Alpine Hunter

Hi,

Wanted to share a “Great Day of Hunting” with you. Yesterday, my friend Dave and I went up into mountain goat country in search of a goat with my name on it. We found two! The trip took us up into our “Cabinet Mountains”, this country absolutely rivals Glacier National Park for it’s beauty. The morning started out with a million stars and about 25 degrees, it looked like it was going to be a clear day. We hit the trail head about first light and jumped over the hill and got to where we were going to start our first glassing in about 45 minutes and yes indeed, it was going to be a clear day. After glassing this area with nothing spotted, we hiked another couple of miles and set up for more glassing. No goats,,,,but it didn’t matter, the panoramic we were looking at made the trip worth while, goat or no goat.

We then hunting around the mountain to Cliff lake, this was the spot I was most interested in as I’ve watched goats in this area on an earlier scouting trip. We got around the lake and a little above it and set up to glass. Still no goats, but scenery that was spectacular. I wanted to hike up a little higher where I thought we would have a better vantage point to watch and glass, so up we went. We gave it about an hour and decided to continue on around the mountain to a spring I found on a scouting trip. We had to backtrack down the mountain to where we had just been so we would be on the same level as the spring. As we were working our way down, I spotted a goat about 150 yards away, he walked out and was standing on the rock that Dave and I had been glassing from. I had packed in a bow and Dave was carrying my 300 mag, I was going to fill my tag one way or the other. Dave stayed put and I took off with my bow to see if I could close the distance. I had my Rangefinder so I could range distance for the rifle. I  closed  the distance between us to 75 yards, then ranged him again at 50 yards. He was in no hurry, it seemed he enjoyed just looking at all that beauty as much as Dave and I had. I took a picture of him and then dropped down low and tried to get close enough for a safe bow shot. When I eased up to range him again, he was standing broad side at 30 yards. He then turned his head in my direction and I got a good look at his horns. They were only over his ears about two to three inches, an adult Billy will have a good four or more inches over the top of his four inch ears. But there he was, broad side and now looking away, he was mine for the taking. I took his picture again and moved in another five or six yards, drew my bow back and said under my breath, “Bang, Your Dead”! He never knew I was there,,,,,It was great!

I got back to Dave without being detected and Dave, who had been watching all this unfold was all smiles. We talked about it for awhile, looked down on the goat and said goodbye. We moved around the mountain to the spring, set up and glassed for an hour and just took in the beauty. We both decided that we should head back to Cliff Lake to finish the day, there’s always good goat traffic there. As we got close to where I stalked the goat Dave said, maybe the goat had some friends below him we didn’t see. We were coming out into the open from some small trees, trying to peek over the edge to see if there were anything below us. I glanced back up at the mountain to my right and froze. There was a goat up in the cliffs, with the sun on him, what a picture. Out came the spotting scope so we could get a good look. The body was big, but we couldn’t get a good look at the horns. Finally it swung it’s head so we could see, it looked like a nanny, the horns were not any bigger than the first goat, but the body was a lot bigger. I ranged her at 201 yards, my 300 shoot’s two inches high at 100 yards, dead on at 300 yards. Off came the pack, I put it on a nice pile of rocks that I could use for a rest. I got down behind my rifle, put the cross hairs on it’s shoulder and said out loud, “Bang, your Dead’!

Dave and I sat back, had a sandwich, drank some water and just enjoyed watching that goat up on the cliff and being glad we were there. I want to fill my tag and you can bet I’ll be back up there real soon trying to do just that. But in many ways I feel my tag is filled, it was truly one of the best days of hunting I can remember. The day was perfect, blue sky’s and white clouds, temps in the 50′s, unbelivable country and a close friend to share it with. You can’t ask for more than that.

Ron Thomas