I am off on a training hike. Eight days is all I get. My partner bailed on me last week. I had my 5th set of wisdom teeth removed last Saturday. Worked at the three jobs I currently entertain, harvested the garden and packed my pack.

Four more years to go and I can do the long hunts I want.



Hopefully, I will see what a 129 grain ABLR will do to a Goat.

Sincerely,
Thomas

Luck!

hope you have the best hunt ever Thomas!

Best kind of training hike there is. Rooting for ya.

Most people are born with only one set. Your dentist is going to be famous.

you'd have to see Thomas, to understand, the good Lord made more of him than he did most of us. (grin)

big guy, big heart, big brain, he's just well...... big

135 lbs for 23 miles with a three year old Billy. 26 nosler is like a laser but wrecks a lot of meat. Headed back to the banks.

Darn good training hike.....

can't wait to hear the story and see the pix


way to go Thomas, congrats!

Yes please, story and pics.

Well, sometimes you just go for it anyway.

Last year, I had scheduled a trip into the Wrangells to hunt sheep and goats and my prospective partner ended up killing a sheep in the Healy area and was unable to go.
I had to punt.

This year I reserved the same slot and I had arranged for a different sheep hunting partner. He was an older feller, almost as old as I am, and I figured that he hadn’t yet shot a sheep or goat and would be somebody eager to go. He dropped about 30 lbs with extensive conditioning. He started kidding me about my fitness plans and I basically told him that I had my conditioning and equipment figured out and it was not my first rodeo. About two weeks before, we were scheduled to go, his wife got injured in a household accident and he had to pull out. I wasn’t going to punt this time. Out of shape, out of time and just straight out of my mind I decided screw it I’m going hunting.

My wife and I left Fairbanks on Friday at 9:00PM and headed down to the Copper Basin. We got to McCarthy by 7AM. I changed into my hunting clothes in the outhouse and we paid Jim for a day. We packed my gear over to McCarthy Air and did the old Alaskan standard of “hurry up and wait.” The fog basically had us socked in. I talked with one of my former students Logan Pitney and the owner of Wild Alpine Eli Potter who was also completely caught up with mountain hunting. It was good to talk to the locals about present state of sheep and goats. Both young men have an excellent plan and future laid out in front of them. About at 12 noon, we went over and ate at the Potato. My wife who had closed her gift shop to get me down there had to head back. She took off and wished me luck. She had gone on a hunt with me in that area and didn’t wish to go again.

At about 4PM, Gary noted that the clouds opened up and while he couldn’t go over the north side of the Wrangells but he could zip me in. There wasn’t much for turbulence and Gary hung close to the ridge on the way in and I caught a glimpse of four full curl rams including a complete monster who definitely was a hawg. I also saw six goats with two being big billies. There were a number of ewes, lambs and immature rams. Bryson Bar is always beautiful and it shown with its robin egg blue mineral color. We sped by Gibraltar or Knoll’s Head. We took off to a place that only Gary can get me into. I call it Gary’s Goat Hole Special. Gary dropped me off, shook my hand, and took off going back down the glacier. I am always the last guy in for the season because in general I try to max out my personal days by using Labor day and my personal days so I get eight days of hunting. I might say training. I call it training because in reality I am seeking to do these long 18 mile to 35 mile to 23 mile over glacier trips to keep tuned to being able to long hunts. My hope is that in 4 years I will be able to go long and far and really get into country that nobody has been into since the early 1970s. . McCarthy Air closed down for the season.


I headed down the lateral moraine and ran plumb into a older nanny and her kid.
The two white dots are the nanny and the kid.

They really didn’t know what to think about me and I closed the distance by not really being overtly aggressive. I got to about 25 yards from the nanny and made a “Baah” sound. She gave me a real weird look and then led her kid right over the side of the moraine to side step along a vertical wall. I made it to the end of the lateral moraine and shot across to the first patch of white ice. I crossed it without crampons and went another half mile down the glacier to a nice place where I could look up a creek that is very familiar to Vek. I set up camp and bonked out. Before the light fell I took out my tripod and sadly figured out that the shoe would not fit my Zeiss 65 Diascope FL. I also noticed that I had left my spork so I had to use a tent stake from my BA Flycreek UL2 and got the minimo going. I was eating my mh LA shrimp and ham when I noticed three other goats about two miles up the glacier.



