Just got home from the 2012 Legends anual hunt. Mike is still there and I'm sure there is lots of action to come. I'll throw in some pictures and I'm sure Mike will come on later and add lots of good stuff.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/California%20Fujifilm%20Sheephunter/041.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/California%20Fujifilm%20Sheephunter/030-1.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/California%20Fujifilm%20Sheephunter/036.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/California%20Fujifilm%20Sheephunter/034.jpg)
Awesome goat!!!
great goat, where did you hunt?
Hunted with Mike Rash of Legends Bows. The ranch is located in the coastal mountains above San Jose. We were almost all testing out his new longbow. It performed extremely well.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Couple of nice goats.
Bill,we just got home.Still need to unload the RV.You guys missed the snow last night."Cat" shot a very nice goat yesterday.I think she was going to try and post some pictures.
We didnt see as many animals this year but didnt seem to stop the die hards. No pigs were seen,but alot of sign.We will be back with some more folks in a few weeks maybe some more pictures and stories to share.
CONGRATULATIONS!! To Bill,Ben, and Cat for some well earned trophies.
Great pictures! Congratulations on your hunt! :clapper:
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
Congrats! :thumbsup:
Great goat buddy....congrats!!
Awsome !! Cat can shoot !! I'm happy to hear she was successful. Snow? Are you kidding me? Must have been alot of fun :)
Are those the goats that were transplanted from Catalina?
Same goat, the Spanish, these were brought from Texas.Very hard country on the hunter but the goats,sheep, and hogs love it.The hogs stay held up alot in the very heavy brush.There is water everywhere so its much harder to hunt. As it heats up and the water sources get slim its easier but then its most always to hot to hunt that rough steep country.
Looks and sounds like a cool hunt.How are they to eat?
Thanks. Hunted them on Catalina in the early 90s- what a rush. The coolest hunt. . . ocean side, steep cliffs, valleys with hogs. . . and goats to glass and stalk on cliffs. They removed them from the Island late 90s however- heard they moved them to the CA mainland.
Very cool
They are one tuff animal. They also like to hang out in the rugged stuff. Thanks for all of the good wishes. A guy can't ask for much more. A beautiful ranch, great friends, and some really cool animals to hunt.
nice goats boys!!
Bill, those are some great pics, glad I was there to share the hunt with you. Steep isnt the word for hiking out of hells canyon chasing goats up onto the flats for everyone else to get a look at. A good time was had by all.
Oh yeah, I shot my goat at about 20 yds. perfect slightly quartering away, down hill and placed the arrow to exit out of the armpit. Bill watched him as he scooted around the bush not even knowing he had been hit and crumple up only 20 seconds after being hit. The First larger animal kill with a Legends long bow and it is definately a performer. I shoot 60# at 31 in and the arrow never slowed down until it hit dirt. Thanks for a great bow Mike.
Hope Mike can post pics of the hunt from after I left the scene.
Ben,
Glad you checked in. Now I'm free to add to your story. I didn't want to jump the gun on you. Guys, wait until you hear this one. I have to go to the boys baseball practice but when I get back I'll tell you the rest of the story.
battman, the goats are 20+ yr old and even grinding them up is not good. If you can get one of the sheep (barbados, etc...) then those are actually pretty good eating---backstraps and then grind up into sausage.
Bill, waiting for your story and the burning in the legs has gone away.
Congrats, looks like a good hunt! :thumbsup:
Sweet pics!!! Can't wait for the rest of the story :campfire:
Nice looking goat there Bill...sharp looking camo too... :thumbsup:
Congrats!
Bisch
Here I am finally got my TG account! WOW what a rugged hunt! Still bruised from head to toe! Being a compound junkie and real new to shooting "meatstick" my legends bow, this was my first hunt. I was told this is an EASY hunt your gonna LOVE it! Lemme tell ya ... there was not much easy about this hunt! So early saturday morn all having coffee and getting around... I hear the "veterans" say "animals! Right over there!" I panicked! Grabbed my gear (all but snacks and water) yelled to my BF animals hurry lets go! and hit the trail with my cuz, his wife and can't tell you who else. ? Never looked back for my man. They sent me up a hill all the while the goats in my sight. End up loosing everyone and out of nowhere here comes BF busting out of the brush (random). So we head on up the road and I show him the goat location. So we head toward them. We run upon Keoki (another hunter that actually knows the layout of this land). He helps formulate a stalk which leads to BF getting nothing but a view of about 7 head shots. Off we go again to find them. Which then leads to Keoki going down and doing a push to us. So I set up (realizing I am not in the best position). I get up at the last moment and back up to some bushes when I look in the direction I am backing what to my wandering eyes should appear? A Rambouillet that has been there for maybe over a year!! Yes this old guy has evaded broad heads and bullets! At about 20 yard from me... Torn is what I was.. hmm lemme see? Spanish Goat or this adorable trophy creature? Yeah I stayed in the hunt and went for the spanish. What can I say... loyalty. So all of the sudden I hear BAAAH! OH God here they come! Knowing there are only two coming over the hill I get ready, 1, 2, 3, at full draw, 4 goats? SWACK! OMG!? I did it! I made the shot! 5, 6,7th goat come over the hill. They run into the brush and about 2 hours later I got my goat. Climbing over and under brush, falling about 3 times. Spotting this guy at maybe 20 yards more than once from under the brush but no blood. I had to make sure this was the one I had shot so I did not buy 2 of the same goat. Tried several times to justify Spanish Goat and Rambouillet in one hunt(Nobody was willing to loan me there american express). As afraid as I was to try it, actually ate some of it last night (drum roll please) It was amazing! After a few days in a brine tasted great! I have pics but not sure how to post yet. Hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did living it!
