I'm retired, but unfortunately it's due to being totally disabled. I did however, enjoy your post of the hunt.

Two of my close friends here in Montana won the Rocky Mountain version of the "lotto" and were each drawn recently for the coveted Mt. Goat tags! I of course was not so lucky and no draw for me again this year.

But hark they both know a stooge when they see one and they both imposed on me to help them scout and Hunt for Mt. Goats! Woe is me! Mt. Goat Hunting (I know from experience) is more work than even Elk Hunting!

I love the high, high country though and the alpine haunts of the Mt. Goat really calls to me! So I consented to help each when I could.

At 0400 hours on Tuesday past I left to meet my friend Ross at a camping spot at the base of the Snowcrest Mountain Range here in Montanas Rocky's.

The 2 1/2 hour trip from my home to there was a dangerous venture to say the least. Whitetail Deer were leaping in front of the VarmintMobile at a rate I have never experienced before. I was dodging Deer the whole 2 1/2 hours! Finally at sunrise I met my friend and we got into his Jeep to peruse the area he was drawn for. I had along my new 204 Ruger Remington 700 VLS to bloody on Varmints!

It was not long til I had subdued a late to go into summer hibernating (estivation) Ground Squirrel! We had just returned to his vehicle after one trek and were headed for another trail head to scout it for Goats when I spotted a HUGE Black Bear coming at us down a mountain slope. We stopped the rig and watched this huge beautiful Black Bear Boar turn over rocks and eat bugs. We had him in view for 45 minutes and he kept feeding closer and closer to us. I had the window mounted spotting scope on him and also looked him over with the 25x Leupold that was on my Varmint Rifle. This Bear was an unusual color phase that I had not seen before. At first glance he looked bluish in color! The spotting scope revealed his fur to be a combination of three colors! Black, brown and his fur also had a sheen of silver to it! As he travelled the hillside his color simply changed in the light. In the shadows he appeared blue/black and in the sun he appeared brown/silver! Another time I wished I had my telephoto lense along - when will I learn!

Finally as he entered denser forest I tried my Primos Raspy Coaxer Varmint call on him! He did not come at a run but he did come our way and disappeared into trees between him and us. We decided to move on and coasted down hill out of his sight. I may come back to this mountain side in a few weeks when the fall Bear season opens and harvest him!

He was a beauty!

My partner thinks he was a cross between a Grizzly and a Black. He has a vivid imagination.

I think it was just a fat old prime Bear that had unusual coloring!

Anyway I am glad we left him to be as the 204 Ruger and its 35 gr. Bergers would only have irritated him if he got to close and got snippy with us.

Flying Varmints made fools of me and the new Remington all day! They would taunt me into setting up on them and then they would fly off just as I was taking the safety off!

Wolf tracks were seen in the dirt in two different drainages!!!

I was really intent on calling in a Coyote but did not want to waste to much time as my friend only had 4 days to scout this far from his home area!

A monster Whitetail Buck was flushed in a thicket at the base of a Mt. Goat mountain! I am guessing he would go 160 B&C! We both marvelled at his size and his remote lair! Another spot memorized for later!

Numerous Moose, Mulies, Antelope, Mt. Goats, Whitetails, Elk and the Bear made for an amazing day in the Rockies! We even ran into a Government trapper who was installing live traps for a Grizzly that had been seen repeatedly in the area. I asked him what he would do with it when he caught it? He replied "put a collar on him so people can see where he wanders to"! I thought what a waste of time and money. Leave the big Varmint the hell alone I thought to myself!

The next morning after getting home at 11:30 PM I got up again well before the crack of dawn and teamed up with my other friend with the lucky tag! I decided to leave my Varmint Rifle home as I worry about leaving the gun in the vehicle when we get on the trails!

