My trip started with a 21 hour drive to Northern BC almost to the Yukon.  I drove to a little lake resort where I would catch a float plane and start my second leg of my adventure the next morning where I met up with my guide Thomas.  Waking to crystal blue skies with frost on the ground, which was a big change from the 90 degree heat in Washington that I left, the dead calm lake soon came to life as my plane was echoing off the mountain walls and swooping in making a flawless landing.  After loading our gear and taking flight in the brisk morning air, we were soon flying over endless road-less country that was truly breathtaking and hard to imagine there’s still places that exist like that, as everywhere in the lower 48 it seems like you can’t go 10 miles without a road somewhere.

As we made our way on the hour flight, we flew over 100 miles from civilization and soon crested a mountain which exposed a large river with a lodge and several additional buildings that almost seemed like something a majestic painting was created after. Not realizing this is where we were going, we started descending quickly landing on the river and taxiing up to the dock.  My initial reaction was, “this is impossible to have something this nice clear out here in the middle of no-man’s land.”  Being greeted by a handful of welcoming and helping hands, this is when everything started to hit me that I was truly going to chase mountain goats.

Making our way to the lodge from the dock, Ron and Maria were two of the most welcoming people I’ve met and I felt like I was at home instantly.  Maria was quick to offer some fresh baked cookies and a cup of coffee, which I wasn’t going to turn down!  After I a quick conversation about the trip up, I was on the shooting bench making sure my gun was still sighted in.  I had intended on bowhunting my goat as I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps, but after talking to Ron he had a spot in-mind that would be better suited to rifle hunt.  Assuming I would spend the rest of the day at the lodge relaxing and getting my gear ready, I was surely mistaken.  Ron told me to get my gear and we were going.  Before I knew it, we were in the middle of some of the most scenic country one could image.

I had been assigned a guide, Thomas, and a packer, Jesse.  Thomas is from Austria and Jesse is a young buck from New Zealand seeking out new experiences in life.  Swapping stories as we finished getting camp setup for the evening, I loaded up on Enduro as we quickly grabbed our gear and took off straight up the canyon wall traversing through rocks and boulder fields, which my short legs aren’t exactly ideal for…  This is why all of those hours on the stair stepper were needed and I knew it as this point.  I’m not sure how far we climbed that evening and every step I took it didn’t matter. I was more in shock soaking everything in and just wishing that my dad was there with me every step of the way.

As we reached a summit and found a good glassing point, the brisk wind let you know fall was quickly approaching in the north.  Talking with the guys, it had been raining for the few weeks prior.  I had visions of spending days in the tent while it poured down rain as you see on most hunts in the north.  I showed up, it was blue bird skies and supposed to be that way for the next few days.  It was almost too good to be true.  Spending several hours looking for goats, which you would think should stand out like a sore thumb because of their white coat, we didn’t turn up anything.  We made our way back to camp to make dinner and a cup of coffee and take it easy for the evening.  As we arrived at camp and started boiling water, Thomas caught movement up near the top of a saddle across from camp.  We put the spotting scope on them quickly to identify it was a nanny, kid and a yearling.  Watching as they fed out of the middle of a rock wall all the way down toward the meadow we were camped in, we knew there had to be more goats around the area.

Not fifteen minutes had passed and about 1000 yards down the ridge from the goats we had just spotted stood a big swayed back goat all by himself.  Putting the spotter on him we could tell instantly he was a good billy. One we needed to keep an eye on and get a better look the next morning if he was still in the area.  A few minutes later about 300 yards off we spotted another billy which was impressive in his horn length, but he had small bases telling us he was a younger goat.  Finishing getting our dinner prepared we kept an eye on the billy.  We identified he had a gray mark on his neck from laying in the rocks and was probably just dirty.  As darkness closed in we called it a night.

The next morning we woke to stars and clear blue sky rising over the canyon wall in front of us. Glassing up two lone goats which were both in the same general area as the goats the previous night, we assumed it was the same ones.  One was definitely bigger and had a big swayed back and was more yellowish in color than his solid white counterpart.  We made a plan to go down the canyon and circle around the backside and climb some 2000 feet up and over the top on this goat.  As we left camp and were down towards the end of the canyon I happened to look up to my left as we popped out of a tree thicket, and on the mountain we had hiked up the night before there was a big lone goat.  Yellowish is color, swayed back and just had the look of a big billy.  We quickly glassed him up and realized he was a great goat.  Getting down behind a big rock we got the spotting scope out and he ran up and a bit more and laid down on a rock.

As we counted rings we could tell he was at least six years old and Thomas told me there was a few more rings tight at the based in his hair we probably couldn’t see.  As I tried to judge his length in comparison to his ear, his big bases were throwing me off a bit.  I assumed he was a 9.5” goat, but then I remember my dad telling me you can never see the last half inch because it’s too small.  Not sure I wanted to kill one on the first morning or not, it was tough to pass up a billy like this.  But there was something else special about this day.  It was my dad’s 70^thbirthday.  While he couldn’t be there with me, there would be northing more special than to be able to harvest a goat on his birthday.  I knew he was thinking about me and I thought, “What would he do?”  A 9.5” goat, maybe better, that’s a great goat take the opportunity as you might not get another.

Looking back at the other goat across the canyon several times Thomas made mention that if we come over the top of that goat and I take him, he’s going to fall 1000+ feet straight down.  The goat we had in-front of us was in a very recoverable place and would fall maybe 100 feet max.  After processing that information, we began waiting out the goat to stand up.  Once he stood up, I put a quick clean kill at 310 yards and he only fell off one ledge about 15 feet and came to a rest. Taking a moment to soak in what had just happened, it hit me again that it was my dad’s birthday.  I would be lying if I didn’t shed a tear as I wished him a happy birthday.  After retrieving the goat and taking pictures we went back to camp and soaked in the blue bird day and made deep fried goat backstrap in our Jetboil.  Later finding out my goat was 10” was only icing on the cake. I would have been happy if he was only 9”, this wasn’t about the size of the horns to me or the kill.  This was trying to live through my dad’s footsteps and experience an adventure that meant so much to him.

I spent the next two days back at the lodge watching other goat hunters come through and sharing stories with them.  Each welcomed like they were family by the staff.  We had some amazing home cooked meals, goat curry being one.  While I knew I had a bunch of work waiting for me back home and elk season was approaching fast, there was something about that country and camaraderie at camp that I didn’t want to leave.  This is a place I will visit again, hopefully sooner than later.  I just want to thank Ron and Maria with North River Outfitting again for the experience, and happy 70^thDad!

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We’ll be in touch soon! Cheers!