If you read any of my post, you know that I mention Goat quite often. I would like to tell you all about it so get a coffee and hear me out. Intro…12 yo son gets “real” bow for Christmas. Gets real good, real fast. I book a hunt with Keith John. I had been to KJO a few times before but had not been in a few years because Seth was little and we were working on his duck hunting skills. My plan all along was when the time came, his first bow kill would be with Keith. (Waterfowl is our passion and we never miss a weekend of season. Down side is we seldom have venison in the freezer so I bow hunt exotics in the off season)
Fast Forward: It’s March 17th, 2014, Monday of Spring break. Ranch is basically closed to get ready for big corporate event. Cell phones are down because At&T is replacing a tower. Corn truck is due with over 1.5 tons of corn to be unloaded. Only Keith, Wade and us at the Ranch. Keith is determined to put Seth on his first bow kill. Seth decides he wants a Ram. So I book the Ram hunt and the Axis doe. (All the Axis bucks were in velvet and off limits). However if we saw an Axis Buck that had hard horns, we could take him. Keith also threw in a Turkey if we saw one. We got luck on weather as it had rained hard for a few days and now the sun was out, slight breeze, absolutely beautiful. Keith had built 3 new 6x6 ground blinds because of the increase in family hunts. 2 did not have feeders yet but he was doing a road corn since the day they were built. He was going to put us in each of the blind during the hunt so we could give him our opinions of each.
Monday afternoon, first blind sit, we are completely overrun with Fallow. Some were so close you could see their eyelashes. Son gets to make every mistake that a new bow hunter makes. He would bump the blind or something and they would scatter and then come back. He witnesses how a tiny mechanical click of a trigger being snapped sent everything into a frenzy. That evening Seth shows off his cooking skills by fixing dinner for the group. (that impressed Keith big-time).
Next morning, second blind sit, almost freezing temp, bright morning, we are in the “Panorama” blind. We corn up the road and wait. This blind overlooks a huge semi open field covered with small, leafless trees. The field was rich with small green shoots. Animals are everywhere. Neither of us had ever witnessed anything like this. There were so many different species, some of which I didn’t even know what they were. We would have critters everywhere and then nothing. Time would go by and them another herd would drift pass. Then the moment was right. An older big white ram comes in. Long minutes of waiting seemed like hour and then, at 10tards, thwack, Ram takes it in the shoulder. Ram runs and stops at 25yr. Lightning boy gets another shoot off and thwack. Rams goes off to die. Ok ram hunt over. Axis, here we come.
We spent the midday doing ranch chores and checking feeders. Corn situation is getting desperate. As we approach one of the feeders, Keith sees a small hog. Seth gets out, does the stalk on him and nails with in the mud. Feeling good NOW. He is now an official bow hunter!
Second evening, Third blind sit is once again filled with activity. Axis does are coming in with a bunch of other stuff. We quickly get to experience to “WAY too many eyes” scenario and he can’t get any kind of shot on an axis without getting busted. Once he did, it was at 3 very small Axis so I had him hold off. (a move that won me respect by the way). A long lull and then..5 big Axis buck cross about 50 yards away and disappear but not before I noticed that the smallest rack in the bunch was hard horns, freshly polished on a nearby tree. All the while, Keith and the dog track the ram to an overgrown cactus patch with snakes so he pulls the dog out.
Wednesday morning, final sit. We are so stoked because we have a fix on a perfect “non-trophy class” axis buck with hard horns. We do a massive corn spread with THE VERY LAST bag of corn (dang corn truck is late, can’t call, yada yada). Once again the field out front shows tons of activity. Animal of every description are closing in. It’s a calm, clear morning and you can hear a Tom gobble in the distance. By 8:00am, there are at least 30 animals of almost as many species is in front of us. Anredal is pumping so hard you could smell it.
