I flew into Vancouver and then on to Smithers, BC where I met up with guide Abe Dougan.  Smithers is due east of the southern tip of Alaska. From there we drove 10 hours North to Telegraph Creek (basically an Indian reservation out in the boonies). This is out of Abe's outfitting area, so he leased the goat tag from the outfitter whose territory we were in.

We stayed in a little bunk house the night we arrived, and the float plane landed us on an alpine lake the next day (Monday). Abe's dog, Silver, was joining us on this trip. Silver carried around 35 pounds for us in his pack - what a life saver.

We landed on the lake around 2:30pm and had to climb around 1500-2000 vertical feet that afternoon to reach the top of the mountain. We got to the top around 6pm. Day 1 was cold, windy and a little rainy. That's typical of goat hunting.

Once up top we set up camp and glassed some of the surrounding mountain tops and ridges for goats and figured if we found some, we'd be able to relocate them the next morning.

The next morning we checked out the mountain we were on for goats without any luck. We glassed the next mountain over again, spotted a good looking goat we saw the night before, and decided to make a run at him.

He was crossing a ridge and headed up towards a glacier where Abe figured he would bed down for the day. As we climbed down the mountain we were on, we would try to keep our eyes on the goat to see where he goes. When we were 1/2 way down, he had made it up near the glacier and laid up. We picked up the pace to get down to the creek bed.  We made it to the bottom around noon and had to cross the creek after stripping off our pants and boots.

The creek was glacier run-off and was a little cold to say the least. Abe pitched the tent while I taped up my feet and got my boots back on. We tied up the dog and decided to lighten up our packs so we could make it up top a little quicker and before the goat decided to move.

We made it to the top around 2:30pm or so, peeked around a boulder and the goat was gone. Abe told me to relax - the sun was hitting the snow pack that the goat was on earlier, so he probably moved into the shade to keep cool. Sure enough, we climbed up a little further and there he was bedded down (160 meters away). I crawled up on top of a rock to try to get a shot. Unfortunately didn't have a real good angle - he was sort of quartering away, so a double lung shot wasn't happening. We waited for a while and Abe finally told me to shoot if it felt good. I went for it and the billy stumbled forward about 10 yards. I shot him 4 more times before he piled up. He wound up only moving around 30 yards from where he was laying at my 1st shot. Extremely lucky - there was a 100 ft waterfall just below us and it's not uncommon for injured/scared goats to just jump off the closest cliff to get away.

Picture time, then skinned the goat and packed up the meat. By the time we got down to the tent in the creek bed it was around 8pm. I slept pretty good that night.

Day 3 was the worst day. My legs were tired and starting to ache. No more adrenaline to keep me going. It was going to be a long hike out to the lake for the float plane. This time, we were climbing and also fighting through the bush and through avalanche slides and over fallen trees with every step. My pack and rifle weighed around 50+ pounds on the way in. On the way out it was 85 pounds or so. Took us about 7-8 hours to get back to the lake for pick-up. Abe called the pilot on his satellite phone an hour or so before we made it out of the bush. We relaxed at the lake for a while and salted the hide. The plane showed up around 6:30pm to get us back to Telegraph.

I was lucky. Had my goat 24 hrs after landing on the mountain. Not a common occurrence on a goat hunt. Now I know what to expect. I certainly won't book another goat hunt or a sheep hunt on short notice like I did this time. Physically, I wasn't as prepared for the terrain/altitude as I should have been but I managed to keep up. I've heard a lot about how goat hunting is a mental grind as well as physical. I can only imagine how you would feel after a couple of blown stalks. Especially knowing you've got to climb back down what you just climbed up and knowing you'll need to do it all over again the next day and maybe the day after that and the day after that. We were also very lucky with the weather. The sun came out for day 2 and for our hike out. If there's a next time, I will train for months in advance.