Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Share your tales (tall or otherwise) of hunting adventures.

Moderators: Kirk, Lucinda

Marathonman
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:47 am

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Marathonman »

Never understood why fishing in Alaska is such a big draw. I've done it a few times and woudn't trade all of it for my one day B&C Brown Bear hunt.
I had gotten possession of a big "50" gun early in the fight, and was making considerable noise with it.

~Billy Dixon~

Adobe Walls 1874
bobw
Posts: 3841
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:52 pm

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by bobw »

madisonvalleywapiti wrote:I drew a Mountain goat tag for the Absaroka Beartooth wilderness north of Yellowstone.
Yes big congrats, RM goat tags come harder than sheep tags in the lower 48. Not giving any advice here but as IIRC MLV wrote a story in the American Sharpshooter back in 1985 about a buddy of his named Don Stermitz who drew a RM goat tag for the Absarokas around Gardiner, MT and got his billy at 125 yds with a 45-70 using wp and 400 gr Speers.MLV once told me he tries not to remember anything that didn't make him money but maybe you can get some advice from him :) . My own billy came with 9 yrs of preference in the Black Hills of SD at 17 yds wished I'd been carrying my Bear Super Kodiak instead of my 7 mm Mangleum.. bobw
bobw
User avatar
madisonvalleywapiti
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2010 11:00 pm
Location: Helena, MT

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by madisonvalleywapiti »

Not sure which rifle to use yet. Ive been using a 1903 Springfield and M1 Garand for hunting the last couple years. Shot a bull moose and bull elk with the M1903 and a muley with the International Harvester M1. I just picked up a couple original trapdoors, a M1884 and M1870, and ive been considering using one of them. I also have a M70 .338 Win Mag thats iching to go hunting. Of course, I just hit the buy-it-now for a nice looking Shiloh Sharps #3 in .44-77 on GB so it may get the nod come september. :D
mt-tom
Posts: 142
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 7:31 pm
Location: Montana

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by mt-tom »

No good tags for me or the kids. We were hoping one of us would draw a moose tag near Helena, but just got bonus points instead. One of these days.......

Congratulations on the goat tag! I always wanted to get one, but now that I'm older and hunt with a 12 pound gun (no sling), I have scaled back my efforts. I hope you bag a nice billie and have some great photos to share with us this fall!

Tom
SIXSHOOTER
Posts: 50
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:14 pm
Location: idaho falls, idaho

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by SIXSHOOTER »

Congratulations madisonvalleywapati. I drew a goat tag in 1979 and got a good one near galena summit, Idaho. My son drew one in 1989 and got one that was 2/8 out of B&C. Mine was in early september and his was in a place called the hell hole in Idaho near the Wyoming border in mid november. Mine looks like it just got a military hair cut and his looks like a rock star. He was 13 and he shot it with a .243. We had horses which I assume you will if your in a wilderness area. I hiked into camp with the goat cape on a packboard at about midnight of the day he shot it and my steady old pack horse jumped about 6 feet off the ground in the moonlight when he saw the goat looking over my shoulder on the packboard. He packed it fine the next day.

Best of Luck
DK
User avatar
madisonvalleywapiti
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2010 11:00 pm
Location: Helena, MT

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by madisonvalleywapiti »

SIXSHOOTER wrote:Congratulations madisonvalleywapati. I drew a goat tag in 1979 and got a good one near galena summit, Idaho. My son drew one in 1989 and got one that was 2/8 out of B&C. Mine was in early september and his was in a place called the hell hole in Idaho near the Wyoming border in mid november. Mine looks like it just got a military hair cut and his looks like a rock star. He was 13 and he shot it with a .243. We had horses which I assume you will if your in a wilderness area. I hiked into camp with the goat cape on a packboard at about midnight of the day he shot it and my steady old pack horse jumped about 6 feet off the ground in the moonlight when he saw the goat looking over my shoulder on the packboard. He packed it fine the next day.