Just when I think you cannot take in any more cause my 61 year old heart is pumping hard, HERE THEY COME…….5 axis buck including the littlest with the hardened Antlers. We can see the sun glint off of them as the work their way closer. They make it to the edge of the clearing about 40 yards away. It is decided that once they get to 20 yards, he would shoot the little buck. But by now a bunch of “assorted goat” come in also. Some looked domestic, other wild, and some weird ones I’m not familiar with. The goats are at about 25 yards to our left, all kinds of deer like critters to the right, Axis buck start feeding directly toward the blind. But then we noticed this “GOAT” made a huffy move toward the axis and they jump back. A moment of disbelief on our part and the axis start coming back. Again, just as they get to the edge about 25 yards, here comes the goat, ****** off, snorting and just being a tough guy.
Now I’m starting to really look at him. (never looked at a goat this way before…I know…sound sick…but that’s what happened) I started to “SEE” the Goat. He was almost as big as a whitetail deer, He was a beautiful slick tan with a light under belly. He sported a nice beard of white and grey . His horns were straight up, about 11” long and had a slight sweep back. He was full of attitude and was not letting anybody near his corn pile. Axis were definitely afraid to mess with him. The game continued. Then a thought occurred to me…..I want that GOAT. Wife is from Mexico and would be ecstatic if we brought him home. Keep in mind, my bow has not been out of the case all weekend. This was my son’s hunt. Conversation goes like this. “Seth, what do you think about this? It’s 9:30, we get picked up in an hour, do you think the axis will present a shot or should we shoot the goat? ”Dad, I don’t want a goat but get your bow out”. I last few moment of the hunt get real confusing but it ends something like this. Big show down between the Goat and the 5 axis has ruined the serenity and 75% of the animal have moved off. Axis never makes it close enough. Meanwhile I text Keith to confirm if the Goat is ok to shoot. Communications are down, no reply. Animals are all moving off. I manage to get one blurry photo of the goat. Keith picks us up. We head home. All I can think about on the way home is the goat. I now have firsthand experience of how a person gets addicted to a certain species, or even more so, how ONE specific animal becomes your purpose for going on the hunt.
We are going back on May 30 and then again June 22. I have booked the goat hunt both trips. Seth can shoot an Axis or another Ram or whatever, but it isn’t like the other hunt. He still gets first option but this time, My bow will be out and if the goat make a showing…He is toast. Keith said he has 2 of them so we shall see.
While there is no significant point to this story, I appreciate you reading it anyway. Hope it helped your Wednesday morning go a little faster.
Here is my FB link to the KJO album. I temperarily changed my setting to Public so you can see the pictures.
Fast Forward: It’s March 17th, 2014, Monday of Spring break. Ranch is basically closed to get ready for big corporate event. Cell phones are down because At&T is replacing a tower. Corn truck is due with over 1.5 tons of corn to be unloaded. Only Keith, Wade and us at the Ranch. Keith is determined to put Seth on his first bow kill. Seth decides he wants a Ram. So I book the Ram hunt and the Axis doe. (All the Axis bucks were in velvet and off limits). However if we saw an Axis Buck that had hard horns, we could take him. Keith also threw in a Turkey if we saw one. We got luck on weather as it had rained hard for a few days and now the sun was out, slight breeze, absolutely beautiful. Keith had built 3 new 6x6 ground blinds because of the increase in family hunts. 2 did not have feeders yet but he was doing a road corn since the day they were built. He was going to put us in each of the blind during the hunt so we could give him our opinions of each.
Monday afternoon, first blind sit, we are completely overrun with Fallow. Some were so close you could see their eyelashes. Son gets to make every mistake that a new bow hunter makes. He would bump the blind or something and they would scatter and then come back. He witnesses how a tiny mechanical click of a trigger being snapped sent everything into a frenzy. That evening Seth shows off his cooking skills by fixing dinner for the group. (that impressed Keith big-time).
Next morning, second blind sit, almost freezing temp, bright morning, we are in the “Panorama” blind. We corn up the road and wait. This blind overlooks a huge semi open field covered with small, leafless trees. The field was rich with small green shoots. Animals are everywhere. Neither of us had ever witnessed anything like this. There were so many different species, some of which I didn’t even know what they were. We would have critters everywhere and then nothing. Time would go by and them another herd would drift pass. Then the moment was right. An older big white ram comes in. Long minutes of waiting seemed like hour and then, at 10tards, thwack, Ram takes it in the shoulder. Ram runs and stops at 25yr. Lightning boy gets another shoot off and thwack. Rams goes off to die. Ok ram hunt over. Axis, here we come.
We spent the midday doing ranch chores and checking feeders. Corn situation is getting desperate. As we approach one of the feeders, Keith sees a small hog. Seth gets out, does the stalk on him and nails with in the mud. Feeling good NOW. He is now an official bow hunter!
Second evening, Third blind sit is once again filled with activity. Axis does are coming in with a bunch of other stuff. We quickly get to experience to “WAY too many eyes” scenario and he can’t get any kind of shot on an axis without getting busted. Once he did, it was at 3 very small Axis so I had him hold off. (a move that won me respect by the way). A long lull and then..5 big Axis buck cross about 50 yards away and disappear but not before I noticed that the smallest rack in the bunch was hard horns, freshly polished on a nearby tree. All the while, Keith and the dog track the ram to an overgrown cactus patch with snakes so he pulls the dog out.
Wednesday morning, final sit. We are so stoked because we have a fix on a perfect “non-trophy class” axis buck with hard horns. We do a massive corn spread with THE VERY LAST bag of corn (dang corn truck is late, can’t call, yada yada). Once again the field out front shows tons of activity. Animal of every description are closing in. It’s a calm, clear morning and you can hear a Tom gobble in the distance. By 8:00am, there are at least 30 animals of almost as many species is in front of us. Anredal is pumping so hard you could smell it.
Just when I think you cannot take in any more cause my 61 year old heart is pumping hard, HERE THEY COME…….5 axis buck including the littlest with the hardened Antlers. We can see the sun glint off of them as the work their way closer. They make it to the edge of the clearing about 40 yards away. It is decided that once they get to 20 yards, he would shoot the little buck. But by now a bunch of “assorted goat” come in also. Some looked domestic, other wild, and some weird ones I’m not familiar with. The goats are at about 25 yards to our left, all kinds of deer like critters to the right, Axis buck start feeding directly toward the blind. But then we noticed this “GOAT” made a huffy move toward the axis and they jump back. A moment of disbelief on our part and the axis start coming back. Again, just as they get to the edge about 25 yards, here comes the goat, ****** off, snorting and just being a tough guy.
Now I’m starting to really look at him. (never looked at a goat this way before…I know…sound sick…but that’s what happened) I started to “SEE” the Goat. He was almost as big as a whitetail deer, He was a beautiful slick tan with a light under belly. He sported a nice beard of white and grey . His horns were straight up, about 11” long and had a slight sweep back. He was full of attitude and was not letting anybody near his corn pile. Axis were definitely afraid to mess with him. The game continued. Then a thought occurred to me…..I want that GOAT. Wife is from Mexico and would be ecstatic if we brought him home. Keep in mind, my bow has not been out of the case all weekend. This was my son’s hunt. Conversation goes like this. “Seth, what do you think about this? It’s 9:30, we get picked up in an hour, do you think the axis will present a shot or should we shoot the goat? ”Dad, I don’t want a goat but get your bow out”. I last few moment of the hunt get real confusing but it ends something like this. Big show down between the Goat and the 5 axis has ruined the serenity and 75% of the animal have moved off. Axis never makes it close enough. Meanwhile I text Keith to confirm if the Goat is ok to shoot. Communications are down, no reply. Animals are all moving off. I manage to get one blurry photo of the goat. Keith picks us up. We head home. All I can think about on the way home is the goat. I now have firsthand experience of how a person gets addicted to a certain species, or even more so, how ONE specific animal becomes your purpose for going on the hunt.
We are going back on May 30 and then again June 22. I have booked the goat hunt both trips. Seth can shoot an Axis or another Ram or whatever, but it isn’t like the other hunt. He still gets first option but this time, My bow will be out and if the goat make a showing…He is toast. Keith said he has 2 of them so we shall see.
While there is no significant point to this story, I appreciate you reading it anyway. Hope it helped your Wednesday morning go a little faster.
Here is my FB link to the KJO album. I temperarily changed my setting to Public so you can see the pictures.
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