Broken String goats ....
Mountain Goat
Day one of our hunt found me 150 yards from a goat and she didn't like it...
I left the area a hiked down. Got to the bottom,took my pack off and saw this....
F***! Good luck next time.
i see the broken string part of the story b ut not the goat part of the story. were there any goats getting on the Ark?
looks like blood on that string
Congrats Nick! That's a sweet goat! You are sooooo blessed! I've never seen a goat with that much hair. I can't believe you didn't carry an extra string. Mike
Wait for it........ Wait for it......
You hit that goat in the parking lot with the Toyota?
Uhhmmm ... prolific read :)
Broken string goats HMMM more then one ? that string isnt broken just worn out from shooting :>
Our little camp. Right in the heart of it.
Great photos Nick. Congrats!
Looks like Roy and Bob were there! :)
Piles of bear scat like that out there...and you are dressing up like food???
Wow! What the H do you guys eat up there in Alaska?? Those are some serious turds!
Not sure I want to know why you poop together, though......
Dress like food, see goats up close.
Jon found a 9" spoon since he forgot his again.
I've been patient...Lets get on with the story telling.
We flew with Taj at North River Air, more on him later, he exceeded every one of our expectations. Unreal...
First Supercub flight...
We were dropped off at a high lake that wasn't yet frozen.
Spent my last night as a non resident in a tent and woke up an Alaskan resident 13 hours later.
The first day we hunted hard, found a Billy right away and headed up the mountain towards him.
A few hours later we were up top near a grass patch they seemed to feed in.
As I stated in my first post.... After a failed stalk I climbed down to where Jon was. Took my pack off to get some water and saw that my string was ruined... First day of a trip I've been planning and dreaming about for a year and my bow is now useless.
I called Hunt Man from the Sat phone and told him my misfortune. I was able to draw it back but the peep wouldn't rotate properly and it was pretty sketchy at best. I decided not to chance it and create a disaster in the middle of nowhere.
Down we went back to camp.
Next morning we hiked up to the top of the mountain pictured here.
We sat here and watched four goats for three hours.
Jon and I make a plan and decide to get up to start a stalk.
I turn around and there is a goat standing seven yards away, staring at us, heavy white coat blowing in the wind. I'll never forget it.
I tell Jon "Don't move..."
Chamber a round, shoulder the boom stick...scope covers are on... Take them off, shoulder it again, all I see is white...turn power from 9 down to three and shoot.
I look at Jon in disbelief of what just happened and quick run to the cliff to see four legs going overboard...
Not exactly how I had planned with regards to the rifle but I did want to be close and I certainly was. I'm elated yet disappointed that I didn't take care of my bow well enough.
Lesson learned.
Had again. Not quite as sweet but still pretty damn sweet! Congrats
Huge body... My buddy Jon is about 270 lbs for size reference!
Good thing camp was right down the hill...
What a cool view...Stuff happens...Way to overcome and get it done. You'll have many more chances with the bow...
8 year old, tad over 9". Had dinner with Blacktail Bob last night and he was very surprised that we both took such old goats. Lucky I suppose.
Awesome Nick! Good call not to risk it with the bow. I have a nice scar on my hand as a reminder.
Congrats on the Goat...looks like he has a lot of hair.
Uh oh...SteveBM's not gonna like that! Kidding, and probably a good idea considering the "goat" I saw you shoot your bow at ;)Congrats bud, lets see the other one!
That's Awesome. Thanks for Posting!
Good job nick and great pics!
Congrats on a beautiful goat! Who cares what the weapon was!!
I killed 13 turkeys on a string like that...no crap...at least none like the pile in the pic. Mine only had one strand broke and I just unwound it up to the serving and cut it off. Ida had to try it....but I think I can hit a running goat with a 270. Gosh it looks cold up there already. Winter x 10. I think I'll just visit(- :
You teasing B******. Very cool!
Congrats Nick. Great looking goat.
Is that a Kifaru super tarp you were staying in?
Congrats on the goat, also on the new residency. I am sure the critters in Alaska are a little more nervous now!
Congratulations!
... sucks about the string!
Glad you didn't push it with the string, Nickie.
Hey, there's not a lot of doubt you could have made the same shot with your (healthy) bow.
Glad we didn't see little pieces of you in those big piles, too!
Man i love those photos. What a great adventure. I am proud of you guys. August cant get here soon enough. Congrats for the 50th time. HUNTDAWG:)
Congrats Nick ! Great pic's and story.
Congrats Nick!! Having a hell of a year!
Bake
Nick, living the dream as an official resident...Congrats as your roll continues!!!
"Attitude always overcomes adversity!"
Mark
Congrats Nick!! Love the hair on that goat!
