The months of running did not pay off. Two hours into our five hour hike and my legs are already burning. A combination of a 60lb pack loaded up with too much video and photography gear. It's times like this when I really hate bringing these hunts to all of you but only during the grunts. Kent was doing a little better than me. And Jack Hooper? Well he had more weight than any of us and never broke a sweat. I hate people like that!! ;-)
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The 5-hour climb up started in the trees and slowly broke into the alpine. By dinner time we would be above treeline and in goat country. |
We climbed out of the trees and into a sub-alpine meadow. I had lots of people call me to tell me how Babine's goat hunts were "easier" than other hunts but looking up the valley I saw nothing easy about it. Still, despite the push with our packs it was simply incredible to be goat hunting again.
Jack estimated the hike would take five hours and he was pretty much on the mark. I was happy to reach our little camping spot just below the cliffs. We drank some water and just started to cool down a bit before Jack spotted a goat up in the cliffs. It was fantastic, it was a billy and he was about 1000 yards up the mountain but in a difficult spot. Jack told us to bring our packs since we may need to camp on him. It was at that moment that I realized we are dealing with a very energetic, and driven goat guide.
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That white dot in the middle of this cliff is a billy. We climbed out of the basin to see if there was a way up to him but there was no way. |
I wasn't sure how I felt about going after that goat. But we slugged our packs back on and headed up the steep incline after the billy. It took at least 90 minutes to get to the top of a rocky knoll which gave us a good vantage point to the goat. The skies turned dark and we were suddenly in a high mountain sleet storm. Just two hours earlier it was clear and sunny, now we were diving for our Sitka Stormfront rain gear. We sat on that goat for an hour as it began to get dark. I was mildly hypothermic, a mixture of sweaty base layers along with a cold sleet hammering us. The goat was staying in the cliffs and totally unreachable. There was no camping spots up high and we didn't want to blow the goat out so we carefully picked our way back down the steep hillside to the campsite we were at earlier. On the way down, Kent slid on some rocks, snapping his walking stick in half and hyper-extending his knee - slightly. A few moments later I went down too, but no damage other than being covered with mud on my right side. I was able to throw my bow to the side just in time before I landed on it and potentially ruining my hunt before it started.
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Jack Hooper was always smiling - despite the fact that we had hiked several exhausting miles up a steep mountain and were now in a sleet storm with a tough climb down ahead of us. |
Wet, exhausted and ready for bed, we quickly made camp in the cold rain and climbed into our sleeping bags.
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We set up our little alpine tent and had a quick meal before a good night sleep. Tomorrow will likely be harder than today was. |
Nothing about this hunt was going to be easy. But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Goat hunts are special. You hate them while you are doing them, but the minute you climb down you NEED to head back. There is just something about it that is unlike any other hunt I have done. Kent just got his first taste of it too.
