Goat hunt.

[TomMcDonald]

Hi all,
I just got back from a great goat hunt over the weekend.
Me and my girl were gone for two days and saw a lot of goats.
It rained and hailed most of the weekend but it was a really nice experience to have Tracey there with me.

On one occasion we heard a mob on the way up a hill we were attempting to climb to get back to camp so we sat down and waited them out.

About 30 minutes later they were on us and I shot a big grey billy.
Penetration was poor. The tip lodged in his shoulder and the shaft snapped as he ran.

He stopped 10 metres from where I shot him and just stood there.
I was concerned that he wasn't mortally wounded so stalked in again to shoot him from the other side but slipped on a rock. He heard the commotion and took-off.

I trailed him for about two hours but he was far too deep into the neighboring property for me to get him. The hail had started really hitting hard and it was almost dark.

Hopefully he bled out. Half his body was blood-soaked and he was in quite poor shape.

We'll be back again in a month or so to see if we can bag some more.

 
Scanning

 
Snack time!

 
Tracey Glassing

 
We had to walk up and down this all weekend.

 
First sighting.

 
This was about a quarter of the mob.

 
Part of another mob.

 

[TomMcDonald]

The one I shot:
   

Some more Billies for the future.
   

     

   

The offending arrow.
   


And we got this little bit on film just after the shot.
 

[DBerrard]

Beautiful photography, and how can a fella have a better date with his gal  

[Matabele]

Tom, sorry to hear you lost the billy...but looks like you have an amazing place to hunt on. Its beautiful!

What are your bow specs and arrow setup/weight..it would be interesting to try and work out why it didnt penetrate more.

As you say tho, there's always next time  :D

[always89]

Pretty land! You say youll go back to see if you can bag somemore. Did you recover the goat that you shot? Congrats!

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Tom,

Glad you had a great time; sorry to hear about the lost billy. You have some nice-looking country there.

All the best on your next trip!

Ben

[rastaman]

Beautiful country!  Very nice pics and sounds like you had a blast...

[TomMcDonald]

Originally posted by Matabele:
Tom, sorry to hear you lost the billy...but looks like you have an amazing place to hunt on. Its beautiful!

What are your bow specs and arrow setup/weight..it would be interesting to try and work out why it didnt penetrate more.

As you say tho, there's always next time   :D  

Hi,
Bow is a Bob Lee Signature 60#@28". The arrow is a 700gr Douglas Fir shaft with a 190 El Grande tip.
The shot was almost perfectly broadside but angling down (I was above the goat).
The arrow just stopped where it hit with only about 5" of penetration.

[TomMcDonald]

Originally posted by always89:
Pretty land! You say youll go back to see if you can bag somemore. Did you recover the goat that you shot? Congrats!

Unrecovered but I'm telling myself it didn't make it. I hope.

[Matabele]

Wow, that seems like a pretty solid set up, very strange you didnt get more penetration.

Im not sure if you are familiar with the single bevel discussion put forward by Dr Ashby (if not do a search and get comfy, that info almost scrambled my brain    and matching that to the correct helical feathers, but that may be a factor that limited initial penetration when hitting the shoulder blade. The only other thing I can think of is the shaft failed on impact.

If the release was not 100%, or arrow not tuned perfectly, this would obviously limit penetration in itself, but if the arrow was still recovering from paradox the impact at an acute angle may have damaged the shaft, limiting penetration.

All conjecture at this point but maybe worth tinkering with for the next hunt.

I reckon with 5" of penetration you may well have got one lung, so given enough time I think your goat would have succumbed.

[TomMcDonald]

The arrow did splinter quite badly so in my mind that's what caused the lack of penetration. The arrow took the force instead of the shoulder.

The arrows were shooting perfectly from 10 to 20 metres both without fletching and with broadheads.
The shot I took was about 10 metres.  

I was using a single-beveled grizzly with the correctly matched feathers.

I'm actually pretty frustrated that I couldn't get him again or confirm that he did die.


Thanks for your concern Matabele. I've been going over it in my head since the moment.

[Bjorn]

Beautiful country and goats you got there. My friend shot a ram in the shoulder 2 weekends ago-the broadhead shattered! arrow and ferrule were intact. Depending on where you hit bone and which bone they can be very tough.

[TomMcDonald]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
Beautiful country and goats you got there. My friend shot a ram in the shoulder 2 weekends ago-the broadhead shattered! arrow and ferrule were intact. Depending on where you hit bone and which bone they can be very tough.

Wow. What kind of head was it?

One thing I didn't take into account was that the shaft went in about 5 inches and the broadhead is a further 3 inches of penetration.

[bowhunterfrompast]

Beautiful country.

[TomMcDonald]

Originally posted by bowhunterfrompast:
Beautiful country.

It is beautiful country. I'm stuck in the stinking suburbs for the next few weeks.

[tradtusker]

thanks for sharing those goats are good fun

[Roadkill]

Aww for those thrilling days of yesteryear and Catalina goat hunting!  Tomm I have your exact cammo jacket-great story and pics...

[TomMcDonald]

Originally posted by Roadkill:
Aww for those thrilling days of yesteryear and Catalina goat hunting!  Tomm I have your exact cammo jacket-great story and pics...

Thanks.
Hey do you know the origin of this jacket?
I bought it second-hand in the local gun shop and the shopkeep knew nothing about it.

[Robhood23]

Wish we had an animal like that here to chase around! Sounds like it would be fun!!

[TomMcDonald]

Originally posted by Robhood23:
Wish we had an animal like that here to chase around! Sounds like it would be fun!!

You've got wild goats there in North America.