My hunt was with Matt Leuenberger of Iskut River Outfitters. I met Matt last year when I hunted Rockies with his brother, Riley. Matt and Riley had a booth at the 2014 Sheep Show, where I booked the goat hunt. Once he received his Grizzly quota, we added a Grizzly option to the deal. I'd hunted the unit twice before when it was Misty Mountain, so knew there were lots of goats and well as great goats. I also knew there was a large population of Grizzlies with great size.
Matt picked me up in Terrace early Friday, 10.3 and we drove five hours to his Willow Creek base camp, just off the Cassiar highway.
After lunch we drove to a few glassing spots where we spotted numerous goats and grizzlies.
Hiked to a lake and glassed up the mountain for a goat herd Matt had been watching for three weeks and where he'd been seeing a 50" Billy. We found the goats, but not that Billy. So we hiked further to get a different angle only to get the same results.
Rain and low ceilings persisted all day, which didn't help.
In the afternoon, we hiked back to the truck, then drove to another glassing point where we spotted five or six Grizzlies feeding on blueberries in an old burn. The bears had been in the burn for a few weeks with as many as fifteen being spotted on the mountain side at the same time.
We hiked through nasty alder thickets and bogs up to a ridge near where we'd been seeing the bears. But the fog and rain persisted most of the day and we saw only one small grizzly. We built a good fire shortly after we got there to keep from freezing to death.
There are many kinds of alders, but the ones in BC are the worst. They grow their branches out, then curve upwards and they grow close together in large groves. Absolutely horrible to get through, esp. when they grow out side ways on steep hillsides
Safe travels
michael
The plan was to repeat Day Three, but early glassing of the 'bear hill' revealed not one bear. So we changed our plan and spent the day glassing for bears and mostly goats. Spotted several goats, all but one of which were either nannies or young Billies. The other one was too far away to tell, but as he was alone and appeared to have a big body, our guess was that it was a mature Billy.
Later in the day we went back to glass 'blueberry hill.' We spotted five bears, so our plan was to hike in there again on Day Five.
Total bummer. We hiked back to where we were on Day Three but again we ran into rain, poor visibility and zero bears.
United just cancelled my SFO - RNO flight!
I did enough hiking last Wednesday. WAY more than enough hiking.
More on that later.
My spelling's fine. It's my typing that sucks!
We landed @SFO a few minutes late, which still left me with enough time to make the Reno flight if I hustled. Alas, we had to taxi to a holding area waiting for our gate to clear for :20 minutes, meaning I'd miss my connection and have to spend the night @ an airport hotel. Lucky for me, the Reno flight is also delayed for two hours. So here I am at the United Club with a Jack Daniels, hoping nothing more goes wrong.
On the way up, my flight from SFO to Vancouver was 1:30 late leaving. That was OK, because I'd allowed for delays when I'd booked the flights. Back in July, on my way to Whitehorse, my flight out of Reno was an hour late.
I think I'll go back to driving!
DJ
Matt's wife and their two little rug rats were there, which was very cool for his family.
Better yet, hot meals and no freeze dried dinners!
DJ
Nuts! We would have loved to have had you over for dinner.
We decided to go back to where we'd seen the lone goat that was so far away we couldn't tell if it was even a Billy.
We got to our glassing spot on a new power cut-line not far from the highway and found the goat right away. It was in the same spot we'd seen it two days earlier and was again all alone. So on went the packs and at 9:45 AM we started up the mountain through dense pines.
In all my years of hunting the high country, I'd never see such gosh awful crap to negotiate for so long a distance. The forest was heavily canopied and there were deadfalls everywhere. The ground was wet, slippery and frequently presented us with steep side hill challenges. By the time we got to the timberline my quads were starting feel a bit weak. The problem there was that there were hundreds of times I had to put all my weight on one leg, then lift myself up onto a downed tree or some such using only one leg to do the lifting. I feared if it got worse, I might slow down. Fortunately, after that, very little such 'lifting' was needed and I never noticed the weakness again.
Right after we got to the timberline, we cut 100 yds across an open side hill that was so steep I almost didn't make it. The footing was loose on top, then hard as a rock 1" below the surface. There was nothing to dig a boot into and I did a lot of down hill sliding. Both hands were on the uphill side trying to grab on to something, anything, that would keep me from sliding down the mountain. For the first time in my hunting life, I became concerned for my safety and thought that if we had much more of that, I'd need to call the stalk off.
