Trad Gang

I hadn't intended to go to BC this year. Even had a Newfoundland moose hunt bought and paid for.
Then I read Jacob Sandberg's story and I couldn't take it.

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=050579  

A fellow in New Jersey was glad to take the moose hunt off my hands and I'm happy to be going back to BC Mt goat hunting again. They say the third time is the charm. I hope so.

Gotta love B.C.!!! Greatest bowhunting place anywhere! There's only about 3 months of the year ya can't hunt something!

I agree with you Brandie. Of all the places I have been in my life BC sits on the top of my list. This will be my fourth year in a row visiting your province.

Breath taking province, was out at Roberts Creek in dec buddies were showing me some blacktails they were watching, nice 2&3 points the two was hughe, seengoats high up on the ranges and down the valley really nice area. Sunshine Coast.

I have been to BC twice and loved it. Was on the northern border to the Yucon.  Got a Mountain Caribou and Grizzley the first time and a moose the second time.

I'll be out there this year as well...heading out for 3 weeks in October moose hunting with a grizzly tag and wolf tag in pocket as well.  BC is an amazing place....I thought Alaska was nice...'till I went to BC!

Ryan

No, No No, BC is a scary place, lotsa snow, steep dangerous mountains, wild rivers, lotsa wild animals and wilderness. Stay away for your own safety...unless you happen to like that stuff.

It is a great place and the island has to be the best part.

JW

Wow, Good Luck Jack and Ryan both    :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:

Jack is one of the hardest hunting clients I have ever had in 21 years. We had a tough going goat hunt and it sure wasn't for lack of trying.

Jack, I wish you the new world record! You deserve a big one.

Ryan, looking forward to it! Hope you get a shot at each of your animals.

Best Regards,
Michael

Hey Michael, you better send me a bill....Katia is having a pole barn built and I need to cut your check before she spends all the money !

:)

We are going to fly up to Vancouver and spend a week this summer-maybe see some whales and take a drive inland for a couple of days.  I'm going to try to track down Dave when we're there and take his family out to dinner.  I want to see Lucy too....but I bet she's grown a bit since last time.

R

Thanks Michael,

No one ever said Mt goat hunting was easy. If it were I guess everyone would be doing it. Even though I didn't get a goat we did get to spend ten days in some absolutley gorgeous, pristine country with not another soul in sight.  Sometimes that is all one needs.

Ryan,

I'm trying to PM you...clean out your box will  you!

Oh no, obviously a nasty case of goat fever     It must be a very serious illness to inflict an individual so hard like that.
Hope you get the cure this year Jack!  There sure is no remedy to be found in staying home!
 :D

Joe,

I'm not sure if it's an illness or just the realization I won't be able to do these type hunts when I get much older. They don't seem to be getting easier and I'm sure not getting any younger.

Jack,

I don't have anything planned that I need it for, but I will be happy to climb the hill with you   :thumbsup:

Thanks Steve, I'm still having a few issues with my back and haven't really got into my workout routine yet. Taking my daughter's dog on a three mile walk every couple of days has been about it for me.

Tom is headed back to Mexico on another Desert Bighorn hunt next month. On the outside chance he ask me to join him I'm afraid I'll need to turn him down again.

I hear you Jack.  The ticking of the clock gets louder and louder in my ear every year and I realize more acutely that the things I am doing now and the places I get to go will not always be there for me.  I'm always telling young guys to find a way, do what ever it takes, but do it now!  Don't dream about someday - make it happen now.  Sure wish I had started doing some of these trips earlier - now I'm trying to make up for lost time.

Best of luck Jack.  Hopefully we both connect on goats.  Keep us posted.

talltines,

If you end up going to Nanny Lake this is your view coming in.

 (http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0716.jpg)

Some of the terraine after the climb up from the lake.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0729.jpg)

Keep the pics comming! Goat hunting is top on my list too!

A.K

Al, I'd be glad to.

