PHOENIX PHIL
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Daughters mountain goat
- Thread starter Firebird
- Start date
CoElkHunter
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Firebird
AH legend
Thank you all for your kind comments. My daughters goat means more to me than my own goat that is mounted in the basement-and I didn't even get to be part of hers!
I have heard the story from three of them now and the story is different from every one of them-from distances to shots fired to how hard it was. I do have some pix to add from my nephew but it will take a minute to get them from my email to this forum.
The day was clear and cold and it is a tall, steep mountain. I don't like to hunt there because it is just steep. My nephew hunts deer there but he is long and lean and has tremendous endurance. He was recently hired at the same fire dept where I work and is generally considered to be my son. He is my brother's son but so much like me that most people don't realize that he is not mine.
My daughter is not tough or battle ready and hunting is not her thing. She does it because it is what you do if you get raised in my house and to her is it just what normal families do. But it is not her passion.
She gets car sick tho I thought she had outgrown it, but the windy mountain road and the anticipation/anxiety or whatever she got sickly on the way there. She said she felt like she was going to vomit the whole time. Nephew does this hike in 2 hours. They were closer to 3.5 but he went ahead and found the goats then came back to urge the rest of the group onward.
My father in law is a driven, passionate hunter. He is in excellent condition but does have a knee replacement. He said he could have gone faster but enjoyed the leisurely pace set by my daughter and they were having a good talk on the way up. He was with me for my goat hunt wherein we used his horses and mules and spent several days and had a lot of fun. He also mounted my goat.
They had to leave the trail and move through two other basins to get to where the goats were-one rocky and in the sun, the other snow and ice and in a cold mountain shadow. halfway across the snow my daughter started to cry and wanted no more of the stupidity. Her husband didn't know wether to support her in quiting or encourage her on. Father in law calmly talked her off the drama ledge and together he and her made their way slowly along. At one point he had to explain to the boys that they needed to pull back the reins, that this wasn't their hunt it was hers and they could cater to her level or they could go wait in the truck.
Eventually they got through the hard parts and to where the basins are more flat and wrinkly and the travel more what we associate with normal hiking.
Her husband bought alot of gear for this trip. He didn't bother to ask us that have done this before what he needed, preferring the experts at (pick a store, any local store.) So he had a shooting stick she had never fired off of and a spotting scope and they had new boots and pants etc etc etc. So she didn't know how to use his sticks so they futzed around getting that set up and then there was the trophy conversation. Three billys bedded at 350 yards. Each of the men thought a different one was the biggest. Finally my father in law had to say that he had killed one and been on the scope for other hunters a dozen times and mounted a forgettable number and he was going to make the decision. At some point one of the goats stood up and made the decision easy. There were other goats farther up the mountain with a bigger billy but they decided that simply wasn't an option. My daughter lined up and fired and nothing. Fired again and nothing. This is where she needed her dad and he wasn't there. She was upset because nothing fell over and everyone else was spouting at her to do this or do that. The other goats stood up and all three started to wander uphill. At some point nephew realized that he had used the same rifle to kill his first deer (and another a year later) some years ago and he knew about the custom turret which she had forgotten about. He spun it to 375 and told her to try again. Sun glare in the scope and she wanted to adjust the zoom and all the men are about to spontaneously combust. Finally she spins one and they hear the thump but no reaction from the goat. Jake adjusts again and she sends another. This one hit him hard somewhere and then all three goats sprinted over the top. At least this is what I gather from the stories, each version was different! Nephew and son in law made tracks for the top of the mountain. Daughter chose a different path around the side hill. But her husband had taken the sticks and rifle, so she had no choice but to go after them. Grandpa finally had enough and yelled at the boys to stop. They did and then waited for the group. He reminded them that this was not their hunt and that bullets are much faster than their feet. My nephew recalled having me grab him by the collar and say the same thing to him one time and it made him laugh. Nephew and daughter got to the ridgeline and at 200 yards the goat was in the relative open laying alone. They took some time and set the scope back to 200. Father in law could see blood on its nose and beard. One shot while he was down and then he stood, fell and rolled. Rolled hard enough to put a dent in his skull but didn't mess up anything else. More crying but a different kind this time and some hugging and then she got to walk up to the goat first. What none of them had seen until now was the opposite side of the goat which was covered in blood. At least two bullets had hit lungs. The last one had broken his back leg. They could account for three hits, small hole on entry and big exit wound on the body but leaving the skin with only quarter sized holes. They did not find or really bother to look for the leg breaking bullet.
