Goat season dawned bright and clear on Sunday and saw my friend Monte and I atop of Kodiak Island once again. We climbed in by moonlight in hopes of finding goats where they were spotted a couple weeks ago. We got to the backside of the mountain and found a group of nannies and kids on the next peak over, a spot that Monte had taken a B&C goat with his bow years ago (actually his first archery kill...!). We had planned on it being a day hunt so we didn't have the necessary gear to overnight up there which is what it would have taken to get to them and get a goat out. Wisdom must be catching up with me as I age because we actually decided to back out rather than going for it. Wisdom hasn't taken full hold of me yet though... If anyone ever asks me if I'm going to take my crampons goat hunting and hears me say "no"... a sack punch is definitely in order. When you are grading your traverses on a scale of "I have no idea where my carcass will disappear to if I slip" to "At least they'll find my remains if I slip" to "Whew! I'll be a mangled mess but I may actually survive if I slip here!" you know you should have brought your crampons!!!! No goats this trip but we did get some good photos and had a great day out on the mountain. I'll update this as the season continues on until Dec.15. Here's the photos: http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh22/robswanson/Kodiak 09/Goat 09/?albumview=slideshow
Awesome.... Have you thought about packing a 16 pound bowling ball? Bowling for Goats...now how fun would that be?
I think that cliff was about 150 feet to the bottom with a steep slope at the base for another 500 feet. Rangefinders with the ARC built into them are pretty handy for goat hunting; 50 yards out, 70 degree angle... ???
