Last week when I checked the Montana FWP site for draw results for Bighorn Sheep, Moose and Mountain Goat, I expected to see the usual “not successful”. It has been 12 years after all and the odds are pretty slim for any of those tags. So I had to look twice and then look again when I saw “Mountain Goat” listed under “Successful”. It’s probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for me . I turn 53 this year, so I won’t be able to enter the draw again for seven years when I’m sixty. Do the math.. Another 12 years to draw and I will be 72 ! I can only hope I will still be in shape for the steep and deep by then.
I drew in unit 314 which starts just south of Bozeman and runs all the way down the east side of the Gallatin Canyon to just north of the boundary of Yellowstone Park. The unit runs all the way east to the Paradise Valley. A lot of country.
My friend Dan Reddick used to outfit that country and took a goat off Ramshorn Peak a few years ago. I have two other contacts with guys that drew the tag last year and took two good 9″ + billies. I plan on buying them a couple of beers and setting down with a map or two !
Maybe the Kimber Mountain Ascent was a lucky purchase after all.