My favorite stalk involved a mountain goat about 4 or 5 years ago. In my section of B.C. if you get a limited entry tag it is good from August 1 - February 28 I did not get a goat in the fall so in the last two weeks of February I went out the last two Saturdays of the month. That year was a light snow year (unlike the last 3 winters) so we hiked into my area using headlamps and were spotting as it got light. We hiked up an old logging road and spotted a few goats but they were either inaccesable or a nanny with a kid. In the early afternoon we finally saw a billy real low on the mountain at the bottom of a cliff so I put on a stalk hoping to shoot from a clearing below the bluff but the goat was hidden by some timber so I started up through the timber after it. I got into the bottom of the bluff and it was steep and slippery with the snow. I got to a place where I could see everything but the ledge 20 feet above me I figured if he didn't take off when we were stalking he had to be there. Then I made a mistake I figured I would make a bit of noise and the billy would stand up and then I would shoot him. It was actually a pretty good plan except one thing I failed to take into account, the law of gravity. I clapped my hands loudly and then I heard some noise and a small rock tumbled down to me I was balancing on a small snow coved ledge when the goat walked by 20 feet above me. Then I realized if I drop him he is going to take me with him so I didn't shoot. I had a good 5 seconds to get a shot before he went into the timber (he never even took a look at me as he went by) but I was hooped I actually got to close to him. Had I had a tree to grab on to I would have cracked him but I didn't so he walked. The whole episode was a blast though and I am happy with the memory of the stalk and him walking by me at such a close range.