Brian is booked with the same outfitter I hunted goats with in 05. I was giving him a taste of what to expect.

My guide,Spike Lewis and I are glassing for goats here. They are amazing animals and live in the most beautiful places on earth.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0733.jpg)

The adventure actually starts with the plane ride thru a tight valley and then a landing on a glacier fed lake.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0718.jpg)

One of Mooseman's (Michael's) Moose at sunset up in BC. What a place to be. Everyone who loves to bowhunt in true wild places should get to British Columbia at least once. About my 2nd day in BC I knew I would be coming back. October 2009 I am chasing Moose. Good luck with the goats.
John III
(http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m123/JDS3_2006/Archery/100_1078.jpg)

I'm thinking of booking with the same oufitter as Jacob for a BC goat hunt. I'm yet to talk to the outfitter in regards to the waiting list but thats one animal I'm soooo keen to hunt.

Just love all the pics too. I've 'em saved on my puter to look in on & dream away.....

I'm hunting with the same outfitter Jacob hunted with. Troy still had a couple of openings for this year when I last talked with him a few weeks ago.

Another picture of the Coast Mountains BC.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0737.jpg)

Oh man, those pictures are simply beautiful.  I'd also love to see more.  Goats are on my short list also.  Cheers, Matt

Hey Jack, you take some great pics! Thanks for sharing 'em!

I've now got a camera & will be taking some shots when next I head to the mountains.

Good hunting & I hope you get up close & personal to many goats.

John,

The area Michael and I hunted in 06 for goats was also a beautiful place. I'll see if I can find some pictures from that trip and post them later.

Matt, the pictures really don't capture all the beauty. You owe it to yourself to go and experience it first hand.

Thanks Brandie, I'm looking forward to seeing some of your pictures now.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0720.jpg)

John,

Here's a picture of the goat mountain that Michael Schneider and I hunted in 06. It took us more than a day of hard backpacking to reach the spot this picture was taken and another two days of hard backpacking and climbing to reach the goats. There was a group of six billies hanging out just under the snow on the slope in the middle of the picture. We weren't able to get within bow range of a billy before running out of time. Toughest hunt I have ever been on.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0921.jpg)

What beautiful country! I would stop to "look" out over the mountains and drink them in. Michael would smile a bit and tell me he did the same thing for his first ten years in BC. Jack thank you for this thread. I've been reliving the memories from last May. I can hardly wait til next year to go back.
(http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m123/JDS3_2006/Archery/100_1046.jpg)
John III

Michael and I spent a hard six hours climbing the mountain above where we were camped. We had glassed some goat tracks in the snow and wanted to see if we could find some goats up there that were closer than the ones we were seeing that were two days away from camp. We didn't find anything but I took this picture of the goat mountain before we headed back down. We took a different route going down but it wasn't any better than the way up. We needed to spend the next day in camp just glassing and resting up while we picked devels club thorns out of our bodies. Did I mention what a tough hunt this was?

We were seeing two groups of goats on the green slope in the center of the picture. In one group was nine nannies and kids the other contained six billies.

Michaels friend from Germany, Patrick had come along on the hunt just for the fun of it. While Michael and I were climbing the mountain he hiked several hours back in the direction we came in to retreive some hip boots from a trappers cabin. We would need them for fording the glacier stream we had to follow to reach the goat mountain.


(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0916.jpg)

QuoteOriginally posted by Whip:
I hear you Jack.  The ticking of the clock gets louder and louder in my ear every year and I realize more acutely that the things I am doing now and the places I get to go will not always be there for me.  I'm always telling young guys to find a way, do what ever it takes, but do it now!  Don't dream about someday - make it happen now.  Sure wish I had started doing some of these trips earlier - now I'm trying to make up for lost time.

I agree!!!!!

I'd rather die in debt up to my eyeballs than look back from my deathbed saying "I wish..."

I keep trying to talk my buds into going on hunts with me and they always come up with some kind of excuse.I tell them if they keep putting it off it's NEVER going to happen.I mean.....instead of spending $3500 on a darn new dining room table or some such nonsense.......go hunting to one of your dream places.

