The Billy Goat Society: A Mountain Hunt

Every year, Backcountry BC and Beyond teams up with the Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance to give away a goat hunt. This is through their “Billy Goat Society”. Which gives RMGA members who have never harvested a goat, the opportunity to hunt one for themselves. A couple of years ago, guide Dan Watson took two of these lucky hunters on a hunt in our concession and it was one for the books. We got Dan to walk us through the adventure and give some of his thoughts.

“Heath and Shawni arrived at our base camp and you could tell they were beyond excited. I had met them at the Sheep show when Heath won the first RMGA raffle. Dustin had donated this hunt to RMGA to help with their membership recruitment and to also fund some mountain goat conservation work in BC. Its always a lucky-dip when you raffle off a hunt, and as an outfitter you hope that whoever wins is capable of doing it. To our pleasant surprise, Heath and Shawni were young, in shape and avid hunters spending lots of time in the backcountry. So I knew it would be a great hunt.

Connor Gabbott also came on the hunt to film it for RMGA, and it was great to have him on the trip. We also had Sitka and Odin, Dustin’s pack-dogs who are some of the best dogs a person could ask for and invaluable when it comes to packing heavy loads off the mountains. Right off the bat we had a very steep bushwhack through some serious foliage to get up into the goat country. Its always a shock to the knees but Heath and Shawni did great. As soon as we broke into alpine we spotted a group of goats in a bowl that started to move diagonally in our direction. Being so early in the hunt I didn’t want to be too quick to end the hunt so we slowly moved into a closer position to get a look at the any potential shooters. As we hiked up a rocky creek bed we heard noise and looked further up to see the goats crossing the same draw. Heath got set up but we couldn’t get a good look at them to know which was the biggest billy so we let them walk. Of course they moved way up into the huge cliffs above us so we set up camp and watched them for the rest of the afternoon.

The next morning we glimpsed them walking up and over the ridge so we high tailed it around and worked our way over the ridge which was quite exposed and rocky. Heath and Shawni did great navigating the boulders and by about midday we had walked to the very end of the ridge. We spotted the goats down in a draw on the other side in a hard to reach spot so we set up our camp for the night and expected to see them the next morning. They of course had other plans so when we woke in the morning they where gone and left us scratching our heads. After about an hour I spotted them back the way we had come, low  down feeding just above timberline so we figured they must’ve moved through the timber during the early morning. We quickly packed up and headed back up the ridge and watched as they moved around a finger of it. As we got closer to the finger the fog settled above us so we side hill’ed around to find out where they had moved to. Once we got to the finger I located the group a little higher and at about 300yds in the rocks bedded down, so Heath got set up for a shot and got the job done. It was pretty special seeing their joy walking up to the goat and the gratitude for its life. I think they had never expected to have such a tough experience chasing after an animal they were never sure they would get to hunt. After some photos we processed the billy, packed up and then had a grueling pack-out which was incredibly challenging on everyone’s knees- most of all Shawni who didn’t tell me had injured one of them. She didn’t complain once and kept up the whole time, it was impressive! We made it back to camp late and everyone enjoyed a meal and a shower, after which we prepared for Shawni’s turn with the bow.

The next day we went back up the mountain into another spot where I had seen goats before, and set up camp. Sure enough we spotted a lone goat way up in a huge boulder field. Shawni had just told us that her knee was not doing great and that we may have to call off the hunt soon, so we all knew this was our one chance. We went up on the stalk light, and Shawni did a great job pushing through the pain and climbing up and over all the boulders to get into position. I had a mental picture of where the goat should’ve been so it was great when we popped out and sure enough it was below us at about 80yds. The wind was blowing hard in our direction so we crept down and closed the distance to 33. The goat stood up and moved out and Shawni made an excellent shot in the bread basket! We gave it some time and then tracked the blood expecting to find it at any moment piled up in the rocks. We ended up walking about 300yds across the boulders and found the goat dead and covered in blood, the arrow had punctured at least one lung and somehow it had travelled that far on adrenaline before expiring. They are truly incredible and tough beasts and have my utmost respect. Shawni was over-the-moon and It was great to share in that excitement! We processed the goat and got back to camp and decided to hike out instead of waiting till the next morning. It was a grueling hike-out for Shawni, her knee was swollen and incredibly sore but she didn’t complain once and kept on pushing. I know that they were both very glad to make it back to the trailhead. Its always great to see people push past their limits and see what they are capable of, and I’m very grateful to have taken Heath and Shawni on the hunt!”

These kinds of hunts are what we all live for. A true mountain hunt pursuing these incredible animals in the immensely challenging but beautiful places they call home. We put together a film from the hunt and launched it last night so check it out if you haven’t already.

It truly shows how awesome it is to go on a hunt like this one and cements how being apart of RGMA’s Billy Goat Society can give people an opportunity to go on their dream hunt. You can find more information on the RGMA and their Billy Goat Society here. As for us, and our season, we’ve been enjoying our time getting to take Canadian clients on sheep hunts and getting to slow down and do some hunting for ourselves. Although it’d be a lie if we said we were also enjoying the constant ran and fog that we’ve experienced so far. Regardless, it’s getting close to the end of August where we give the sheep a break and start to focus on goats again! Special thanks again to Connor Gabbott with Talus Creative for the footage and images.