2013 Goat Hunt with Aron Snyder, ArmyJoe, and Justin Davis

[orionthehunter1]

This all started a couple of years ago when I contacted Aron and picked his brain about some mountain goat units I was looking at. After a couple of conversations with him and some others I finally decided on a fourth season nanny tag. I chose the later season because of the better draw odds and I figured the hair would be excellent on the goats. I also went with the nanny tag because there are some huge nannies in the unit I chose, plus I also wanted to draw a tag before I was too old to do it justice. Well the draw results were posted and low and behold I had a fourth season nanny tag with my name on it. I called Aron and told him I drew and he graciously offered to help if he didn't have anything going on during that time. I ordered some maps and also made calls and pms to a couple other members of this site. Gman and Justin Davis were both helpful. Once I had some basic info I started planning my scouting trips. The first trip I made to the unit was in late June and due to some late spring storms there was still plenty of snow all over the unit.

 

[orionthehunter1]

I did manage to glass quite a few goats over the two days I was up there and I was feeling pretty good about the unit and the goat population.

 

[orionthehunter1]

My next scouting trip came after the Fourth of July. After celebrating the holiday with my family my wife dropped me off for a four day solo trip and she luckily came back to pick me up after visiting with some friends. I gained a lot of perspective on this trip as far as how the goats traveled and learned some valuable access points. I saw over forty goats during those four days and had a great time up there learning the unit.

 

[orionthehunter1]

After my trips I would contact Aron and let him know what I was seeing and also asking him some questions about the area and goats in general. He was also keeping an eye out on what he was seeing in different parts of the unit. I was able to get up there one more time in early August. I again saw quite a few goats and was feeling confident about the upcoming hunt. Aron also informed me that he would be able to join me for the hunt and that Joe and Justin would probably be able to make it as well. I was stoked to have the help, as well as meet some fellow Roksliders in person. The only thing nagging at the back of my mind was whether or not the weather would hold.

 

[orionthehunter1]

September came and went fairly quick and I was able to punch my early September bear tag on a nice color phase boar. Opening day was right around the corner and I made plans to meet up with Aron and ArmyJoe the day before the opener. They headed up a couple days earlier to set up camp and do some scouting. They were seeing plenty of goats and everything was going great, until I looked at the weather report. What had been about a ten percent chance had quickly risen to a sixty percent chance of snow for the opener. Tuesday was supposed to be a little worse and then it looked like a break about mid week. Ok I thought we will rough out a couple stormy days and then go get a goat on Wednesday.

 

[orionthehunter1]

Waking up for opener I was ready to go. I could see stars and figured we would have a window of opportunity to perhaps knock a goat down before the storm arrived. No sooner had I thought that and we headed for the top the clouds begin to settle in and the wind begin to pick up. Pretty soon the storm had intensified to the point that Joe broke out the Kifaru Woobie and launched it into survival mode.

The storm was not subsiding and any break or window that the forecast was predicting was not happening. It just got worse and worse. Aron did try to do some glassing, but it was a lost cause at this point.

We decided to head back to the tipi and thaw out. At this point Aron and Joe decided to head for the home front after looking at the forecast and planned to meet myself and my buddy at camp Wednesday morning once the storm broke.

 

[orionthehunter1]

The next morning I awoke to more snow, low clouds, and pretty much zero visibility.

I spent the remainder of the morning breaking trail and trying different access points of the unit to see if I could do any glassing, but it was to no avail and when I returned around noon here is what the tipi looked like.

At this point we were getting close to a foot of snow at camp and more on top. I finally got a little bit of internet access on my phone and the weather looked like it was going to stay for the rest of the week. Being a weekday only unit I only had three days left to hunt this first week. The weather looked much better the following week which was also the last five days of the season. I talked with Aron and we decided it was probably best to break camp, dry out, and that I would meet him the following weekend to give it a go the last week when the weather looked like it would cooperate

 

[orionthehunter1]

I was feeling discouraged about all the time and planning I had put in only to see it foiled by mother nature, but I knew that cutting my losses and trying again was the best option. I got home and got some things done around the house, dried out gear and begin repacking for my next trip. Aron and Joe have some pretty good pics of the first week weather outage so hopefully they post a few. I will continue this tomorrow with the epic conclusion.

 

[Liljozie495]

So awesome man! Can't wait to hear the rest

 

[Soutie]

Great story orion, I can relate about the weather! How can you do this to us and make this story an episode thing!? Looking forward to the rest...

 

[luke moffat]

So far so good....looks like a great (albeit very cold) time. Looking forward to hearing the rest of it!!!

 

[Olson]

Looking forward to the conclusion!

 

[Evan Williams]

Sounds like a great time!!! Can't wait to hear and see your finish ;-)

 

[Manosteel]

Waking up for opener I was ready to go. I could see stars and figured we would have a window of opportunity to perhaps knock a goat down before the storm arrived. No sooner had I thought that and we headed for the top the clouds begin to settle in and the wind begin to pick up. Pretty soon the storm had intensified to the point that Joe broke out the Kifaru Woobie and launched it into survival mode.

The storm was not subsiding and any break or window that the forecast was predicting was not happening. It just got worse and worse. Aron did try to do some glassing, but it was a lost cause at this point.

We decided to head back to the tipi and thaw out. At this point Aron and Joe decided to head for the home front after looking at the forecast and planned to meet myself and my buddy at camp Wednesday morning once the storm broke.

That last pic is amazing! poster worthy!

 

[Aron Snyder]

Part of my ass is still stuck to that rock!

 

[Aron Snyder]

Just talked with Ryan and he's gonna finish up the story tonight, but here's some photos from last weeks trip and yesterdays hunt.

 

[Aron Snyder]

 

[Aron Snyder]

 

[Aron Snyder]

 

[colonel00]

That looks painful. Awesome but painful.