Not a truer word said Mr Varmint! I'm trying to sort out what animal to hunt first, black bear or goats in BC. I like the outfit Don T wrote about in the last TBM. Has me in two minds it has!


A.K

Take the goats first. Black bears are all over the place. We ahve more bears in the yukon than people...take a goat

Jer Bear  :thumbsup:

Black bear hunting can be scenic too   :D  
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/jcjccjcj/IMGA0072.jpg)

And wet !!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/jcjccjcj/ALparaply.jpg)

Jack, good luck buddy
Hows your back doing ?

The foliage along the route we needed to get to the goat mountain made travel difficult. There were few game trails to follow so this is where the waders came in. We followed the glacier stream crossing often to stay on gravel bars and wading where the water wasn't too deep.  
(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0904.jpg)

Michael had brought along the type of waders that were supposed to be worn with wading boots figuring we would only need them to make a few crossings. I'm not sure if this is where the German engineering came in or not? But we made him a set of boots out of duct tape.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/img_0924.jpg)


Patrick and I had the more conventional type of hip boots.


(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0923.jpg)


We were able to make it from our first camp to the base of the goat mountain in only seven hours by doing this. It probably would have taken twice as long without the waders.

Oh, and thanks Jacob my back is much better. Almost back to normal.

Yup BC is a great place to live and hunt.But the hunting for the most part is not easy . Pretty much all of BC except for the north east corner is steep and thick.

It was late afternoon by the time we reached the base of the goat mountain. We set up camp and waited until morning before begining our assult on the mountain.

The goat mountain is on the left of this picture as we make our way towards it. I'm not sure what Michael is looking for in his pack. Maybe some more duct tape to cushion his feet?

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0907.jpg)

The goats came out early to feed that afternoon from their resting spots higher up in the cliffs. As the sun set that evening it cast a golden light in the valley that shown like a spot light. I captured it on video but don't have a picture to show. Wish I did though. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in nature.

From our position at camp we figured it would take four or five hours climbing to reach the area the goats were using to feed in. Once we started our ascent we realized how totally wrong we were. The alder thickets and steepness of the terrain slowed our progress to a crawl and we spent eight hours just getting through the alders.Once we cleared them we still had another couple hours climb to where we were seeing the goats appear. We had only planned on hunting the day and returning back down to our camp that same evening. Because of this we had only brought a few essentials in our day packs some snacks, water and the clothes on our backs. There was no turning back at this point though. Even with the realization we would be spending the night on the mountain with no shelter or sleeping bags.

This is a view from the goat mountain of the valley we had followed coming in.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0931.jpg)

Soon after breaking out of the alders we spied a couple goats bedded high above us. We had to take a route that kept us hidden from them as we continued our climb up. When we reached some of the last remaining trees on the mountain we decided that would be the best place to spend the night. They were a low growing cedar that would block the wind somewhat and the dead branches could be used to make a fire . Before continuing on after the goats we must first find water though. Michael and Patrick went to look for some while I waited back by the cedars with our packs. The goats were starting to move from their bedding spots and one appeared on a ledge several hundred yards across the slope from me.

We each had a radio to keep in contact with one another and Michael soon called me to say that he and Patrick were pinned down by another goat that was in the rocks just above their position. That goat moved away out of sight and I made my way over to them. Michael and I climbed up towards where the goat had been while Patrick stayed back and glassed the area. As we were climbing up through the rocks the billy suddenly appeared again a hundred or so yards above us and had caught our movement. From his reactions I'm not sure he knew what we were though so we dropped from his view and put on some white painter's suits.

Our plan was to have Michael show himself as he walked away trying to look like a goat. In the mean time I would try to close the distance on the billy once Michael got his attention. It was a good plan and may have even worked if the billy hadn't already come looking for us instead. At sixty yards he must of known the two funny looking goats were up to no good and decided to move to higher ground.

