Colorado Goat

[El Cazador]

Nice goat and great story! Beautiful basin to camp in and I love glassing from the tent! I drew my mountain goat tag this year in Colorado and have been pretty pumped. I'll be hunting G17 and doing it solo as well so I enjoyed reading your post as I get ready. It's a management unit so there aren't a lot of goats and the ones you do see are often nannies and kids on Mount Massive with the hoards of people climbing 14ers. Hope I find one like yours! Be curious to know what you did for taxidermy and who you used?

 

[Gnatboy911]

Nice goat and great story! Beautiful basin to camp in and I love glassing from the tent! I drew my mountain goat tag this year in Colorado and have been pretty pumped. I'll be hunting G17 and doing it solo as well so I enjoyed reading your post as I get ready. It's a management unit so there aren't a lot of goats and the ones you do see are often nannies and kids on Mount Massive with the hoards of people climbing 14ers. Hope I find one like yours! Be curious to know what you did for taxidermy and who you used?

Thanks! Good luck on your hunt!

I used Kevin Birznieks out of Grand Lake. He owns and operates Freestone Taxidermy. He is a really talented artist and taxidermist. http://www.freestonetaxidermy.com/ He is my go-to guy for all my stuff. He has done 2 bear rugs, badger rug, my goat, an antelope, and some fish for me.

 

[Goatie]

Congrats! This is a dream hunt

 

[El Cazador]

Thanks! Good luck on your hunt!

I used Kevin Birznieks out of Grand Lake. He owns and operates Freestone Taxidermy. He is a really talented artist and taxidermist. http://www.freestonetaxidermy.com/ He is my go-to guy for all my stuff. He has done 2 bear rugs, badger rug, my goat, an antelope, and some fish for me.

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Nice mount! Looks like I'll be giving him a call tomorrow myself! Just got back last last night after harvesting my own mountain goat yesterday morning at 9 am. Had a great week of hunting despite the heat and saw goats every day. "Houdini" the big billy I was watching before the season opened, vanished on me for opening day and I never could find him but I'm happy with the one I did find and the condition of the hair. Thanks again for the recommendation!

 

[Gnatboy911]

Nice mount! Looks like I'll be giving him a call tomorrow myself! Just got back last last night after harvesting my own mountain goat yesterday morning at 9 am. Had a great week of hunting despite the heat and saw goats every day. "Houdini" the big billy I was watching before the season opened, vanished on me for opening day and I never could find him but I'm happy with the one I did find and the condition of the hair. Thanks again for the recommendation!

Right on! Congrats on getting your goat. Post some pictures! Start a new thread so it gets the attention and credit it deserves.

 

[Blackbird69]

After 13 years in the draw, I drew my tag this year. Hunted G12 here in Colorado. Finally got one on day 8 in the mountains. Packed in by myself for the week, ended up relocating mid week, and was finally successful on Saturday. Packed the goat out Saturday about 7 miles, then had to go back in Sunday to get the rest of my gear. Thanks to the Rokslide members for the tips and advice along the way.

EDIT: I had some down time, so I added some more hunt info...

It was a tough week, but I was seeing goats everyday. The season started on a Tuesday so I packed in to my first area on Sunday. Spent the evening and Monday glassing and resting from the hike in. I stayed in that area until Wednesday. I was seeing goats everyday, but I just couldn't get to them in the cliffs where they were living. I packed out Wednesday afternoon and into a different drainage early Thursday morning. I went up that drainage about 7 miles before I found goats. It was the head of the drainage. I camped there and glassed them Thursday evening. I tried to make a play on them Friday but they didn't like me trying to get close to them and I had no cover because of how steep the mountain was they were on....they could see everything. They headed over the top that day, and didn't come back until the next morning about 9. I was already posted up waiting for them, and it took them until 2 to get within range. I actually missed my first shot, I guess I was a little excited and jerked the trigger. The next two connected well and down he went. I shot him with my 270 at about 350 yards with 140 grain accubonds that I handload. He hung up in some willows above a cliff. Packed him out Saturday night, and had to go back in Sunday to get my camp and the rest of my gear.

I had a lot of new gear for this hunt , it was only my 3rd backpack hunt, and definitely the longest. Tent was a Seek Outside Cimarron which I really liked. It was great to have so much room compared to my last tiny coffin of a bivy tent. Had a new pad as well, neoair xlite. I slept pretty well, and was much better than my old thermarest that was just the thin one with the foam. As soon as I found out I drew the tag I ordered new boots, which I needed since my old Rocky ones blew out this winter. I went with Schnees Beartooth 2. I really like them. Stiffer than I was used to, but got to like them a lot. I had about 75 miles on them before the hunt. Another new gear piece was water filtration, I bought a sawyer squeeze and 2 CNOC bags. it worked really well. I bought a Garmin InReach Mini to check in with the wife and my folks. I tested it quite a bit over the summer, and overall it worked great for the hunt. The spotting scope was a borrowed Leupold from a buddy, and the tripod was the cheapest one on amazon, 12 dollars I think. It sucked...but worked good enough. I spent way more on new gear than I was planning on. A lot of these items were on my 'wish list' but I wasn't planning on getting them all in one summer. I pretty much blew almost all my savings account for this one. Now I just need to figure out how to pay for the taxidermy!

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I agree, thanks for sharing, very interesting hunt and congrats!

 

[Western Bowhunter]

Great story and thanks for sharing! Great mount also! I recently drew the same tag after many years applying. Still can't believe it! I'm planning on taking my bow and gun with me but not sure the area is conducive to stalking one. Any advice you might have would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Linehunter]

I drew last year also second season. Had a fantastic hunt, didn't last long though. Got very lucky opening morning. Cheers!!

 

[Gnatboy911]

View attachment 428228 I drew last year also second season. Had a fantastic hunt, didn't last long though. Got very lucky opening morning. Cheers!!

right on! Congrats on a great looking goat. I think I know roughly where you are in the picture and thats one heck of a hike up there. Well done.

 

[nicapopolis]

View attachment 428228 I drew last year also second season. Had a fantastic hunt, didn't last long though. Got very lucky opening morning. Cheers!!

Great job @Linehunter ... I am reviewing all the G12 threads for my hunt in a few weeks. So I am reviving dead threads.

 

[Gnatboy911]

Great job @Linehunter ... I am reviewing all the G12 threads for my hunt in a few weeks. So I am reviving dead threads.

Good luck! Post pictures!