Photos and more photos and that is about the time they realized they were about out of batteries in everyones phones. No big deal. . . Short discussion about how to mount it. Daughter wants a full size mount like her dads and her husband is pretty sure they cant afford that and father in law is saying lets worry about that another time. wink wink. Husband says they dont have room for it and father in law says lets worry about that another time. Exaggerated wink. The problem with phones is that they took pix and sent texts but without any service whatsoever, the phones just burned battery life trying to send pix that would not go through. Father in law owns a gps that will send satellite texts, I know because I bought the same one at his insistence. Of course his is in his car and he didn't drive. They full size skinned the goat which is how they saw the bullet holes and then they did the gutless method. One thing I have literally beat into my nephew is always take the heaviest pack. When your uncle is over six feet and 240 pounds and is nicknamed "the Ox" it is hard to out pack him. So when we are packing an elk or deer I build my pack and then he tries to build his heavier. It has become a healthy competition through the years, each year he gets stronger and I get older. He knows how to build and balance a pack and take weight from other people. My father in law had tears in his eyes when he said "you can't believe what he packed off that mountain!"
My daughter was beat. They at least had plenty of food and water and snacks. She packed other peoples gear so they could carry meat. At this point they tried to call for additional muscle or at least check in but the phones were useless. At one point they sent a text which got to the other mother in law and she sent her son and husband and someone else but they were slow getting up there and were of little help by the time they arrived.
It was ten at night (post trick or treating, the Ox loves treats) when I went to bed and told my wife I was mad that none of the group had checked in with me. She told me to call her dad. I called all of them and always straight to voicemails. My wife got ahold of the other mother in law and she told us what she knew. At around 11 pm my daughter sent a text that said they were back to the cars and all ok and she would call tomorrow.
Their hike down was uneventful, just long and by this point hard. Nephew went to the car at speed, dropped his pack and went back up and claimed my father in laws pack. This is something he has had beaten into him as well and I'm glad he was up for the challenge. Goats are not so hard but the entire wet skin and all the meat plus the rifle and spotting scopes and binos etc etc
So nothing really worked as good as it could have but in the end it was a good and successful hunt. I'm glad they got some lucky breaks all along the way. She also said she was never going up that mountain ever again for any reason!
I have heard the story from three of them now and the story is different from every one of them-from distances to shots fired to how hard it was. I do have some pix to add from my nephew but it will take a minute to get them from my email to this forum.
The day was clear and cold and it is a tall, steep mountain. I don't like to hunt there because it is just steep. My nephew hunts deer there but he is long and lean and has tremendous endurance. He was recently hired at the same fire dept where I work and is generally considered to be my son. He is my brother's son but so much like me that most people don't realize that he is not mine.
My daughter is not tough or battle ready and hunting is not her thing. She does it because it is what you do if you get raised in my house and to her is it just what normal families do. But it is not her passion.
She gets car sick tho I thought she had outgrown it, but the windy mountain road and the anticipation/anxiety or whatever she got sickly on the way there. She said she felt like she was going to vomit the whole time. Nephew does this hike in 2 hours. They were closer to 3.5 but he went ahead and found the goats then came back to urge the rest of the group onward.
My father in law is a driven, passionate hunter. He is in excellent condition but does have a knee replacement. He said he could have gone faster but enjoyed the leisurely pace set by my daughter and they were having a good talk on the way up. He was with me for my goat hunt wherein we used his horses and mules and spent several days and had a lot of fun. He also mounted my goat.
They had to leave the trail and move through two other basins to get to where the goats were-one rocky and in the sun, the other snow and ice and in a cold mountain shadow. halfway across the snow my daughter started to cry and wanted no more of the stupidity. Her husband didn't know wether to support her in quiting or encourage her on. Father in law calmly talked her off the drama ledge and together he and her made their way slowly along. At one point he had to explain to the boys that they needed to pull back the reins, that this wasn't their hunt it was hers and they could cater to her level or they could go wait in the truck.
Eventually they got through the hard parts and to where the basins are more flat and wrinkly and the travel more what we associate with normal hiking.
