The Cave and the Heartbrake: a 10 yr old boys first goat hunt

[Jimbob]

The Cave and the Heartbreak: a 10 yr old boys first goat hunt

Looking into a black hole in the side of a mountain brings about many emotions. Maybe it's the stories of monsters and trolls you were told as a kid or the thought of a grizzly or lion den or maybe it's just the unknown in the darkness that causes a shiver to run up your spine. Whatever it may be one thing is for sure our curiosity drives us to them and our fear halts us in our tracks. When I looked up into that cave on a recent goat hunt it captured my attention for more than a minute. It was only 40 yds away but up a 60 degree slope. Man I wanted to look inside it but it freaked me out. Besides I was looking for something else, I was in search of a mountain goat. Before we end up in the scenario we need to rewind to the day before when this goat hunt began.

Tuesday August 14 was another beautiful northwestern BC day. The morning air was crisp and cool and the sun was beginning to fill the valley floors as my son, Josh, and I were headed out on our first mountain goat hunt. Josh is only 10 years old but upon moving to BC a year early he jumped at taking his hunter ed course and getting the qualifications to begin his hunting career. Josh was lucky enough to draw a goat tag for an area nearby so we were pumped to begin hunting out west. In the spring Josh put to use years of his range practice and killed a beautiful bruin. Then on opening day of sheep season I harvested a gorgeous stone sheep on a solo hunt. We were ready for this goat hunt.

There was no prior scouting done, we bought a house in the spring that needed renovations, so we hit a FSR in the draw area and headed to a spot on the map. We pulled the jeep over and glassed our intended target and BAM goats. Truth is, every hike I have been on around here I have spotted goats. I was expecting to see them. My concern was figuring out how to get through the thick dense forest and find a camping spot with water. We studied the map looked at the terrain and made up our minds on an intended route.

Off we go

 

[Jimbob]

Down a steep bank, over blow down and across the creek and we find a grizzly trail. Old scat and some scent marking trees but nothing fresh. It is going our general direction so we follow it for 1 km. Time to turn off and bush wack again. We cut to the creek and follow up and up to the drainage we want to hunt. The blow down and fallen trees from a roaring creek in the spring are death for Josh. His little legs just don't get up and over like mine do.

 

[Jimbob]

8 km and 7 hours of grinding and this boy is done. I'm so proud of him, it was not easy for a grown man to get back here. He never complained the whole way.

 

[Jimbob]

One last climb to get to the only flat spot we can find and its not even flat.

 

[Jimbob]

"Dad, supper please"

"Ok that is why we came here. Hey! those are goats up there" a nanny and kid were sharing this basin with us.

 

[Jimbob]

Spaghetti, a warm coat and hat, and a comfy place to sit are all that's needed to bring total euphoria after a long day. Josh is learning how important the simple things in life really are, out here you gain a new perspective.

Josh climbed into his bag while I glassed until dark. At 10 pm a billy appeared on a cliff 800 yds away. He went in and out of sight a few times then left our drainage.

 

[Jimbob]

Unfortunately I had no phone with me, iphone's cannot be submerged in a river when salmon fishing (just so you know), and I forgot my watch so no alarm. I slept in till 5:45 am but Josh was tired anyways, regardless of a lack of an alarm there wouldn't have been a 4 am wake up this morning. None the less, I unzip the tipi and poke my head out and there is the nanny and kid in the same spot (in the cliffs safe from everything but a fall). As I scan the drainage BOOM goat much lower and close. Grab the binos and man that looks like a billy, range him at 350 yds. Set-up the spotter and yup he's a billy and he looks great.

 

[Jimbob]

Josh is too tired to get excited at the news of a billy close by. He's says "cool" smiles and watches it from his bag then dozes off again. My eyes are glued to this billy as I try to put together a plan to kill him. He's in a spot we can climb to but he will see our approach. No way to get around or do anything but watch. BUT he is close and I am scarred too much movement will spook him. I make oatmeal hot chocolate and coffee and climb back in the bag to enjoy with Josh while we watch the billy. He finishes feeding and beds down, its 8:45 am and there is no chance at a stalk.

The billy can be seen as the tiny white speck bedded on the grassy slope in the middle of this pic.

 

[Jimbob]

We are geared up and ready for a stalk but we have to wait for the billy to move. Finally, at 9:50 he gets up and feeds to a new area then beds at 10:10 am. DECISION time. Option 1: We can do a loop below the billy and approach up the slope on the right hand side. We can keep eyes on the billy and we will have a shot at him when in position. BUT wind is going up with the thermals and if we can see him he can see us. Option 2: head straight to the spot he was bedded before. We can set up on a knob close to where he is now bedded. BUT we will lose sight of him and we will not be able to see him when we get up there, we will have to hope we feeds back to us or out to a spot we can see. I discuss with Josh and we weigh the options. I am afraid of the wind and him seeing us so we choose option 2.

