September 2005 Alpine Mountain Goat Hunt

Alpine Mountain Goat Hunt
September 2005

Day 0 We climbed onboard the 206 and headed out hoping for good weather. Terry is from Michigan and was looking forward to the hunt. After landing, we went through our gear and packed for 2-4 days of hunting.
01-206_departure.jpg	02-ready_for_the_hunt.jpg
We stored our extra gear and started the climb. After a few hours, we located a good spot to camp. After setting up camp, we climbed up the large ridge behind camp and glassed for goats. The fog moved up and blocked some of our view, but we were able to see one Billy up on a cliff, across the large bowl, and above us. After we climbed down to camp, I cooked up a tasty meal and we hit the sack.
03-the_climb.jpg	04-camp.jpg
Day 1 We got up before light. I got something to eat while Terry enjoyed his morning coffee. We started the steep climb.
05-ridge_to_goats.jpg	06-rest_stop.jpg
The weather was holding nicely as we crested the ridge. Unfortunately, the Billy wasn't on the cliff where he was the night before, so we continued glassing. All of the sudden, Terry whispers, "There's one!" and he pointed downward. Sure enough, there a goat stood - out in the middle of the huge bowl, below us. I busted out the spotting scope and took a look. I said that it was at least an 8" Billy and a shooter. I had Terry take a look. We talked about how we could make the stalk and how close he needed to be. Terry decided that we should give it a try. Luckily, the goat bedded down - facing away. We slipped and slid down the steep grass and moss as quietly as we could until we reached the rocks. We then made our way up on top of an old moraine ridge full of huge rocks and worked along it's edge. We crossed several tough spots and finally spotted him feeding his way up and away from us. He was still at 370 yards, so we continued to slowly work our way in his direction. We got close to a spot that looked good and I motioned for Terry to move ahead and get set up. I set up the video camera in hopes that I could capture the moment. Terry set up at 198 yards and made an excellent first shot. I called it a good hit behind the shoulder although the goat hardly flinched. It started slowly moving up the hill and he put one more out there, but it was a little high. He opened his custom .30-06 Merkel side-by-side and put another 165 Hornady SST in the right barrel and hit him one more time in the chest stopping his upward movement. After another minute, the goat fell over, and that was it.
07-getting_ready.jpg	08-the_shot.jpg
We retrieved our packs and headed over to see Terry's goat. The big Billy was a beautiful sight to walk up on. He measured 9-1/2" with 5" bases - a trophy in anyone's book. Terry was very pleased and smiled brightly for some great pics...
09-terry_n_goat.jpg	10-uphill_goat.jpg
After lots of pictures, we began the task of skinning and boning his once-in-a-lifetime trophy. Terry decided that he would definitely like to do a life-sized mount and that he would carry the whole hide back to camp. I told him that he did not have to carry it if he didn't want to... Several hours later we were headed across the boulder bowl. Then, the big climb up the large ridge between us and camp. My pack was fairly heavy - maybe 120#. Definitely not a pack load for uphill climbs, but here we were...climbing a very steep mountain. I made it back to camp first, changed my socks, and headed back up to meet Terry at the bottom of the ridge. He was looking a little worn out, so I offered to take the hide for the short walk back to camp. We arrived back at camp around 6:00 pm. It was too late to make the lake before dark, and we were pretty tired, anyway. I whipped us up some dinner and we crashed fairly early.
11-back_at_camp.jpg
Day 2 The next morning, we got up early and packed everything up. The weather wasn't too bad until just as we were leaving - the fog started moving in...
12-clouds_n_fog_moving_in.jpg
We slowly worked our way down. The packs were extra heavy, but at least most of it was downhill. We made it down around 10 am and the fog started burning off. After about an hour of no fog, I called for a pickup.
13-socked_in_on _the_way_down.jpg	14-finally_back.jpg
The plane flew over us at 12:30 pm. I talked with the pilot on the VHF and he said that the exit was blocked and that he couldn't see enough to fly us out. He said that he could land, but wouldn't be able to climb out without being able to see past the exit. He circled for awhile until he got low on fuel. The fog still hadn't cleared, so we thanked him for hanging out for so long and he headed out. Day 3 We woke to a decent morning, but it got worse. We talked with Ward Air and they said that the weather was going to be bad for a few days. After a while, Terry got a little chilled and decided to build a fire. It was raining pretty hard and most of the wood was wet, but we managed to get it going. Terry warmed up next to the fire while I worked on pulling the feet out and turning the ears & lips. Around lunchtime, we got out some of Terry's goat loin to cook over the fire. We added a little seasoning and wow, what a treat!
15-terry_n_roasted_loin.jpg	16-shawn_n_fire.jpg
Terry crashed early while I worked on packing up some of the gear and finishing the goat. I whipped up some mac & cheese and gave Terry a bowl in the tent. He was quite surprised, but very thankful for something warm to eat. I crawled in the tent and hit the sack. The rain came down all night, and the wind blew some.
Day 4 I woke around 5:30 am and looked out - the clouds were fairly high and the exit was not blocked with fog. The rain had begun letting up and the wind was hardly blowing. It was promising and I was hopeful that it would hold. I looked again at 6:30 and got up around 7:15 am - the weather was still good. I listened to the weather on the VHF and then called a little after 8 am. Randy was waiting by the phone for our call. I gave him the run down of the weather and other observations. He said that it was really blowing there, but he would be there in a few. We packed up and he arrived quickly. We loaded the Beaver and headed home. Randy mentioned that the winds were 40-50+ mph and that's why he got there so fast. It was a little bumpy on the way back, but it was good to be back home.
17-beaver_transport.jpg	18-back_at_the_airport.jpg