Her husband bought alot of gear for this trip. He didn't bother to ask us that have done this before what he needed, preferring the experts at (pick a store, any local store.) So he had a shooting stick she had never fired off of and a spotting scope and they had new boots and pants etc etc etc. So she didn't know how to use his sticks so they futzed around getting that set up and then there was the trophy conversation. Three billys bedded at 350 yards. Each of the men thought a different one was the biggest. Finally my father in law had to say that he had killed one and been on the scope for other hunters a dozen times and mounted a forgettable number and he was going to make the decision. At some point one of the goats stood up and made the decision easy. There were other goats farther up the mountain with a bigger billy but they decided that simply wasn't an option. My daughter lined up and fired and nothing. Fired again and nothing. This is where she needed her dad and he wasn't there. She was upset because nothing fell over and everyone else was spouting at her to do this or do that. The other goats stood up and all three started to wander uphill. At some point nephew realized that he had used the same rifle to kill his first deer (and another a year later) some years ago and he knew about the custom turret which she had forgotten about. He spun it to 375 and told her to try again. Sun glare in the scope and she wanted to adjust the zoom and all the men are about to spontaneously combust. Finally she spins one and they hear the thump but no reaction from the goat. Jake adjusts again and she sends another. This one hit him hard somewhere and then all three goats sprinted over the top. At least this is what I gather from the stories, each version was different! Nephew and son in law made tracks for the top of the mountain. Daughter chose a different path around the side hill. But her husband had taken the sticks and rifle, so she had no choice but to go after them. Grandpa finally had enough and yelled at the boys to stop. They did and then waited for the group. He reminded them that this was not their hunt and that bullets are much faster than their feet. My nephew recalled having me grab him by the collar and say the same thing to him one time and it made him laugh. Nephew and daughter got to the ridgeline and at 200 yards the goat was in the relative open laying alone. They took some time and set the scope back to 200. Father in law could see blood on its nose and beard. One shot while he was down and then he stood, fell and rolled. Rolled hard enough to put a dent in his skull but didn't mess up anything else. More crying but a different kind this time and some hugging and then she got to walk up to the goat first. What none of them had seen until now was the opposite side of the goat which was covered in blood. At least two bullets had hit lungs. The last one had broken his back leg. They could account for three hits, small hole on entry and big exit wound on the body but leaving the skin with only quarter sized holes. They did not find or really bother to look for the leg breaking bullet.
Photos and more photos and that is about the time they realized they were about out of batteries in everyones phones. No big deal. . . Short discussion about how to mount it. Daughter wants a full size mount like her dads and her husband is pretty sure they cant afford that and father in law is saying lets worry about that another time. wink wink. Husband says they dont have room for it and father in law says lets worry about that another time. Exaggerated wink. The problem with phones is that they took pix and sent texts but without any service whatsoever, the phones just burned battery life trying to send pix that would not go through. Father in law owns a gps that will send satellite texts, I know because I bought the same one at his insistence. Of course his is in his car and he didn't drive. They full size skinned the goat which is how they saw the bullet holes and then they did the gutless method. One thing I have literally beat into my nephew is always take the heaviest pack. When your uncle is over six feet and 240 pounds and is nicknamed "the Ox" it is hard to out pack him. So when we are packing an elk or deer I build my pack and then he tries to build his heavier. It has become a healthy competition through the years, each year he gets stronger and I get older. He knows how to build and balance a pack and take weight from other people. My father in law had tears in his eyes when he said "you can't believe what he packed off that mountain!"
My daughter was beat. They at least had plenty of food and water and snacks. She packed other peoples gear so they could carry meat. At this point they tried to call for additional muscle or at least check in but the phones were useless. At one point they sent a text which got to the other mother in law and she sent her son and husband and someone else but they were slow getting up there and were of little help by the time they arrived.
It was ten at night (post trick or treating, the Ox loves treats) when I went to bed and told my wife I was mad that none of the group had checked in with me. She told me to call her dad. I called all of them and always straight to voicemails. My wife got ahold of the other mother in law and she told us what she knew. At around 11 pm my daughter sent a text that said they were back to the cars and all ok and she would call tomorrow.
Their hike down was uneventful, just long and by this point hard. Nephew went to the car at speed, dropped his pack and went back up and claimed my father in laws pack. This is something he has had beaten into him as well and I'm glad he was up for the challenge. Goats are not so hard but the entire wet skin and all the meat plus the rifle and spotting scopes and binos etc etc
So nothing really worked as good as it could have but in the end it was a good and successful hunt. I'm glad they got some lucky breaks all along the way. She also said she was never going up that mountain ever again for any reason!
Last edited:
Firebird
AH legend
Forgot about the altitude, you can see above tree line and one of the tallest mountains in Utah. Guys like me run out of breath just standing still! I know some of you are thinking this-7mm-08 for goat?! I would have gone bigger and did for my own. But she really couldn't have handled anything more and really this is a soft caliber with a mb on it and a baby to shoot. Except those 150 gr ablr. I love that bullet out of this rifle and can say honestly that handloaded they exceed the mv listed in the manual. . . Which negates the soft caliber and mb I know, I know. Would have honestly liked her to use her little sister's 7mm-08 featherlite and the 120 ttsx but she thinks this is "her" gun and has had success with it before so I didn't press the issue
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Congrats to your daughter, if it wasn't her rifle before it is now.
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Attending SHOT Show has been a long time bucket list item for me.
Finally made it happen and I'm headed to Vegas.
I know you're some distance from Vegas - but would be keen to catch up if it works out.
Have a good one.
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