http://s1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh581/nmlhuntr/
Maybe you can see the photos here? Need help...
Great story. Sounds like alot of fun and alot of work. Congrats! :)
Congrats on the hunt!Sounds like ya had fun. :thumbsup:
Beautiful goat!
Congratulations
Glenn
Congrats, CAT,
I've heard of posing with a wonderous trophy, but never "basking" with one!
That first shot made me smile... from the story...that is where I'd still be...lying half dead on the side of the MT!
What an adventure!
Welcome to tradgang Cat.Glad you found your way around here.Pictures are great.Still love the story.Wish it would have been possible for you to get pictures where you shot him so people could see that brushy hill side.You deserved the true grit award.
Congratulations again!
Now for the rest of the stories. Ben, you are first. Guys, you have to realize this about Ben, he is one great guy. He is an excellent shot and a very good hunter. His story about his goat was very modest. We were starting out on our hunt when we looked up on the hill and there was a goat. It was all by itself feeding away. We glassed it for quite some time and we all thought that's a pretty nice goat. It had really unique horns, very high off it's head before spreading out to the sides.
There were three of us that went out together. Ben, myself, and our friend Rod who was not hunting but offered to go along and be the camera guy. We talked about that goat for a while and Ben wasn't sure he wanted to after it since we had only been out about 5 minutes. Finally he decided to sneek up on it and have a look at it. The plan was that he and Rod would put a stalk on it and I would stay down below and keep an eye on it in case it moved off while they were stalking it. It was the perfect set up. There was a line of trees and bushes leading all the way to the goat that would cover their approach. I had the perfect vantage point to watch it all unfold.
They started on their way and everytime they would make some noise the goat would look down the hill at me and then go right back to feeding. It was like watching a scene out of a hunting video. Finally I lost sight of Ben and Rod behind the cover but I knew that they had to be getting into position. Suddenly I caught a flash of the sun off of Ben's bow limb and knew that he must be getting ready for a shot. I kept my eyes on the goat and all of a sudden caught a flash of the arrow heading towards the goat. I didn't see the impact but heard the arrow crashing into the brush beyond the goat. At that point I heard Ben say to Rod I hit it but the goat had dropped down the hill out ot their line of sight.
I had a front row seat if you will of all of the action. The goat didn't know what had happened. He started to feed again and I was starting to think that maybe Ben had missed. Then I saw it, the bright stain that started to form on its side. The goat started scrathing at its side where it had been hit wobbled and then was down. It was one of the coolest things to witness! At that point I yelled up at them and told them "come on down, he's down for the count".
It was really cool sharring that with Ben. The good part starts when I ask Rod "did you get that on film? you had to be right behind him when he shot?" Rod just smiled and said "I didn't even have a chance to turn the camera on!"
:archer:
Looks like a great hunt! Congrats!
ahh the chaparral! cool looking goats! and good shots on both
Hey Cat, welcome home! :notworthy:
now, that looks like fun !
Bill, its cool hearing it from your point of view, awsome and thanks for posting it.
Now Bill, before we get to your goat I remember a long up-hill walk......
CAT, great job, we got separated and you were on the other side of the canyon, glad BF caught up with you and you guys scored. Welcome to the campfire.
Nice goats guys!!!
nice goat Bill, and by the looks of the blood stain, I'd say you can still shoot! way to go
larry
Well Larry,
I think that brings me to my story. I wasn't sure if I was going to write about mine or not. I think maybe this story may help others so here it goes.
After Ben shot his goat he and Rod continued to help me on my hunt. Let the walking begin! We walked all the way to the top and back of the ranch. I had been recovering from being sick the week before but soon found out that I could not breath very well. Rod on the other hand is part goat himself and pushed the pace with out even breathing hard. after getting all the way to the back of the ranch we spotted a herd of goats going up and over a pass back toward the front of the ranch. Yes, back toward where we had just come from. It was a different side of the ranch so down and back up we went.
Finally we were in a position where we thought the goats were so we spread out and slowly moved over the crest of a ridge. Ben saw them first and motioned to me to move his way. They were in a gorge. If you stayed low they were blocked from site so the stalk was on. The problem was the footing. Fairly steep but very loose soil. I was trying to go slow, be quiet, and not slip all at the same time. I made it to a large bush that gave me cover and stepped out. There they were. The largest of the bunch was the closest to me. How much better could this get? I picked a spot drew and shot. I watched the arrow sailing toward the goat only to see it fall short and crash through the grass under and behind the goat. I had peeked to try to see the arrow hit the goat and I missed!
missed!?! :scared:
MISSED!!!!!
