got together and dressed, I took my first steps outside in the hammering rain and wind. It was not a shock when I saw that our visibility due to low cloud cover or fog had us socked in and zero visibility. We promptly hung up two tarps to shield us from the rain, and one of my friends began to build a fire. Determined, he finally got a decent fire going after a few hours. I have to say, having those traps and that fire keeps us in the game all day. With sparse periods of visibility, which gave us a glimmer of hope, we would do our best to weather out this storm. On a positive note, we replenished all our water and then some.

Sticking it out all day paid off. As the day was ending, the storm started to lighten up. The rain was coming and going in brief showers rather than heavy rain, and the cloud cover was opening up with more extended periods of visibility. Much to my surprise, we saw William 1 walking our way from the other side of the canyon, and within a few minutes, he was outside again, about 400 yards away, staring us down! I was not prepared for this at all. I didn't verify it was him until he was on our side, and second, I didn't have my muzzleloader with me all day because of the rain. I had left it behind in my tent to keep it dry. I also figured if the clouds did lift, I would have plenty of time to get my stuff to make a stock on a bedded goat. But that is not what ended up happening. We promptly devised a plan, returned to the tent, got my muzzleloader, loaded it, and went for a stalk on William 1 behind camp, which worked out perfectly because we had plenty of tree cover to help conceal our movement. On our stalk in, I saw him in the same spot I had last seen him. He was about 150-170 yards away, and I set up in the prone position, waiting for him to work his way to his feeding area. After a few minutes of waiting and having a decent crosswind, my mind told me that you have to move up and make a move on him. We got up to close in on him, and he was gone! That was when my worst-case scenario set in; he was working his way back to no man's land but still in a killable spot. I hastily set up in the prone position again, on the canyon's rim as my buddy gave me a range of 200 yards, then 209, 212, 220, and 230. William 1 was gone once again, and no shots were fired.


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