Nice job Nick, good looking goat right there, Congrats!
Thanks for sharing. Please post more pics.....
Great Hunt!
"Jon, did you bring game bags?"
"Nick, I didn't even bring a spoon!" haha
The night Jon shot his goat, we brought camp up top with us. Pitched the tent in the dumbest spot we could find because that's just how we roll... The Hilleburg withstood sustained 50 mph winds and gusts of what had to be 80mph or more! It was the longest night ever and I didn't sleep but a few hours at most. Every 20 mins I was getting up and re-staking the tent or moving rocks that we used to hold it down.
I am sold on that tent.
Congrats Nick. Great adventure! Nothing wrong with a blaster at bow range, given your circumstances. But I gotta ask, what is that in the sky? It's blue, and looks bright. I'm confused. Didn't know that ever happened on a goat hunt. I'm jealous.
Nate, other than my rain pants which I wore every day with merino long underwear, I wore my rain gear (Jon, well, he forgot his) one time for about 30 mins. The weather was incredible, but pretty cold at night!
Here's Jon walking up to his goat. I've never seen him smile so big!
I wish I knew why some of my pictures are showing up side ways... The image tool will not even let me rotate them...?
We went to bed on Friday evening pretty early and it was calm as can be. That meant there was a very good chance the lake we were landed in would be frozen by morning, it was... Not only was it frozen, but in order for the pilot to get us, the wind had to be either dead calm or from the south, it had been from the north the entire trip...
He showed up just as the sun was coming up, dead calm and he was able to land, but there was ice... He made two passes over the ice with his floats to make a runway... Had he not done that, it would have been around 32 miles total in 4 trips to the salt with our meat, hide and gear. Thank goodness for badass pilots!
We let our meat air out and fleshed our hides the day before we left... There must have been 50 or more eagles soaring above us all day long, dirty little scavengers! haha
I was surprised we had no issues with bears, only saw three and it was a sow with cubs about 4 miles away and moving the other direction.
More details on the tent situation...Is that a Nallo? And a Kifaru? Assuming you both slept in the Hilleberg and used the Kifaru for overflow? Bear fence? I'm gonna need to know this stuff...
That is a Hille Nallo 3GT and I would be willing to bet very few tents would have held up to the wind we had while camping up top...
We used the Paratarp for gear and meat, worked well.
The Bear fence is the UDAP lightweight model, it weighs 3 lbs and runs off of 2 D Cell batteries, supposed to last 5 1/2 weeks with continuous use. I did not test it, Jon did on accident and he wasn't too happy! I have read online somewhere that a guy tested it on purpose and he pissed himself! LOL
Great thread Nick. Congrats to both of you...I never realized how huge an animal those goats can be!
Best of Luck, Jeff
Jeff, our plan was to try and get two each but after seeing how big they were coupled with the possibility of having to hike out to the salt, we decided there wasn't enough hero juice in us to make that happen. I think I am headed back in the spring to try again.
You are living the dream buddy.
P.S. I saw the "tiffany" comment from Steph. GET ON IT SON!!! wink wink
Great recap, Nick. Congrats on the goat!
Outstanding... I'm extremely jealous.... Your pics are amazing.... I hate you... Ed F
Nice job Nick! Yeah we tested our bear fence on the moose hunt. Didn't piss my pants but I will bring a tester next time!
Super job and story nick. Well done for sure
Pretty cool guys and great pics. Congrats!
Nick I guess your string touched your solid BH its best I stic with my dull slick tricks !!
Too Bad about not being able to use the bow! David
Awesome pics. Looks like quite the adventure.
I missed this because I wasn't back from WY.
Congrats on the goat, Nick! Seven yards? Did you practice extensively to feel comfortable shooting at that range?
Great pics too. Thanks.
Nick is comfortable with the rifle out to 10 yards. :) This one was well within his effective range.
Thanks fellas... again, not how I had planned it out in my head for a year, but I will take what I can get. Life's short, excited to go back soon. Headed back home to hunt with my father for two weeks in a few days, that will be the highlight of my year.
Good Luck Nick...Trips with "Dad" are special for sure. Keep us posted...
I'm sure that you would've preferred to have your bow in hand at seven yards, or even a borrowed pink bow. Things go awry, chit happens. I'm just happy that your trip didn't come to a screeching halt.
Have a great trip with dad. You might have to work a little harder for a good WI whitetail after the past two winters.
Don't forget your spoon.
Awesome job and cool story. What are you using for a camera/processing to get photos like that?
Bill, it's an Olympus TG-3. I'm camera dumb, those pics are not edited at all :)
Congratulations on an awesome trophy, and thanks for taking the time to share with the rest of us.
Great job Nick. Great goat!
