Post by rickiesrevenge on Mar 27, 2020 21:45:00 GMT -5
Got back from my first March mountain goat hunt. There's one unit in Alaska that allows goat hunting from mid August through the end of March. The unit also has a two goat limit, one of which must be a nanny. Since I'd already shot a goat in another unit I could only take one on this hunt. There was supposed to be two other guys going on the hunt with me. My long time hunting partner, Shane, and a guy I've hunted with some and known for longer, Jon. Couple days before we were scheduled to start traveling to Kodiak the Corona virus started to run wild here in the states. Since we're all active duty Coast Guard we all checked with our commands to make sure we were good to travel. They all said yes. Shane drove around 7 hours to Chicago to catch his flight, checked in, got through security, and was waiting at the gate when they called and canceled his leave. Jon and I weren't supposed to fly until the next day since we live in Alaska.
I got to the airport early and checked in. There was a mechanical delay. They offered to put me on a flight through Seattle, but work isn't allowing travel though Seattle since its a hot spot for COVID19. So I got to wait. And wait. And wait. 5 hours later the mechanic arrived from Anchorage. Took him a whopping 1 min 45 seconds to fix the issue. Off we went. Wasn't able to catch my connecting flight to Kodiak but they got me on the first flight in the morning. It landed about 1.5hours before we were scheduled to fly out on the bush plane.
The pilot told us the it was foggy on the south end of the island and we wouldn't be able to see much IF we were able to get in. We decided to give it a go. Flew down there and couldn't find a clear path into the bay we wanted to try. Or any of the others, so we turned around and started back to town. Another of the companies pilots was trying to get into the same general area. They found a way across the mountains that run the lenght of the island and it was clear on the other side. So we got dropped on the beach. It was a bit foggy on the tops.
Quickly set up a base camp and gathered our gear. Started down the bay towards a spot we could setup to glass if the clouds lifted. About an hour before dark they did. We started finding goats right away. Mostly nannies with kids, which aren't legal. There were a few that might have been legal. Camped in a dry creek bed.
The next day was foggy again. It eventually lifted and we saw some goats that we were interested in getting closer to. Of course they were at the top of the mountain! Another night down low. Thankfully we had tents that have wood stoves in them. The stoves are made of titanium foil so they are pretty light and portable. The tent and stove weighs around 6# total. Made those cold nights much more bearable. Day three started fairly early. Slow and steady we went up. The snow started out pretty firm since it was cold. As the day progressed the sun beating down one the snow made it HOT! We were sweating pretty bad just sitting there. Found a couple groups of nannies and kids. There was a 2 year old billy in one group. We decided to pass since it was so early in the hunt. Up we went.
Eventually we got to the spot where we'd seen some suspected billies the day before. Jon quickly spotted goats about 630 yards away. We backtracked over the ridge to get out of view and continued up. Next time we peeked over they were 400 yards out. Higher we climbed. Eventually we were about 200 yards from where they had been. The bigger goat had climbed above the rocky out cropping they were on and was feeding on the exposed grasses. One look through the spotter told me he was a decent billy for the area. Jon setup for the shot. Our only concern was how far he'd slide when he died. There wasn't any brush to stop him! After a few minutes Jon decided to give it a go an hope he stopped before going over a cliff.
Jon made a good shot and the goat quickly tipped over disappearing from view. We snuck up to the rocky outcropping hoping that one of the other goats would still be there. We didn't see any. Eventually we found where the goat had slide down the hill. The trail just kept going. Eventually we could see where it had gone over a little hill onto a bench but didn't come out the other side. Took us quite a while to work our way down there but he was in a good spot! And the horns survived the 5-600 yard slide down the hill!!! Jon was super pumped. We got him skinned for a rug and cut up. With heavy packs we side hilled our way out of the avalanche chute as it got dark. The two options we had were to keep hiking in the dark until we got to the bottom or find a flat spot to camp above treeline and hope the weather held. Eventually we got to where we could camp and Jon said his legs were pretty tired. We went about setting up the tent. It takes much longer to setup in the snow since we had to use deadman anchors instead of stakes.
We got a late start in the morning but eventually got it all back to base camp. The next day we woke up to 2-3" of wet sloppy snow. Then it started to rain. So we spent the day at base camp. Jon's boots were wet so we kept the stove going and eventually got them dried out. The following day we tried to go back up where we found Jon's goat. The snow was MUCH too soft. Between the rain and the sun beating down we couldn't take a step without sinking in, sometimes up to our butts! Eventually we decided to climb back down. Worked out ok because the wind blew pretty hard that afternoon and night. We camped in the old creek bed again. Eventually we found some goats that were much lower than any of the others we saw. Decided to give them a go in the morning.
Up we went. Eventually we broke into the alpine. We spotted the goats above us. They knew we were there. IF I had brought an XP or pretty much anything other than that wheelgun I could have shot the little billy in the group. But I brought my BFR 454. The closest we got was 250 yards. I'm not comfortable with shots anywhere close to that far out. We tried to follow them. They were gone. It got to 70 degrees that afternoon. The snow was rotten. We were constantly falling through. The deepest I went was up to my nipples. Eventually I called it. We went to the bottom. The forcast didn't have it getting below freezing again for the rest of our hunt so we weren't gonna be able to get to the goats. I sent a message on the inreach to the pilot to come get us.