Fortunately, while we still had a long ways to go, we did not encounter such a steep nasty side hill again, so my concern soon disappeared.
The stalk would continue.
Can't wait to hear how you turned out...
I fell so many times, esp. on the way down, that two things happened:
1. My legs and my fore arms got bruised so badly there were hardly any flesh-colored spots visible.
2. I used up a lifetime's quota of four-letter words and various derivatives thereof. In fact, it got so bad I had to start inventing new four-letter words. lol
My one good fall left plenty of bruises...:) Feels good though...:)
Other than the first mile and the last mile, it was all more or less impenetrable on the way up. But the worst was on the way back. We stayed closer to the creek until it turned south and as a result, ran into the alders. THAT took two hours to negotiate and I'd bet we only covered 1/4 - 1/2 mile in those two hours!
Ran into some of that myself this Season...made a new rule..."if you can hear the creek...you are too low"!
I invented some new colorful language as well ;^)
Finally, at 4:30 PM, six hours and forty-five minutes after we'd left the truck, we got to a spot that was as close as we could get without getting busted. There was a rock wall in front of the Billy @ 486 yards and another one behind him @ 615 yds. He was clearly nearer the latter than the former and our consensus was, with a slight elevation angle compensation, to shoot for 560 yards. That was over 200 yds farther than I'd ever shot before. But I'd spent a lot of time at the range and was shooting ridiculously tight groups at 200 yds. My 1984 Sako in a .300 Win Mag. shoots great and I was comfortable with taking the shot.
As we were putting our packs down to build a rest, the Billy stood up but didn't move more than a step or two. He was dead broadside and I settled in and squeezed the trigger. The 180 gr. Barnes bullet was dead on line, but about 1" over his back, causing a little pyramid of rocks behind him to explode.
The goat did not move. I adjusted for the over-compensation on the distance, then shot again, hitting him but not putting him down. My next shot, however, hit him hard. He turned and, struggling, staggered a few yards away from us then dropped over a rise and out of sight.
He didn't.
It took us almost an hour to reach him, but we found him pretty much where we thought we would, not 100 yds from where he'd been when I'd shot. He was lying in a small creek with steep banks that ran through black rocks and he was covered with tiny pieces of the black rock.
He couldn't have been in a worse place for getting good photos. A great photo would have been for me to get below him, then shoot the picture lying on my belly and capturing the very steep, tight gully he'd come down. But that would have meant lying in the creek, on my belly, on ice-covered rocks! Sorry, I'm not in to that!
Here's the look back down. The truck was parked where noted.
We ran into the alders right next to the creek as we headed WSW. We were on a very steep side hill and getting through the alders was a ridiculous challenge.
Then we overshot the top of the ridge that led down to the truck, causing us to hit the power line cut a mile WSW of the truck.
The yellow line is my best guess as to the way we came down.
7 1/2 hours to get back to the truck, arriving @ 2:00 AM!
As we struggled through the alders between 7:30 and 9:30, I joked to Matt, "Could be worse. Could be raining." Then, of course, about 11:30 PM, it started raining and never let up.
Back to camp @ 2:45 AM where we turned on the oven and baked three pizzas Matt's wonderful wife had prepared for us. Had a couple of beers and shared a little Macallan as well. Got to bed just after 4:30 AM. I haven't been to bed that late since college.
The Billy broke off 2" of his right horn when he fell. His right horn is 'just' 8 6/8" but has great mass. It's 24 5/8 total." Doubling that horn, this is a 49 2/8" goat.
He's 7 1/2 years old. I'm 66.
Even though I never got even a little bit tired physically, I know that at some point, I won't be able to do these extreme hunts. Hence the rifle vs. a bow.
No need to justify the rifle to me. I made that choice for my BC mountain goat/ mountain caribou hunt when I was half your age and have never regretted it for a second. And although I busted my butt to get in great shape, I was probably only in half as good a shape as you are now.
I was just talking to a buddy a couple weeks ago about fully expecting (realistically or not) to still be able to do mountain hunts in my 60's. It certainly is great inspiration to stay fit.
