My pack slid off my back like a Mack truck sliding on ice. I was tired, but yet my spirit lifted due to the sight of goats from our camp. I also knew I had to prep camp, while my hunting partner had to hike down to get the rest of his heavy gear. Next, it was time to re crop and dust my skin with deet. I sprayed myself, and scrambled to escape the bugs. Meanwhile, a white, misty, fog lifted from the valley below, and covered the mountains. The rain started to drizzle, and I knew I had to move fast to set camp up. By the time I was done, my tent was up, my gear was ready, and my bow was strung. I was ready for the hunt. However, there was one problem; we had to wait one day for the season to open. When my partner made it back, we decided to do a little scouting after he set up his part of the camp.
We hiked to the top of the ridge where the scenery was just plain awesome. On each side of the ridge cliffs broke the flatness of the terrain. Looking downward and across to the far ridges my eyes examined each white object that resembled a goat. I figured there had to be a goat bedded in between the rocks or on a ledge, but I didn’t identity one through my binoculars, so we figured we were a little too low. We walked the ridge upward, and had our hearts set on what might be at the top.
We switched backed and forth up the ridge until we came to a spot were the ridge met the cliff. I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was down right scary! Some spots dropped thousands of feet, and I knew I didn't want to come out in the dark or get stuck in the fog. We finally made it to the top, and ran into some goats on the way. We took some pictures and with our cameras and downloaded memories that will last a lifetime.
The day was near over, and the journey to descent down the ridge was next. At that minute we could see the ridge easily, for the fog had seemed to dissipate; however, on the way down the weather changed, and the fog settled in. My heart literally sank, and my insides twisted. Our visibility was 60 yards, and I knew the cliffs would be hidden behind the clouds of mist. I wasn't too afraid of falling off of the cliff, but I was concerned about getting switched around. My mind raced, and memories of how I felt when I got stuck with my snow machine four years earlier struck me. I remembered how I was forced to spend the night in the Arctic with limited survival gear. That lonesome, cold, dark night was the closest encounter I had with death. Although, I had survived 15 hours of -3 temperatures with drenched clothes, no fire, no food, and no water, it was truly a terrible experience.
As my Arctic memory faded in and out of my mind, we managed to maze our way down through the fog. I had my mind set on my 8 month old baby boy and wife. No words can describe the sick feeling of panic and the stress of being lost. It drove me nuts because we couldn't see a darn thing. We thought we were heading the right way, but who knew, we just hoped we wouldn’t veer off the ridge. After hours of antagonizing feelings and worrying, we finally recognized a small pond that was above camp. We had made it back and I thanked God for leading the way.
That night we discussed our plan and watched two nice Billies feeding above unreachable cliffs. They were in two different spots, but the terrain was similar. Basically, cliffs were above, cliffs were below, cliffs were to the left, and cliffs were to the right! There was no possible way we would be able to reach them, but it was by far a sight to see. As I laid down in my 1 1/2 skinny man tent, I thought about living my dream of goat hunting, and I couldn’t believe I was finally here experiencing it. And even though we had a nerve racking experience with the fog, we were not going to give up. For I adamantly believed that tomorrow would be the day for our opportunities, and I knew we’d have memories that would be cherished for a lifetime.
More to come with final pictures-
Chuck
Topic: Goat Tuff (pictures (Read 10433 times)