I also saw what I thought was a larger solo goat. I decided at that point that I would head up the glacier on the second line of white ice then next morning. I slept like a log since I had had a set of wisdom teeth removed one week previously. The oral surgeon had given me a prescription of painkillers that would make Elvis or Michael Jackson proud. Just one of those and it was lights out. It rained and blew heavily that night but cleared up that morning. I tried to take a picture of the mountains and found out that the battery pack was low and that I would only be able to get 1 picture and then it would shut off. I had some via starbucks coffee and then headed up the glacier. I went up about two miles according to my GPS and noted that there were three groups of goats. One group had a nanny, a kid and a billy. I decided that a billy in the hand was better than one up or down the glacier.

I found a creek that basically was about three quarter of a mile underneath the goats who were bedded down. I started up the creek at about 2 PM. I shot up the creek and dropped my pack underneath a pile of rocks and took a OR peak bagger drysack/day pack, my rifle, my binoculars and my rangefinder and headed up the creek. I figured that it would provide me with cover. I climbed up the creek bed until I was actually about 350 feet above the goats. This was at about 6300 feet in elevation. There was a powdering of snow up there but it was quickly melting under a very bright sun. I noted that it was about 4PM when I reached the top of the creek.
I worked from outcrop to outcrop until I noted that I was 306 yards from the billy. I couldn’t find a good rest so I crossed a boulder field on my hands and knees to get to a little outcropping. I found a good position and ranged the billy who was out on a large rock. I could tell from the scope at 12 X that he wasn’t a giant billy but he was mature. I figured he would be tasty.


This is a picture of the outcrop. The goat ended up at the top above the cliff on the far right.

My rifle for this trip was a Nosler 48 Patriot in 26 Nosler with a FFP Vortex HSLR 6-24X50Mm scope and warne tactical rings. I was shooting 129 ABLR Nosler Trophy grade ammo which is cheaper for me to purchase than to reload at this time. It has been very accurate with this rifle. I sighted it in right on for 250 yards. I aimed low on his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. I heard a whack but the goat was not knocked down. I cycled the action and aimed for the goat’s spine. I shot again and this time the goats rear legs collapsed. He started running for a side cliff. He was out of my view but I knew that if I didn’t get to the back side before he got there on his front legs that I would lose him. I lost a goat about .5 mile from this goat four years ago and I wasn’t going to have that happen again. I left my rifle and took my trekking poles and took off after him. I caught up to him about 30 yards from the cliff. I had no rifle and I wanted to end this goats pain. I pinned his upper body with my trekking pole so he couldn’t hook me with his horns. I grabbed his left horn and twisted his head until I heard a loud pop and he died.
I grabbed him by his horn and drug him about 100 yards so I could field dress him away from the cliff. I marked him with my daypack and retrieved my rifle and binoculars. I went back to where I had set up my camp and retrieved my Icon 7200 pack, my headlamp and my TAG bags. I called my wife and told her the good news.


By 6 PM I was processing the goat. I didn’t take that camera because at that point it wasn’t working. I put the cape and horns in the daytripper and put the meat in the tag bag. I put the tag bag in a Sealine 60 L dry bag. I was done by 8PM and came down with the meat and cape in the dark. I put the cape and head in the creek and also had the meat in the creek in the dry back to keep it very cold. It had started to snow hard and I ate a quick dinner of MH chicken teriyaki and about 1 liter of coffee and crashed for the night. I woke up to some snow. The sun came out and quickly melted the snow.



I removed the skull and cut the skull plate off with my little folding saw. I tried my camera and it worked for about two times.

The billy was 3 years old with 7.75 inch horns.


I got my pack and broke camp. I loaded everything up and started down the glacier. I found a dry chute that took me out to the moraine and made it out to the glacier.
I put on my crampons and headed down the glacier. It was a very heavy load. I made it about 5 miles and it started raining cats and dogs. I set up camp on a medial moraine next to the glacier and put the meat into a Moulin on the glacier.

[img]http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i460/kaboku68/IMG_0444_zpsdysz6ofu.jpg[/img]

The wind blew itself out and I woke up to a very cold morning. I packed the pack and put on my crampons and rocked down the glacier ipod blazing the crazy mix of music that I like. The sun was extremely bright and I got sunburned during the five mile pack that day.