I chose to post the story of what actually happened, yet I got crapped on for it. I chose to tell the whole story when I could have simply noted I shot the goat with a rifle.
So much for honesty and full disclosure, laying it all out there with the real story.
For that, Archery95 chose to $h!t all over me. Yet it was not he who climbed that mountain and packed out 7 1/2 hours in the dark and in the rain through the nastiest stuff on earth and at age 66, no less. Nor was it his money or his time and preparation that got this done.
I've never met him, but I'd wager he would never have agreed to even try to go where we went after this goat.
Matt, my outfitter, told me that 99% of the people who ask him about hunting goats would have said, "No 'effing' way" when asked if they were willing to go after the Billy we went after. He also said this was the 2nd most challenging goat hunt he'd ever done.
What's with people that gives them the need to crap on someone else's choices, decisions and victories?
This guy's from IOWA and has no trophy photos on the site. I have no idea what he's done with his bow, but I'd wager he can't match the 159" Dall sheep, the 205" Muley or the 366" elk, all of which I took with a bow.
Kenetrek 400 gr, boots. Very comfortable and serviceable. Just don't get them even a bit close to your warming fire or the glue that binds the rubber toes with the uppers will melt. Thank heaven for good glue and duct tape!
KUIU clothing across the board, except for my old Sitka rain gear, which performed without flaw despite the years of abuse I've put it through.
Leica 15 x 56 HD binos with a lazer range finder. They're heavy and bulky, but they're the best thing there is if you don't want to pack a scope and tripod.
Circa 1984 Sako .300 Win. Mag. with a Swarovski Z5 scope and Barnes 180 gr. VOR-TX ammo. Great combination! Shoots darts!
KUIU 3000 backpack. The perfect pack for a hunt like this.
Yes, with a little epoxy, the right horn will be good as new.
Congrats on a great trophy that was hard earned.
Thank you, gentlemen for your kind and supportive words.
He started it off by calling me an asshole. Then he went on a rant about how this site is ONLY for bowhunters, even though I noted this was a rifle hunt and numerous Bowsiters said they were fine with that.
Note to Archery95: If you don't want to read threads that aren't for bowhunting elitists, DON'T READ THEM!
HOW HARD IS THAT FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND?
CD
I'm curious about the Kenetreks and temp. How wet and cold were you at your wettest and coldest and did your toes get cold?
It's a bit unfair to delete a guys post or block his posts and then come back him. Just my .02.
It's guys like archery95 (and specifically Archery95) that have pushed me away from this site lately. I spent the better part of the last 35 years hunting with archery equipment. In that time, I've taken over 100 Big Game animals with archery equipment. The last few years, I've chosen to pick up the rifle more often and I enjoy the heck out of it. I have had some incredible adventures the last few years that I would LOVE to share here, but guys like AR95 completely ruin it. If picking up a gun no longer qualifies me as a "bowhunter" here amoung the elitists, so be it. My memories tell me otherwise.
Kyle has done more for mountain hunting the past few years than most of these high horse bowhunters will do in a lifetime. Get over yourselves, and quit reading/opening a gun thread if you don't like it.
Thanks again for sharing Kyle. I too had a great BC adventure last week but you won't read about it here...
Awesome is all I can say!
Big congratulations on a fine goat. Bigger congratulations on being in good shape mentally and physically at a point where many are giving up on the mountains and heading to a recliner. Thanks for your story Kyle.
Kevin, I agree with you concerning attitudes. Many years in the field, coupled with spending large blocks of time with folks, tends to narrow the group that we choose to spend precious time with in a camp.
Kyle has earned his stripes. I don't agree with everything he posts, but he does more in a year to benefit wildlife and folks he'll never meet, than 97% of the guys on here.
Keyboard tough guys suck.
And Kevin, isn't it poop that flows downhill?
Looks like some really tough country.
The Kenetrek performed flawlessly. I got into creeks and bogs frequently but not a drop of water got through. Nor did my feet get even a little cold. My boots have the 400 gram insulation, and that was plenty.
I use a Petzl. Great piece of equipment.
Thank you so much dakotaduner
Takes me back to my youth & reading Jack O'Conner's stories!
As the kids say...forget the "haters"!