The goats didn't even react to the shot. They even turned towards me and started working up the gorge. I had another arrow nocked and ready but the goat I had missed was acting a little off. He was favoring one leg.
The goats started moving to my left around the bush that I was using for cover. I started moving around to get into position. I was stuck. Below me was the rest of the goats and they were looking at me. I could have shot any one of about 6 or seven other goats including a very nice black one and an increadable white one. I just kept thinking that I needed to wait on that brown and black one that I had missed. He was on the other side of the bush and just never came across to the other goats. eventually they started to move away. I had to get back to the original side of the brush. They were moving out!
After they had moved down the HILL, we went to look for my arrow. we found it and it was clean but as I was looking around I found blood and lots of it. I had hit the off leg.
I hate to admit to a poor hit but they do happen. How you react to a hit like that makes all the difference. With blood on the ground we decided to just take it slow and try to work out whatever kind of trail we could find. With a not vital shot the blood most likely would fade out and we would have to depend on tracks and general knowledge of the land.
To our surprise the blood did not fade out. In fact, it kept getting better as we went. It got to the point that you didn't even have to look for it. It looked as if some one was pouring red paint on the ground. I started thinking that I must have hit an artery. as we were cresting the next hill into a little valley our heads were down on the trail when I heard Ben say "there he is". He had bedded right out in the open.
We moved in slowly but he wasn't in the mood to try to move.I was trying to get an arrow out of my back quiver and kept hearing Ben say" do you want me to shoot?". by the time I got an arrow that didn't have a judo on it Ben's arrow was off. He hit it right in the shoulder area and the goat tried to gain it's feet but couldn't. It fell to it's back and I put a finishing shoot through the chest.
You never want a hunt to go like this but with motivation and determination we worked out the trail. Also a close inspection of the shot scene, even though I was sure that I had missed, revealed a different scene altogether.
I always hear guys that say they've never lost an animal or never had a bad shot on one and I have to think to myself how many times a simillar situation may have been the case.
I am very thankful that things worked out well and I am also very thankful to have had a couple of experienced guys with me to help work out the trail.
The results of staying positive and willing to work out a trail speak for themselves.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/California%20Fujifilm%20Sheephunter/038.jpg)
Sorry this story took so long.
Wow...I'm so glad you chose to share!
Long, long ago, I quit hunting with some gun hunters at varied "camps" in our northern tier because they'd NOT follow up gun shots if the animal didn't "react hit!" What? :confused:
There are so many variables that "anything" can and sometimes WILL happen.
You sir, have my admiration for not accepting the shaft as the only indicator of a "hit or miss" and then following up.
Razor sharp heads can do serious damage... I've made a few quick trips to ER myself over the years messing with heads and sharpening.
Excellent trophy and the more sweet for the extra effort to not let a wonderful animal be left for carrion!
Cudos! :thumbsup:
Bill, it was definately a good blood trail to follow. All I could think of was this sucker was going to bolt away and we would be standing there thinking why didnt we get a shot into him quicker. I have seen it where the goat gets away because of that. We had a good time chasing them around.
I hear your going back, do you have anything in mind to go after? I expect to hear the story on it. Have fun and be safe. Ben
Ben, you were absolutely right on to shoot. I'm glad you were with me for that hunt.
I don't know what I'll be looking for.
So....
Bill the one with the horns is the goat..Right..?
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/IMG_3119.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/IMG_3118.jpg)
Here you go Cat.
Here is Russ with his Corsican Ram he got on Sat.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/DSCF0818.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/DSCF0816.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/DSCF0815.jpg)
Here are a few pictures of the ranch.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/DSCF0814.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/bcurlis/DSCF0813.jpg)
Nice shooting Russ. Great pictures. :)
He sure looks happy!
Come on Russ,where is your story??????
I'm so proud of my Texas Dahl Ram - I usually have my animal, within the first hour, of the trip, but this one I didn't get until the third trip. It took lots of sweat, frustration, and patience,(which I have very little of) to get this animal. I can not even begin to tell you how many miles I hiked to track this guy. But he is a beauty!
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/legendsbows/011-2.jpg)
I'm so proud of my Texas Dahl Ram - I usually have my animal, within the first hour, of the trip, but this one I didn't get until the third trip. It took lots of sweat, frustration, and patience,(which I have very little of) to get this animal. I can not even begin to tell you how many miles I hiked to track this guy. But he is a beauty!
That is a beautiful animal. I see you got him with a wood arrow too. Awsome!
That is a beautiful animal. I see you got him with a wood arrow too. Awsome!
Yeah Deb!! You look great too! Glad I suggested you fix your hair before the photo shoot! I am ready to go again! I want to go get Tank! Let me know when your ready!
CAT,i here ya,im ready now!
what great pictures !