There wasn't enough daylight left to chase after him so we went to find water and head back to where we intended to spend the night. It was dark when we reached the cedars and we gathered fire wood using our headlights. We used Patricks poncho to build a windbreak, divided up our remaining snacks and settled in for the night. I can't say it was all that comfortable but we survived and I at least got some much needed sleep.

When dawn came we could see the six billies feeding on the slope several hunred yards from us. There was no way to approach without being seen so all we could do was watch. As morning wore on they moved up into the cliffs around the North side of the mountain. We determined it was too steep and dangerous to go up after them there. Our only alternative would be to see if we could make it to a spot and set up an ambush when they came back down in the evening.

The trouble with that plan was we weren't even sure we could make it to the spot we had chosen for an ambush. Even if we could at the time the goats would be up and moving our scent would probably be blowing up hill towards them. The mountain side was bare except for a large rock that we hoped to hide behind and then we would need to have one of the billies walk by within bow range. We were out of food, low on water and would need to spend another night on the mountain in any event. Sometimes you need to know when its time to fold and this was one of them.

We gathered our gear and made our way back down the mountain. We took a different route than the one we had come up but it still took us over five hours to get back to the bottom. We were a tired, hungry and dejected hunting party by the time we made it back to camp.

 (http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/img_0932.jpg)

Just as we had witnessed in the past the goats came out to feed on the slope that evening and were still there in the morning when we awoke. Safe from us at least and any other hunter in their right mind.

We broke camp and started our long two day journey back to civilization. We didn't get a goat on this trip but there is always next time. Besides that would have only been icing on the cake because we got to spend ten days in this country.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0911.jpg)

Beautiful pics Jack.  Not sure if I will be hunting Nanny Lake or not.  That pic sure shows how steep that hike up the "hill" will be.  Looking at that pic made my legs hurt.

Such magnificent country! What's the name of that cute little aeroplane? It doesn't look Cessna-ish...

Brian,

Spike said of the over thirty lakes they could access with a plane the climb up from Nanny Lake was one of the worst. It took us over five hours to climb up to where we camped and it took another hour or two of climbing before we began to reach an area the goats were using.

Ben,

The plane is a Wilga, made in Poland. It belonged to Harry McCowan the pilot that flew us into goat country.

Hi Jack,
Reading the story brings back pain......and good memories. We sure had a grand time and fantastic weather. Here a picture of that evening with the glowing light, one of the fun alder climb and getting there.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/MoosemanBC/GoatHuntJack2006074.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/MoosemanBC/GoatHuntJack2006076.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/MoosemanBC/GoatHuntJack2006053.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/MoosemanBC/GoatHuntJack2006085.jpg)

Michael,

We probably should have taken more pictures in the alders as we spent quite a bit more time in them than we did those open areas in all the other photos. They would all need to be close ups though because for the most part we could only see a few feet in front of us. That could explain why I don't have any video of us fighting our way through them either. I'll make a note to try and capture more of the less scenic parts on my next trip.

I have been told by more than one person that most hunters only go on one Mt goat hunt in their lives. Had I been successful on my first hunt I can see where I may have fallen into that category. I guess I should consider myself one of the lucky few that gets to keep going.

Incredible looking place there Jack.  I can sure see how a place like that could get inside your head and not let go.  
There is a qoute that I read somewhere here that goes something like " True adventure is not always fun while it is happening"  I'll bet that was especially true on your trip.  But the rewards you recieved by having been there will be with you forever.
Inspiring stuff!  Thanks for posting, and if you have more pictures I'd sure love to see them.

Joe, you really need to go experience a British Columbia Mt goat hunt for yourself. These pictures just don't capture it all. I must warn you though they can be addictive.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0920.jpg)

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/bowjack/IMG_0918.jpg)

Truly Incredible Jack!  Thanks for showing me this thread!

You must go back to this place often when you close your eyes.   :campfire:

just awesome !

Love the pics of the area.