You've got 12 years on me & I know right now I could not have done this hunt as I sit. I'm just trying to get in shape enough for Colorado elk drop camp next fall! Construction work in my younger days have made my joints a bit creaky!
Keep at it as long as you can.....a life long friends father is still doing western elk hunts in his 80's!
LOVE reading about any ones hunt be it rifle, bow, shotgun, or slingshot!
Awesome job! Congratulations.
If I can help motivate people or provide fitness advice to even a few who will act on it, it makes it all worthwhile.
If an old man can do hunts like this, you can too!
Matt hit the bear about ten days before I got there.
I found it. I thought you were bow hunting. I mean no disrespect. I just thought you were a bowhunter. I don't know what Archery95 said that upset you so much(thats one bad thing about deleting a post and then commenting about it). Over the years it seemed you were posting about bow hunting sheep so I just thought that you were a bow guy.
I'm sure at some point I'll shoot a rifle. So have you given up the bow or just for the goat hunt? Mike
No worries. No offense meant, no offense taken.
I still hunt with a bow but in the past year or two have gone back to a rifle for some hunts. Stuff like sheep and goats are tough to do with a bow as well as very expensive. At 66, I wanted to take a goat and knew that a rifle would be the best way to fill the tag and probably do it in just one hunt.
I did not, however, 'unblock' him.
Great read, thanks for sharing. Your fitness and NvaGvUp attitude are a real inspiration to us that are aging and wishing to continue to do western hunts. I hope to half that fit at 60 let alone 66.
Sometimes my NvaGvUp attitude is challenged and put to the test.... by me!
This hunt was one of those times, particularly when I began to question the safety of it all.
Fortunately, just thinking of my Sheep Shape seminar kept me going when I began to doubt myself. I figured there had to be a way to get to the Billy without my falling off the mountain. There was. That's why you see that we turned down the mountain for a bit before continuing NE to the goat. The footing wasn't great that way, but it was enough better that I no longer had concerns about my safety.
Mental toughness is part of the seminar and I knew it would look pretty darned bad if I didn't follow my own advice and get 'er done. lol
Great Goat! And I couldn't give a flip what weapon you killed it with. I am 60 and in great shape, but still don't know if I could have done a hunt like that. I will probably do a goat hunt very soon, and although I love archery it will most likely be with a rifle. It will likely be a one time deal for me and I know with certainty that a rifle will give me the best shot at bringing one home while still having a fantastic experience.
Congratulations and well done!
You are so correct that 99% of the hunters would have NOT gone after your billy...and probably alot of the knockers have never been off the back forty!
Your right sheep and goat hunts with a bow are tough. Also very expensive.
Congrats on the goat!
That is so true! The knockers probably drive their quads to their treestands, then get winded climbing up.
But they then choose to crap on people who dare to go where no man, including them (especially them), has gone before? THAT they can do!
Regardless of title, really neat adventure!
Go to the 'My 2014 Stone Sheep Hunt' thread to see the original thread.
Try the Cactus cut potatoes, the dry rub ribs or the bacon wrapped steak skewers. Off the charts!
Avoid the calamari, however. It's not up to speed at all.
It must have been difficult to have to resort to taking a shot as such distance. In light of the inability of your guide to get you closer, have you written up any comments or warnings about this outfit or area. It would seem that it sure is not very bowhunter, or any hunter friendly. Might be a good heads up for others. Especially those who do not have a gun to back them up and for those who can not shoot game at over 500 yards.
It sounds like you accomplished a stalk and a shot that now bowhunter could have tried and only a few gunhunters. I think outfitters like that should be pointed out to protect bowhunters and those not in the same shape as you.
I live here and hunt these mountains. I'm only 61 and this year, sitting way up top where there should still have been a very good billy, I was wondering if it would be my last year. Thanks for the inspiration and for giving me the incentive to get back up there in November.
And the only thing worse than that crap alder is the seas of Devils club.
Lots of respect for what you've done with a bow in hand, but I remember an adage I was taught in Sunday school and that my 3 y/o niece is learning..."if you don't have anything nice to say..."
Great job to Kyle for doing a physically/mentally challenging hunt, succeeding, and being proud to share it.
