This is a pic of my goat he measured 13 1/2 but I was expecting him to be in the high 14's but he is still my best goat to date and I am very proud of him. The hunt started out with a small buck right off the road which I passed on and than about 80 geese flew right over my head in the middle of the desert, two days after the early goose season closed. Through out the day I passed up 7 or 8 bucks and one that realy was itching my trigger finger but in a year or two he should be in the books with some great prongs and good mass. Around 9 am I spotted a heard with about 100 head withabout 5 bucks in it and one that I only looked at for about a second and I knew he was a shooter. So I started out walking because they were about 900 yards away, once I got to about 500 yards from them I started to crouch and walk and at about 400 yards I started to crwal but I only got about 100 yards before 4 bucks were walking right to me so I got set up but the big one wasn't with them. So when they got to with in 80 yards they spotted me and took off back to the main herd and then all the goats started to look at me and ran off so I stood up and started walking angled away from them and I didn't look back. This is what I beleaved saved my hunt and is the best advice I could give to any one who gets busted, just make it look like you are out for a walk. Well their was a big hill behind them now so I circled around and ran into another hunter that was cleaning two goats that were about 12''. We talked and I found out that he lived up by where I do and he asked me if I was after "that big one" and I said yes, he siad that his buddy was going to shoot it and shot the wrong one, now don't get me wrong he's not very big but for the area that I drew it was about the best you could pull out of there. So I left him and started around the hill and to my supprise their were two more hunters in their truck and at this point I'm thinking Oh sh@!* their going to get him, but to my suuprise they just sat in their truck!? I latter found out that the guy I talked to earlyer said that they did the same thing when they stalked their two goats, he figured that they were to lazy to get out and walk which isn't much of a supprise to me because I know alot of people that goat hunt like this. So I crawled up to the top of the hill, got set up but couldn't find him so I moved to right and nearly all of them took off so I got set up again and there he was 150 yards away standing perfectly broadside and I shot and dropped out his back legs, reloaded shot again and he was dead. So now I had to make the 900 yard walk back to the truck which wouldn't have been that bad except for the fact that my new hunting boots didn't come in so I had to borrow my moms old hiking boots that were a size too small. This was my worst succesful hunt ever, lol, I had blisters on my heels for the next 2 weeks but it was worth it, in all I walked about 10 miles which is the most I have ever walked on a goat hunt and the 150 yard drag up the hill didn't help much, lol. While I was gutting mine the guy I talked earlyer came over and after closer inspection he said that it was the best buck that he had seen in the area after 14 years of hunting there, which put a smile on my face seeing how I had never hunted the area before, it was a great way to start out the season. Well here is the pic.
06 goat hunt
