British Columbia mountain goat hunt 2013

[warnniklz]

So I moved from Vancouver to the North Coast(Terrace) back in 2012. The hunting there isn't the greatest. Except for bears and mountain goats.

I never really did have an urge to hunt goats before. But some One mentioned I should give it a shot. So I figured why not.

So I looked at draw odds, found a zone with good odds and applied. I got the draw and didn't connect. It's the first animal I've hunted without anyone showing me the ropes. I did lots of reading and talked to some guys on behavior and habitat.

[warnniklz]

I put my brother, my buddy and myself in for a region 6 goat draw. Me and my buddy got our draws, while my brother got squat.

While working back in April, I was cruising home from work. Bored and gawking at the run off pulling snow off the mountains, I was checking them out trying to figure out how much longer I had to wait until bears would be popping up. I wasn't really paying attention, but then all of a sudden something caught my eye in a gorge(best way to describe it I guess). I whipped around and drove back. I had seen something just a little off white. Up with the binos(they always ride shotgun) and sure enough there was a couple of goats chilling out. How I seen them with the undressed eye is beyond me. They were half way down the mountain just below the snow line.

So from there on home I started watching for them a little closer. I started seeing more and more.

[warnniklz]

So I started mapping out on google earth, where I had been seeing goats each day I was cruising by the area. It came down to 2 management units and those were the two we all applied for.

[warnniklz]

Same spot, later date... I think I counted 7 in this spot this day.



same spot not through binos



different spot... I counted 8 here. There in the picture... just quite a ways away

[warnniklz]

I started checking google earth looking for access spots(basically non-existent being sans jet boat, but still there). Drove into one spot and started glassing around. Didn't see anything obvious but still nice to get terrain features and the lay of the land



good to know bears are around...







A heavy size 12

[warnniklz]

JULY 23

Found a spot last week that is a good spot to hike in from(will have to cut a trail) up a mountain that I was sure had to hold goats. Glassed for only 20 minutes as I also wanted to check out some other spots, so I didn't spot anything.

So today I went back to the spot I want to go in from and started glassing. Glassed for about half hour. It was foggy at first then it lifted. Trying to determine what was rocks and what was alive was a little tricky. Was willing some rocks into being goats.



I all of a sudden caught some white movement in some alders. I pulled the binos down for a second and back up. I couldn't ever find it again. Kept glassing trying to figure out where I had saw the movement. Then finally a goat came walking out over the rocks. Watched it for fifteen minutes or so, then started looking to see if anything else was moving around. Caught two white spots way up on the ridge line. I'm 80% sure one was a goat. It was a long effin ways away, but I'm sure it was a goat laying down moving it's head side to side. Went back to what I knew was a goat and kept watching for a bit before heading on home.

There's a goat in this picture, but you can't really make him out



On another note... I've been staring at my gun cabinet trying to decide which rifle to take out with me. Last year I had my 6.5x55 out. But after recovering my bullet from my deer last November... I've been hesitant taking it back out for goats. So I've been leaning to my 30_06... which is also lighter than my 264(I could easily drop a lot of weight off of it). But today I came across a box of Nosler Custom ammo with 140 grain accubonds loaded up. So I'll have her at the range to make sure the zero is where I want it, and it'll probably get the nod while I take a dose of toughen the f up.

By this time last year I had already made a couple of hikes up to my area, but I've worked basically every weekend since june, so free time has been minimal. My first trip up will be either august long weekend or two weekends after that(stupid weddings and stuff)... but my buddy and myself are aiming for a week sometime in September to get serious.