I have no problems with the guide. We could have gotten closer, but in order not to be seen, we would have had to back out, drop down, then try to get in directly below him. That would have put us at about 100 yds, which would have been great, but it also would have put us at risk of getting busted by the wind or all the other things that can go wrong on a stalk to close range. The plan was to wait up to an hour for him to stand up. If he didn't, we'd then go to Plan B. Fortunately, he stood up while we were still setting up for the shot and he was almost dead broadside to us.
I was totally comfortable in taking the shot and the Billy went down very quickly. Both hits were fatal and the Billy went down not far from where he dropped over the rise he was on.
"And the only thing worse than that crap alder is the seas of Devils club."
Devil's Club is the ultimate nasty plant, for sure. My choice of a pair of gloves was made precisely to deal with that stuff. We ran into enough of it to drive us nuts a few times, but it needs sunshine and didn't grow in most of where we went due to the heavy canopy formed by the trees. Thanks to the gloves, I had no problems with it.
The scientific name for Devil's Club is Oplopanax horridus, which pretty much says it all.
That makes sense. Why gamble on getting closer and blowing the goat out when you were totally comfortable with the shot. Obviously since you made a perfect shot you were right.
Was just thinking that I would not want to hunt with an outfitter who was unable to get his hunter to a closer distance than 560 yards.
Its one thing to have to take a shot with some hunters who are not as skilled as you, but as you say and with you being in such great shape, I was thinking he would have had the skill to get you closer.
Obviously and for many reasons he was unable to get you closer. That makes sense now, but sounds like anyone planning on using a bow to do this hunt might wish to reconsider.
Instead, I'd be more inclined to call references that hunted with the guy and guys like Kyle to make judgement whether or not he is a good archery guy or not. I would NOT base my decision to archery hunt or not archery hunt with the guy based on the fact that a rifle hunter killed a goat at 560 yards.
I think he'd take bowhunters to a different part of his area, back in higher and deeper where the hunt would be from above, not below.
What gloves did you use to deal with Devil's Club? I was planning on using some insulated, waterproof leather work gloves for a goat hunt next year but am interested in what worked for you.
Hey, you are right about me not knowing anything about rifle hunting. Good example about closing from 60 yards to 20. I guess if I am comfortable shooting at 60 but just want to increase my odds then I will try to get a bit closer. You are right about having to take the risk.
The way you explained it, totally makes sense as it eliminated the risk for Kyle. I was just thinking that as Kyle is a great bowhunter and in incredible shape that the guide would have been able to get him in a bit closer. Also since Kyle was comfortable with the shot, then it makes sense that it was his call.
I just got back from a bear hunt, had one at four yards but it moved out to ten. When it was four, I did't fell the need to move any closer :)
Thanks for explaining this and in a respectful way :)
Bigdan...sometimes your comments are so anti-gun, it makes me think you are from another country. (and while I'm on my "idol" soapbox, I don't always agree with everything you say, but you are my elk idol.)
This thread has been derailed too many times...Lets get back to telling Kyle how awesome this hunt was...:)
"Kyle is a great bowhunter...."
I wish!
At best I'm an average bowhunter who's had a little success because of my fitness and attitude combined with some dumb stupid luck. I had no mentor, no instruction, nor do I have any special archery talent.
You and your boys, OTOH, ARE truly great bowhunters!
I took leather work gloves with to deal with Devil's Club. But because we'd had rain every day, I ended up wearing Sitka's Storm Front gloves most of the time, without the liner gloves.
Wasn't Kyle's hunt awesome? :)
On Day 7 we understandably slept in, dried out, fleshed out the cape and the skull and then cleaned up until late in the day. Then we went to glass for bears again, but with no success.
Day 8, Day 9 and 10 were pretty much a repeat of our bear experience earlier in the hunt. We saw only one bear in that time. The berries had been deteriorating and the bears had obviously moved on.
At the end of the hunt, Matt told me he knew how much I wanted a grizzly and would make me a special offer to come back next spring after he'd had some time to come up with the pricing.
The End!
That was Part 1!
If you're talking about my still having the tag in my pocket for this hunt, ...... it's still there. We never got into sheep country for various reasons, all of which were fine with me.
:-) Congrats on a beautiful trophy Kyle, and a great adventure. Well done.
No, actually.
