When I joined Huntin’ Fool, Garth would coach us to have a strategy for application instead of blindly applying for points. I decided on two principles – hunt as often as you can and start applying for my two boys as soon as they are old enough so that we can go on hunts together when they are late teens and 20s. The second principle has turned out to be the most valuable as my boys have drawn amazing youth tags, such as Utah’s any bull and New Mexico’s nanny ibex, and those hunts have honestly been more fun and exciting than my own.
Last spring when I submitted our applications, I thought my oldest son would have the best chance in Colorado because he is now considered a resident as a Colorado college student. We were hunting turkeys in our home state of Missouri when my youngest son, Everett, said “Dad, I think I drew the Colorado mountain goat tag!” I told him that email was just a notice about his preference
point. It surely could not be real because 2020 was the first year he would have been eligible with the 3 mandatory points and no points to improve his position in the draw. He kept pestering me about it, so I finally fired up the laptop and nearly fell out of my chair when his Colorado account said SUCCESSFUL for mountain goat! It was time to get serious.
I decided on three steps to really make this hunt amazing. First, improve the optics on his rifle and get him shooting. Everett was a decent shot out to 200 yards, but I wanted him to achieve another level of proficiency, so we shot a lot. Second, I called Huntin’ Fool and asked who I should call for outfitting/guide service. The answer was quick – Matt Schneider’s Geneva Park Outfitting. I called Matt, and he impressed me with his interest and focus on the fact that Everett was 16 and he was still young enough that this hunt needed to be fun. And last, I decided that even though we were in the middle of a pandemic, we were going to go looking for goats. We had a great (safe) family vacation in July where we were able to stay isolated from everyone and scout for goats. We found a few billies and a lot of nannies and kids, and we were more excited than ever.
Matt decided our guide would be Todd Clark. He has a son of his own and was really interested in guiding young hunters. We shared pictures of our scouting efforts and of earlier hunts in the fall, and he let me know we would be staying with him in his house as our hunt area has little opportunity for camping. We also talked a lot about goat identification as Everett’s tag was for a nanny only. The Colorado Division of Wildlife and Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance websites have fantastic online videos to watch about goat hunting and goat identification. We watched them multiple times.
Finally, the first week in October arrived. I drove out with all of our gear, and Everett and my wife flew out so we could the minimize the amount of school he missed. We got settled in and decided to go scouting. Todd showed us that the trouble isn’t finding goats, it’s finding goats in a spot where you can get to them, shoot them, and be able to retrieve them. We glassed a large group of nannies and kids and a couple of smaller groups and put them to bed.
The next morning, we stumbled through the obligatory pandemonium of getting everything organized and headed out. We found the smaller group, but they were standing on a rocky spire with a 1,000-foot fall beneath them. Todd thought they might move to a bowl later in the morning to bed up, so after we watched them for a while, we went to check on the big group. We found them way up on the top of the cliffs and then we saw another hunter. He had gone after them with a bow and had blown them up the mountain. Back to the smaller group. We got to our observation point and could see them moving up toward the bowl, just as Todd had suspected. Game on. We parked the truck at 10,500 feet and headed up. Now this is the part where I tell you I wish we were in better shape. We had been walking a lot to try to be ready, but flatland walking just doesn’t cut it. We left the truck at 10 a.m. and didn’t get near them until 1:30 p.m. At one point, I could stand on the sidehill and reach out and touch the hill next to me, so that gives you an idea of how steep it was.
Halfway up, we had a point where we could see the bowl, and they were bedded there, three adults and two kids. We thought the adults were all nannies, but again, you can’t be sure until you get close. They were well above tree line and plainly visible, but there was also nothing to hide us, so we had to work around to come over the rim. As we got to the rim of the bowl and peeked over, expecting them to be within 100 yards, they weren’t there. We moved up and down the rim of the bowl. No goats. Todd thought they must have winded us or they just decided to feed back to the cliffs. Suddenly, there they were about 350 yards away, moving out of a cut away from us. Todd said, “Drop the pack. Mark, you stay here. Everett, bring your rifle and let’s go!”
I plunked down on a big rock and watched them work right up the hill. The goats could see them, and they were wary, but they didn’t run. Just when I thought they were pushing it too far, I saw the guys set up on a big rock. The crack of the rifle was a welcome sound, and I saw one of the adults jump, lurch forward 10 yards, and tip over. Everett had made a perfect shot at 200 yards, and he had his goat! He also had perma-smile.
When we got to her, we just stood and stared. What a beautiful creature! Her feet, horns, and hair were amazing. I checked the GPS and it said 12,500 feet. Two-thousand vertical feet was a lot for this lowlander, and now we had to get her down. We had snacks, appreciated the view, and got to work. Todd took her apart and packed all the meat in his pack. I had the full head and cape, and Everett had all the gear. We later weighed the packs at his house. Todd’s was 75 pounds, and mine was 40 pounds. After a long, careful descent, including one clumsy fall, we made it back to his truck at 7 p.m., just at last light. We found out that night that Geneva Park Outfitters was guiding four of the six hunters in this unit, and all four killed on the first day, two of them with bows.
I have never been as tired or as fulfilled on any other hunt. Watching Everett navigate the climb, prepare himself, and make a great shot was truly a pinnacle of my hunting career. This hunt was unlike anything else we have attempted, and we owe a huge thank you to Todd and Matt for delivering a great hunt. Thank you, Huntin’ Fool, for your guidance and help. Apply, Apply, Apply!
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