Mountain Goats Wisdom

[pinky]

Chromebuck, Thanks for posting the Alaska fish & game information link.  That had some good information in it.

[wapiti792]

Thank you Chromebuck! I had been there already but I appreciate it. That standing, leaning pee thing is interesting as is there "posturing" in a low crouch when they are around females. I simply can't wait to be there!

[J from Denmark]

Are you ready for adventure mike ?
When are you going ? monday ?
Maybe a little late for advice and don't know if its been covered, but train shooting downhill as much as you can as soon as you get there .
Good luck, be safe and take pics

[Archie]

My dream animal to hunt, but I wonder if I'll ever get the chance!  Get one for me, and have fun doing it!

[wapiti792]

Thanks again fellas! Training is over, it's go time! Jacob if I could just follow in your footsteps I'd be happy. See you when I get back    

[jonsimoneau]

I would not want to be a goat in BC right now. Good luck Mike!

[wasapt]

Good luck!

[Hud]

Good luck and hunt safe.

[Danny Rowan]

Oh to be young again, I always wanted to hunt goats and sheep, too old now so posts like these let me still dream. Good luck Mike.

[killinstuff]

Good luck Mike.

Some of you guys need to stop dreaming and do it.  The Canadian dollar is down and your American dollar buys a lot more so spend that money and go!  It was toss up recently for me between booking a 10 day goat hunt in BC or Caribou in Quebec with my son and I had to go with the father/son Boo hunt while we still can do it together. Be sure the outfitter states "canadian funds" for payment.  It's never going to be cheaper. I'm thinking of booking a 2017 goat hunt and 2018 Grizzly hunt now just to lock in the good rates.

[MR BILL SHORTY]

Mike have any luck

[twowolvesarchery]

I have seen a few nice pics so I'm guessing the story will becoming soon.

[wapiti792]

I'm back everyone! Awesome trip to BC for goats. I will start with some observations and some lessons learned.

1. BC is a wet place. We had weather daily but even on dry days the brush causes issues. Buy the best you can get. I showed up with rain gear that needed some work.
2. Boots: see above. Mine were ok. I used a set of gaiters from KUIU that were good to me.
3. Fitness: I worked 2 hours a day at least 5 days a week to train for 5 months. I needed more. It was a hellacious physical grind hiking in 3-5 miles to glass then climbing 2000 vertical to get on goats. We were unable to trailer the horses and get into spots because the logging roads are bad when weather hits.
4. Mental. The old quote by Yogi Berra was "Baseball is 90% mental the other half is physical."  Between the weather, the climbs, the almost was and could have beens on stalks, the time away from family, and the strain of trying to kill an animal that lives at the top of the world can be tough. Just don't quit. Tell yourself you won't and you won't. If you never quit, you won't know you can. It was tough mentally to stay in the game.

Ok so I landed in Calgary and got picked up the following day by my guide Troy. We visited as we drove the 3 hours to Golden BC and prepared for the next 10 days. He puts his hunters up in a B&B with great breakfasts and suppers when not camping on the mountain. Lucky or unlucky the weather sucked! We couldn't go out with the horses and our one attempt at a biovac was snowed out.

Day 1: hiked in 2 hours and found our first goat high on a ledge looking down like some Olympic god on us mere mortals. We decided it wasn't reachable so we hiked to the next valley and found 4 more, nannies and kids. Two more slides later and we had found 2 billies way up high. We marked those for later. At the end of the day we had covered 10 miles and glassed to our eyeballs hurt...at least mine did.

On the walk out we saw a bull elk, a few grouse, and a black bear. I ate all kinds of berries on the walk: huckleberries, raspberries, and a few Saskatoon berries. That first day...man I had some high hopes!

Day 2: socked in
Basically it was a sucky day! Rain, fog, zero visibility. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face anywhere near a mountain. We tried glassing all the peaks. Nothing! I did have a bird tag and hares were open. So I did what I do: improvise! At the end of the day I had enough for a gumbo! I borrowed a little goat from our host to make it with all the local proteins that I'd be hunting    

*Proteins

Wasn't too shabby! Turned out some French bread and rice to give them a little southern cooking.

[wapiti792]

Day 3: What a day!  It started with a drive up the mountain and seeing a heavy six point bull elk with cows. He was bugling his way  up the mountain. Spitting snow as we made our way to the Bush. We were to hike into a saddle to glass. Troy knew of a pinch point perfect for my weapon, "Sharlene". She is a Wessel creation 3 piece longbow that has been with me for several years.  Halfway up the climb it began to snow. We contemplated turning back but decided to press ahead. After a few slips and downright determination not to look down I managed to make it up the mountain.

*Flatlander Blues

As soon as we topped out I strung my bow and started shedding wet layers. Almost immediately Troy says "Grizzly bear right here" I looked up to see a giant boar 15 yards away stand up, woof, and run off. Sharlene was no use and we had stowed the bear mace to climb. Luckily he didn't want us!

After all that we glassed up the surrounding mountains. We found a group of nannies and kids, 8 total. Any group with kids is off limits so we tried finding more but the weather continued to be a mess. We bailed after deciding we were alone except for the grizz who came back further down to give us another smell. We walked out and I found out my rain gear sucked. Troy had some KUIU rain gear that kept him dry. My Cabelas stuff...not so much!

[wapiti792]

Day 4: socked again! Troy and I are frustrated but can do nothing about the low ceiling. We drove and glassed everything we could. A few short hikes to glass Avalanche chutes were fruitless. We did stumble onto a Ma grizz and her fat 2 year old cub. They were hammering huckleberries in a logged area. It made me a little nervous to hike a trail near them as she looked like a thin girl that might be temperamental. Troy was less nervous about her but mentioned the cub might be a handful. It rained like hell that day! I still stalked some road chickens (spruce grouse) and did some damage    

*Couple spruce grouse

At the end of the day it was just us versus the weather. You can't hunt goats if you can't see them. It wasn't smart to climb for the heck of it, so I saved my legs for another day. Boy was it coming!


*Ma grizz

[Longbowlogan]

I'm in for the story! I saw some pics on FB and can't wait to hear the rest of the hunt!

[wapiti792]

Day 5: A haunting

The weather again plagues us. A rainy mix as we head up a pass on foot. An hour into a glass in session and Troy thinks he sees white. I glass with my ELs  and think it is a rock. He puts the scope on this mystery white object and reveals a Billy. Just like that we have something to stalk! I grabbed my pack and got moving.

*Sharlene ready in the pack

We had to swing a mile wide and start climbing into the timber. The hope was to climb above him and find a passage in the fog so that I could put a move on him. It was a very hard climb for me through the logs, moss and pine needles that were wet and slippery. 2 hours later and Troy and I crossed the small slide that was parallel to him. 3 hours after first spotting him and we stood there 150 yards above a beautiful billy!

[Paul Cousineau]

Oh man....  

[BuckeyeGuy]

too cool, Mike!!

[tracker12]

Getting good!