In the picture below the billy is bedded at the WHITE spot. We are going to make our way to the YELLOW spot and set-up and wait him out. We will be able to see him when he feeds down to the RED spot.

 

[Jimbob]

We start the decent off our ridge then start climbing through the avalanche chutes and up to our spot. At the steep stuff we dump Josh's pack and put his food in my pack. A little climbing and we rise over the grassy knob and I can spot the rock I marked where the billy was bedded, 70 yds away. It's 11:20 and the sun is already beating down on us. 12:30 and nothing. Josh is starting to lose patience. What if the goat left? Are we sitting here for nothing? It was a great time to hone and develop the mental side of hunting. Patience is everything when pursuing animals. Our minds start to doubt though and we feel like we might be wasting our time on a goat that's not there. I told Josh this was our hunt for today though. We climbed up here and we would force ourselves to wait it out. 1:30 and just more sun and HEAT. I wet a bandanna and put it under Josh's hat to keep him cool and protect his neck. We are prone waiting for the goat to make his move.

 

[Jimbob]

At least the views are nice.

 

[Jimbob]

This is what we watched for 3 hours. We are waiting and hoping the goat appears at the green shrub in the lower right of the pic.

 

[Jimbob]

Suddenly, the goat is right there, right where we thought. My heart is beating through my chest. Josh is ready on the rifle. The goat is feeding facing right at us. I whisper to wait for a broadside shot. The billy raises his head and I feel like he is starring right at us. "Can he hear my heart beat, I feel like he can" He turns around facing straight away and I fear he is going to walk away. He relieves himself then turns to the right offering a perfect broadside shot. Josh's 7mm-08, a gift from Grampa before heading out west, goes off and the billy takes off and in two bounds jumps off a 20' cliff and out of sight into an avalanche chute. I jump to my feet and watch for any exits, nothing. Then a minute later we hear rocks tumbling and I am sure he is dead and rolling down that chute. Text Mom and Grampa the good news and hang out eating lunch before making our descent. I'm so proud. My smile in this pic is one of success and accomplishment but little did I know we hadn't completed anything yet.

 

[Jimbob]

Time to get down then head over to the bottom of the chute that the goat went in and look for him.

 

[Jimbob]

Headed up the chute looking for our "dead" goat.

 

[Jimbob]

We head up this nasty chute and NOTHING no goat. I am still sure he is dead. Josh is a great shot and he was only 70 yds away.

I head further up the chute, definitely higher up than where this goat should be. "I must be in the wrong chute". I try to climb up out of the chute to my left but no luck. I tell Josh to wait as I look for a way up. Further up the chute and around the corner I see "the cave". This is the cave I mentioned at the begining of the thread. The cave was captivating but I need to find away out of this chute. I try to climb the wall but only make a few feet. The rock is loose and creates a cascade with every movement. Back off the wall and rocks tumble down, I tell Josh to stay out of the way of the falling rocks, he is 15 yds below me. Then I hear more rocks coming down I look up to see some tumbling towards, that's weird I wasn't up there. My eyes follow the falling rocks up to the cave and there at the gaping mouth is the billy starring me down.

 

[Jimbob]

I yell to Josh that I found the goat and "get up here now". By the urgency in my voice he knew it was alive but asked "What? is it still alive?" As he was getting to me the goat went to make a move and I yelled and raised the gun, as if he knew what a gun was, it worked and he froze again. Just as Josh got by my side and I handed him the gun the billy moved and sent an avalanche of rocks streaming down at us. I grabbed Josh and pulled him close and turned my back using my pack as a shield. A baseball sized rock slammed into my calf and others pelted the rocks around us. Josh was trying to peek out from around me as he couldn't take his eyes off his goat. Once the rocks stopped Josh stepped out and put a bullet up through the goats sternum that raised the billy off its front legs. When the billy touched his hoofs to the rock his knees buckled and he lurched forward. Rocks were no concern now as the billy was tumbling directly for us. I grabbed Josh and pulled him out of the way as the billy rolled by us mere feet away. He continued rolling down the chute coming to his final resting place 30 yds below us. WOW that was intense. Josh and I looked at each other and there was no words.

 

[Jimbob]

So proud of my son. This was a mans hunt. He earned every bit of this.

 

[Jimbob]

 

[Jimbob]