Part 3 will be coming to a Bowsite Sheep thread on your computer sometime after the Nevada DBHS season opens on November 20.
congratulations.
ill never understand why people go on threads to piss and moan about the method of take, totally takes something away from these threads and this site when it happens.
michael
I wonder if a GUN icon would help? hmmmm. maybe.
I don't like to see dissension in the ranks because it does take away from a hunters accomplishment. Look at this thread! Kyle worked his butt off and made an INCREDIBLE GUNSHOT! And because a few guys have voiced their disapproval on HIS thread it has really taken away from his accomplishment! I for one am saddened by the arguing and the ruining on the memory of the goat hunt that Kyle did. From now on when I see Kyle or think of his goat hunt I'll remember this argumentative thread and not his GREAT accomplishment! I know if I ever use a gun to kill a magnificent animal like a goat or sheep I won't post it on Bowsite because that would ruin it for me when some guys started arguing about how far the shot was or the crappy guide that couldn't get me closer or the bullet choice or scope choice. Maybe Kyle will do another Goat hunt and next time I for one won't even open the thread I'll just imagine he killed a 50 incher with a recurve! No wait, a rock! Mike
No worries.
Sometimes it's good to let small-minded people expose themselves. Guys like A95 haven't ruined my enjoyment of the thread, so don't let them ruin yours. In fact, I think we saw a tremendous outpouring of support for sharing our hunting adventures, victories, and trials here.
Our Bowsite community came together and bonded tightly as a result.
Kyle
Any 180's down there this year?
That's a very reasonable question and one I've been struggling with for several reasons:
1. This is the first sheep tag I've ever drawn and at age 66, I can't count on drawing another one, esp. a DBHS tag.
2. I desperately want to fill this tag for a variety of reasons, foremost because I've put so much of my time, effort, money and passion into the conservation of wild sheep, particularly DBHS over the past 14 years, as well as trying to increase opportunity for my fellow sheep hunters. A desert ram on my wall would mean more to me than I can even begin to describe,
3. As luck would have it, I drew the best unit in Nevada and a 170"+ ram is a very reasonable goal. Last year, ten rams were taken in the unit and seven of them made 'the book' (168") at checkout. So that means I have to decide if I want a ram of a lifetime, or just any ram. Certainly a whopper ram can be taken with a bow, but the challenge is much greater and the odds of tagging out much smaller.
Of course, any ram you take with a bow is a ram of a lifetime, but you know what I mean.
4. Since Sept. 3, I've not shot my bow at all, although I hope to shoot a bit later this afternoon. I've had two hunts since Sept. 3 and when I wasn't hunting and was actually home, I was buried with my business, wild sheep issues, and other personal matters such as we all deal with.
The first two days after I returned from the goat hunt, we had 40-60 mph winds here in Reno, which is not conducive to shooting well. Not shooting is not good, and not shooting well is even worse, esp. when I haven't been shooting as well as I can since late July, meaning my confidence in my shooting ability has sagged. At the same time, thanks to the goat hunt, my confidence with a rifle has soared.
I've still got a month to go, but in that time I've got a rifle Muley hunt in Utah, a WSF board meeting, a WSF/NBU party here at the house, plus at least two trips to CA for meetings with the CA DFW on wild sheep matters.
I'll certainly take my bow and an archery ram would be my preference, without question. But as of now, I'm not sure how it will all turn out.
One thing's for certain, however. If I'm not totally comfortable that I can put a ram down quickly with a well-placed arrow, I won't shoot the arrow. Wild sheep deserve better than that!
Some times a long layoff eliminates bad habits.
Off to Home Depot tomorrow to get a new can of florescent orange spray paint!
Good work on the shooting. Sounds like you are dialed. Its just like when you blew away those guys in that long distance race. You hadn't trained, but guys like you just don't ever really lose it.
You can always take your bow, then if it doesn't happen that you can't get close you can always use the rifle.
A lot of guys have rifle hunted then "walked" or stalked into bow range. Knowing how hard you want to kill a big ram with your bow, this might be the chance.
Lots of sheep and big ones, might be the ticket. Not sure of the terrain, but its not as if you are not going to tire out. After all the hunts you have been on, I am sure you can make it happen.
Then if you get close and the ram spooks, well you have some 500 yards to fool with.