Back in the bottom I shot a nice red fox as he walked by camp. It was only 35 yards. Poked a 45 caliber hole through him.
It was a good time. Can't always get them. I was handicapped by my own decisions.
I got to the airport early and checked in. There was a mechanical delay. They offered to put me on a flight through Seattle, but work isn't allowing travel though Seattle since its a hot spot for COVID19. So I got to wait. And wait. And wait. 5 hours later the mechanic arrived from Anchorage. Took him a whopping 1 min 45 seconds to fix the issue. Off we went. Wasn't able to catch my connecting flight to Kodiak but they got me on the first flight in the morning. It landed about 1.5hours before we were scheduled to fly out on the bush plane.
The pilot told us the it was foggy on the south end of the island and we wouldn't be able to see much IF we were able to get in. We decided to give it a go. Flew down there and couldn't find a clear path into the bay we wanted to try. Or any of the others, so we turned around and started back to town. Another of the companies pilots was trying to get into the same general area. They found a way across the mountains that run the lenght of the island and it was clear on the other side. So we got dropped on the beach. It was a bit foggy on the tops.
Quickly set up a base camp and gathered our gear. Started down the bay towards a spot we could setup to glass if the clouds lifted. About an hour before dark they did. We started finding goats right away. Mostly nannies with kids, which aren't legal. There were a few that might have been legal. Camped in a dry creek bed.
The next day was foggy again. It eventually lifted and we saw some goats that we were interested in getting closer to. Of course they were at the top of the mountain! Another night down low. Thankfully we had tents that have wood stoves in them. The stoves are made of titanium foil so they are pretty light and portable. The tent and stove weighs around 6# total. Made those cold nights much more bearable. Day three started fairly early. Slow and steady we went up. The snow started out pretty firm since it was cold. As the day progressed the sun beating down one the snow made it HOT! We were sweating pretty bad just sitting there. Found a couple groups of nannies and kids. There was a 2 year old billy in one group. We decided to pass since it was so early in the hunt. Up we went.
Eventually we got to the spot where we'd seen some suspected billies the day before. Jon quickly spotted goats about 630 yards away. We backtracked over the ridge to get out of view and continued up. Next time we peeked over they were 400 yards out. Higher we climbed. Eventually we were about 200 yards from where they had been. The bigger goat had climbed above the rocky out cropping they were on and was feeding on the exposed grasses. One look through the spotter told me he was a decent billy for the area. Jon setup for the shot. Our only concern was how far he'd slide when he died. There wasn't any brush to stop him! After a few minutes Jon decided to give it a go an hope he stopped before going over a cliff.
Jon made a good shot and the goat quickly tipped over disappearing from view. We snuck up to the rocky outcropping hoping that one of the other goats would still be there. We didn't see any. Eventually we found where the goat had slide down the hill. The trail just kept going. Eventually we could see where it had gone over a little hill onto a bench but didn't come out the other side. Took us quite a while to work our way down there but he was in a good spot! And the horns survived the 5-600 yard slide down the hill!!! Jon was super pumped. We got him skinned for a rug and cut up. With heavy packs we side hilled our way out of the avalanche chute as it got dark. The two options we had were to keep hiking in the dark until we got to the bottom or find a flat spot to camp above treeline and hope the weather held. Eventually we got to where we could camp and Jon said his legs were pretty tired. We went about setting up the tent. It takes much longer to setup in the snow since we had to use deadman anchors instead of stakes.
We got a late start in the morning but eventually got it all back to base camp. The next day we woke up to 2-3" of wet sloppy snow. Then it started to rain. So we spent the day at base camp. Jon's boots were wet so we kept the stove going and eventually got them dried out. The following day we tried to go back up where we found Jon's goat. The snow was MUCH too soft. Between the rain and the sun beating down we couldn't take a step without sinking in, sometimes up to our butts! Eventually we decided to climb back down. Worked out ok because the wind blew pretty hard that afternoon and night. We camped in the old creek bed again. Eventually we found some goats that were much lower than any of the others we saw. Decided to give them a go in the morning.
Up we went. Eventually we broke into the alpine. We spotted the goats above us. They knew we were there. IF I had brought an XP or pretty much anything other than that wheelgun I could have shot the little billy in the group. But I brought my BFR 454. The closest we got was 250 yards. I'm not comfortable with shots anywhere close to that far out. We tried to follow them. They were gone. It got to 70 degrees that afternoon. The snow was rotten. We were constantly falling through. The deepest I went was up to my nipples. Eventually I called it. We went to the bottom. The forcast didn't have it getting below freezing again for the rest of our hunt so we weren't gonna be able to get to the goats. I sent a message on the inreach to the pilot to come get us.
Back in the bottom I shot a nice red fox as he walked by camp. It was only 35 yards. Poked a 45 caliber hole through him.
It was a good time. Can't always get them. I was handicapped by my own decisions.