Once we arrived at the trail head in Rons area Ron and I jumped on his ATV and headed 4.5 butt busting miles up into the alpine country of the Tobbacco Root mountains to scout and search him out a Mt. Goat. Ron had never seen a Mt. Goat before and was VERY excited! I had a large back pack full of binoculars, spotting scope, food, Nikon camera, water bottles and various gear. Ron was supposed to bring the "Bear protection" pistol!

He forgot it!

Into the alpine region we ventured anyway! At the end of motorized travel we began on foot and literally stepped into Bear poop in the first 50 yards!

The hair stood up on my neck! Oh well you only live once. Ron had also never seen a Pika (Rock Rabbit) or a high mountain Marmot! We saw plenty and I longed for my 204 to bring one of these Varmints to bag! The country we got into on this trip was the most beautiful alpine country I have ever seen! And I have been to Alaska and to Wyoming! The Nikon was put to good use! I spotted 2 nice Billy Goats for Ron and he was in a tizzy over getting real close to one of them! From our lofty vantage points we could look down on several high mountain lakes and they were devoid of any humanity but were teeming with jumping trout! Again Elk and many Deer were seen! Luckily the Bears were holed up on this warminsh day and no "biting Varmints" were encountered.

The sighting of the Alpine Rock Chucks really got me pumped! I like to Hunt these guys A LOT! The country they are in is just sublime and next summer I will return and harvest a few!

Afternoon thunder and showers did not dampen our spirits one bit! We climbed around, walked and spotted til our eyes and feet ached!

The cliffs edge that we shared lunch and water on had the most beautiful mountain view one could imagine! I have Hunted Big Game in the foothills of these mountains for 30 years and never knew how amazingly beautiful the highest part of this range was!

The Pikas were thicker here than in any alpine country I have ever been in! I literally saw 5 from one spot! Usually these little guys are rare to see at all.

From one spot I saw a Falcon swooping into the rocks about 150 yards from us. I got my 12x50 binocualrs on him and he was Hunting the Pikas. Not only that it was Perigrine Falcon! A somewhat rare bird these days. The little Pikas peeped out their warnings when the Falcon would come near and they would scurry under rocks. The Peregrine was unlucky in his Hunting but an Osprey had easy pickings in the Alpine lakes as fish were rising nonstop all day! We saw one Osprey take two fish and return to its nest during an hour long stint from one of our vantage points!

I found an old Rock Chuck skull that disintegrated when I picked it up. But the chisel like front teeth were intact and I brought them home for my "bone collection"!

Sundown found us hobbling on blistered feet towards the ATV and the long ride downhill took over an hour on it.

I crawled into bed at midnight dead tired!

My fitful dreams last night of alpine cliffs and falling over them alternated with blissful dreams of Hunting the double chubby alpine Marmots!

It would have been a back breaker to have brought my Varminter along on this venture but if Ron would have remembered to bring his T/C pistol I know I would have been bragging about the shot I would have made on one of these High Mountain Varmints!

Oh well theres always next time!

Get "retired" you guys and get out here - its heaven on earth!

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

you are so lucky to be "retired". My wife just started her career and is making a living at it so I am trying to convince her it is time for me to retire. I wonder what the criteria is for drawing social security at 31 .
Over the last 6-8 years i have noticed a lot more whitetails than ever before on my uncles place. Used to be that you would see a couple here and there but you could glass about 50-100 mule deer any day of the week. any more it seems about half and half.
Good luck on the goat hunt helping.

A wonderful story! Thanks for sharing. I'm not sure my knees would be up for the adventure but it sounds like a great adventure.

Yes the Whitetails are really getting thick in many new areas of Montana. I attended a Hunters Rendevous in Ennis, Montana today and of course I did some horse trading and came home with a new (to me) 220 Swift Varminter!
On the way home this late afternoon the Whitetails were really coming out. Just ahead of a summer storm that brought heavy rain and lightning. We saw two new fresh killed (by vehicles) Whitetails along the road from just today.
Shame this!
More Goat scouting tomorrow if the thunderstorms subside and my blisters abate somewhat!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy