Life has gotten in the way of hunting the last few years, but Sunday morning, I finally got a chance to go out and try to get a goat. I’ve had free time before this, but it’s just been too dang hot. I was afraid with my lack of practice, if it was that hot out and I got an antelope, it would spoil before I could even get it field-dressed. I’ve never been a very fast field-dresser, and with it having been about four years since I got a big game animal, I knew it would take me a while to get the job done.
But Sunday morning, the temperature was just perfect. It was hovering in the high 30s when I left the house. I was worried, though, because it was foggy. Really foggy. The fog was so thick, at 6:10, when shooting hours were supposed to start, it was still nearly pitch-black out. As the time and miles ticked away while I drove to one of the walk-in hunting areas, it wasn’t getting much better.
I drove past one of the walk-ins I had planned to hunt, but I couldn’t see much farther than the fence, so I kept going. I hoped it would get better by the time I got to the next area. And it did – but just barely. That was enough, though. As I crept past the walk-in area boundary, I saw the tell-tale white splotches just below the fog of a herd of goats.
I was able to get parked without spooking the animals, snuck to within range, and managed to get a good shot on a small buck that was lurking around the edges of the herd. He wasn’t as big as the herd buck, but he’ll probably eat better. And that’s all I really care about, because my freezer has been empty of wild game meat for far too long.
The weather’s perfect, so if you haven’t gotten your own goat yet, now’s the time.