[img]http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i460/kaboku68/IMG_0443_zpsozlemkul.jpg[/img]

I saw one small 34 inch full curl ram with a smaller ¾ curl ram south of the Jack Frost strip. I later saw a 36 inch ram with 8 immature rams at the cathedrals. I found a gravel patch in the middle of the glacier that night. [img]http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i460/kaboku68/IMG_0444_zpsbzse6jys.jpg[/img]

It stormed that night but was clear by that morning. I put my crampons on and shot down the rest of the 3 miles of the glacier. I crossed 2 miles of glacial moraine and eskers to get to the lateral moraine of the glacier. I thought that I might get to the glacier side of the dry wash that night and be available to get picked up the next morning. However, I got hung up on a cliff with my pack and ended up camping on a small field of drygas-arctic cotton. I got up early and noted a number of ewes and lambs on the upper flanks of the Cathedrals. I believe that the numbers up this area were stable but that it seems that many of the sheep in this area and goats had moved West of this area. I saw a greater number of ewes, lambs and immature rams on the flanks of the mountains above Bryson Bar. There was a lot of bear sign up and down the glacier. I believe that I was right to stay close to my goat meat. I also believe that I didn’t force anything and that was one of the keys to my success.
I climbed over the drywash and headed down to the river. I got to the river camp at about 2PM and built a huge fire. I camped right near the big fire pit and for some reason I just decided to leave the fire going when I went to sleep at 9PM. About 11PM two guys from Fairbanks who were packing a 37 inch ram stumbled into camp. I told them that it was a gut instinct that led me to leave the fire going and they appreciated it because they were bone wet. I woke up early on Friday and packed up my gear I had my last goat breakfast using the minimo at simmer to cook perfectly. I built up the fire for the two snoring sheep hunters and headed over to where Gary would pick me up.

[img]http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i460/kaboku68/IMG_0448_zpsf1mpc6ue.jpg[/img]

He arrived at 10:05 AM and we got out of there quickly. There was a lot of termination dust on the mountains.

[img]http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i460/kaboku68/IMG_0450_zpsk9nxfdlk.jpg[/img]

I got to McCarthy where my wife was waiting for me. I had a bacon burger at Patty’s in Kenny Lake and took a shower at the Mercantile. We had a cone at the Bison Diner and were home by about 11PM. All in all a great trip.

Great photos! And congrats. What camera were you using?

Terrific story and pic, Thomas! Congrats!

Yes! That dentist is taking you for ride. That's how they can afford to drive those Jags. Sucks to be you in the chair, but sounds like a great hunt.

great hunt story

my mountain hunting seemed more and more lame with every sentence

Time in the mountains is fantastic no matter where you are.

They replenish the soul.

Canon sureshot a3000is. Its just a little bugger that I probably will soon upgrade. I have gone to this place enough that I probably could get out blindfolded and I am not kidding on that.

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

FC

Beast mode!

Thx for story and pics

I keep thinking I'd really like to do an AK mtn goat or sheep hunt, then I read a thread like this. One side of my brain says "Hell yeah!" while the other is more like "Hell no!".

Well done to the OP. 'Twould be a bucket list hunt for me.

Do it now, the younger the better.

good lawd amighty


there's many a lad I would question about leaving their rifle behind to go get their not yet dead goat.


but I've met Thomas, he could break the neck on a lot of critters that most guys would struggle to do so.


he's an animal and I'm so happy and proud for him!


great hunt and pix Thomas, thanks so much for sharing.

now get to school and put some fear into that kid of mine! : )

Good stuff Thomas, Thanks.

The last mile and a half coming down that dry wash, on good footing, is sheer pleasure compared to walking on that fricking glacier - from one who knows. Glad you're out in one piece. Goat is good stuff (wife prefers it to anything else), and that one should be prime.

You could add my story about the dry wash to your list of "what's your biggest hunting screw-ups": In '08 we got back to the top of the wash to find a BIG brownie sitting on his haunches like a laborador right in the meadow just off the lateral moraine. We both had sheep on the brain and had failed to follow Rule #1 of hunting in Alaska: always know what you can shoot. Neither of us had a griz tag, and we were racking our brains to figure out if unit 11 was a no-tag-for-griz-required zone. Placed a sat phone call to my SIL (who can find things out fast) only to have the bear saunter into the berry bushes never to be seen again. Chip shot, 100 yards out, 1.5 miles down the wash to transportation. Got back to the truck, and you guessed it: no tag required.