Timberbeast7
New member
I had been checking the Montana draw results for Bighorn Sheep, Moose, and Mountain Goat every day while we were fighting the Wallow Fire in Arizona and was disappointed each time as it read “Status: Pending”. The day after we got home from the fire the results were posted and shockingly I had drawn a Mountain Goat tag for the Crazy Mountains! Work didn’t allow me to make a pre-season scouting trip but I planned to start hunting the last week of September and stay until I killed a goat. As the hunt neared it looked as though I may have to go by myself. My wife was working in Texas, my dad was busy with work, and my youngest brother was swamped with school. Luckily my middle brother, Dirk, was able to get time off work and come along but could only stay for the first couple days. I was determined to kill a good goat before he had to leave.
Dirk and I left the morning of September 28th and after a short stop in Missoula to finish getting supplies we were off to Big Timber, Mt. We rolled into Big Timber about 10pm and crashed at a hotel for the night. We toasted with Pendleton Whiskey to the coming adventure (a family tradition) before bed. We met a friend who knows the area the next morning at 7am to get some last minute details on where we could expect to find goats that the terrain allowed us to actually hunt. He pointed out several areas and one in particular near two lakes caught our eyes as he said it would be his number one choice and it was close to our planned campsite at the lower of the two lakes. Our meeting spot gave us a good look at what we had in front of us.
(The Crazy Mountains)
We were at the trailhead and ready to pack in by 10:30am. Our destination was 4 miles away and 2000 vertical feet higher than the 6000 feet elevation where we left our vehicles. We took our time hiking in. The views were spectacular and I had enough supplies with me to last a week. We made it to the lake where we were planning to camp by early afternoon and proceeded to cache our food and set up a quick camp. The area we wanted to hunt first thing the next day was only a half-mile up the trail looking over the second of the two lakes so we decided to go scouting and figure out where we’d need to be at first light. We got to the lake in minutes and started glassing the cliffs and rockslides.
We spotted goats almost immediately. Closer inspection with the spotting scope revealed they were nannies and kids. 15 minutes later Dirk said he had a goat spotted I should take a look at. The goat was bedded in some small cliffs and, assuming the distance from a goat’s eye to nose is 9”, he looked like he had 9” horns. With 3 ½ hours of daylight left we decided to go after him. We stayed in the trees along the lake and started climbing trying to get above him. As we climbed and worked closer two things happened: we realized we wouldn’t be able to get above him and he got up and started feeding towards the last bit of cover we would be able to reach. It took us 2 hours of climbing and crawling to reach the last bit of cover from which to shoot and remain concealed. As I set up for a 370 yard shot Dirk had his video camera rolling.
(Just before the shot. The goat is not really visible but he is in the green just beyond and above the patch of snow in the center of the picture.)
Dirk and I left the morning of September 28th and after a short stop in Missoula to finish getting supplies we were off to Big Timber, Mt. We rolled into Big Timber about 10pm and crashed at a hotel for the night. We toasted with Pendleton Whiskey to the coming adventure (a family tradition) before bed. We met a friend who knows the area the next morning at 7am to get some last minute details on where we could expect to find goats that the terrain allowed us to actually hunt. He pointed out several areas and one in particular near two lakes caught our eyes as he said it would be his number one choice and it was close to our planned campsite at the lower of the two lakes. Our meeting spot gave us a good look at what we had in front of us.
(The Crazy Mountains)
We were at the trailhead and ready to pack in by 10:30am. Our destination was 4 miles away and 2000 vertical feet higher than the 6000 feet elevation where we left our vehicles. We took our time hiking in. The views were spectacular and I had enough supplies with me to last a week. We made it to the lake where we were planning to camp by early afternoon and proceeded to cache our food and set up a quick camp. The area we wanted to hunt first thing the next day was only a half-mile up the trail looking over the second of the two lakes so we decided to go scouting and figure out where we’d need to be at first light. We got to the lake in minutes and started glassing the cliffs and rockslides.
We spotted goats almost immediately. Closer inspection with the spotting scope revealed they were nannies and kids. 15 minutes later Dirk said he had a goat spotted I should take a look at. The goat was bedded in some small cliffs and, assuming the distance from a goat’s eye to nose is 9”, he looked like he had 9” horns. With 3 ½ hours of daylight left we decided to go after him. We stayed in the trees along the lake and started climbing trying to get above him. As we climbed and worked closer two things happened: we realized we wouldn’t be able to get above him and he got up and started feeding towards the last bit of cover we would be able to reach. It took us 2 hours of climbing and crawling to reach the last bit of cover from which to shoot and remain concealed. As I set up for a 370 yard shot Dirk had his video camera rolling.
(Just before the shot. The goat is not really visible but he is in the green just beyond and above the patch of snow in the center of the picture.)