Best of Luck
Thanks! Got permission today to book an outfitter for my hunt. Seems like a good idea since I wont be able to do any scouting and ive got a bum foot that will slow me down some. Saves my better half from alot of worry as well. Now I just have to figure out which weapon im taking on the hunt. Hopefully Ill have enough time to figure out how to make my new .44-77 shoot. Do you have any pictures of your goat?
Denali
Posts: 240
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 8:17 pm
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Denali »

Way to go Madisonvalleywapiti! A high-country hunt for goat with a 44-77! You'd be a rare bird indeed with that combo. Best of luck! I'm hoping my 44 2 1/4 will be done by November so I can try to shoot something with it this year.
SIXSHOOTER
Posts: 50
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:14 pm
Location: idaho falls, idaho

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by SIXSHOOTER »

mad..val..wapiti I think an outfitter is a good idea if you dont have your own horses or just dont want to put them at risk. Looking back on my son Ben and my hunts his shot was close (about 40 yards) after a hard climb. My shot was a long way with the hard climb after the shot. While Ben and I hunted we did a lot of glassing. Everytime we split up I saw goats at close range. I had some beauties in pistol range. I think your choice of gun will work well but it might be hard on the stock. Both of our goats were in cliffy country with lots of loose rock and we used our stocks like rock climbing tools from time to time.

I do have some pictures but I am to dumb to figure out how to post them. Bens goat scored 49 6/8 after the drying period by a real scorer and mine scored 44 by me. A friend of Bens said his brother shot a deer that was bigger than Bens goat. It was a fork horned mule deer and that really pissed us off.

It was really hard to judge a trophy from a kid when I first looked at them. It becomes easier when you look at lots of them and if I could figure how to post I would add two to look at. I was told that big old males have a yellow cast that bleaches out when taxidermied. That seemed true with Bens. I had a biologist that was studying the heard that I shot mine from and he said I got the biggest male there. Mine was really white but it had a short september coat.
DK
User avatar
madisonvalleywapiti
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2010 11:00 pm
Location: Helena, MT

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by madisonvalleywapiti »

Looks like Ill be going the first week of October. Ill post up some pictures of my new-old Shiloh #3 that ill be taking on the hunt. I believe it was made in 1989 or 1990 and is quite a rifle.
bobw
Posts: 3841
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:52 pm

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by bobw »

Need any updates, Madison valley , Stephen , Pete, Dan ? First time in 20 some years I have not drawn an antelope tag,it's depressing almost on the scale of the turds in the Whitehouse. bobw
bobw
pete
Posts: 2258
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2002 10:16 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by pete »

Bob;
That sucks you didn't get an antelope tag. Looks like it's getting harder to draw in other states just like here. I'm going this weekend for antelope but I'm having to find more and more marginal areas in order to be able to go. I didn't draw a deer with 3 points :roll: If I'm unsuccessful this weekend we'll go out again next week and try. Did you get a deer tag?
I'm surprised Stephen hasn't checked in yet.
bobw
Posts: 3841
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:52 pm

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by bobw »

Pete ,I didn't draw on antelope twice the first draw or the leftover draw.Odds aren't good because SD's antelope pops are way down ,couple of bad winters and a GFP selling too many tags to deal with budget shortfalls. I'll shoot some sharptail grouse instead. Deer tags, can't complain at all, with 10 years of preference and shot of real luck I have a late season Any Elk tag in Bennett Co(Martin SD area) Also have a Any Deer + any antlerless deer in Bennett Co West river within the same time frame as my elk hunt. A Any whitetail tag in the BLACK HILLS unit and a Any deer + any antlerless deer in the west half of Sully Co East River. All the possibilities of a SD Grand Slam (a buck in BH, WR, and ER plus a bull elk). What more can a guy really ask for than that kind of opportunity? Hm before I applied for any of these and drew ,I was allready in for a buffalo hunt in Jan with Sandhills Outfitters. I like eating antelope but not losing any sleep over not getting a tag for them. 45 2 7/8 for the buff or maybe my 50-140? Before you tell me to use my Shiloh on the elk please remember it took me 10 years to draw and it certainly was not a gimme then either. There is not a large herd in Bennett or easy access to them either. I am not going to stack the odds against myself any greater than they allready are.I'll carry a 74 when I want to or more modern as the needs and conditions warrant it. bobw
bobw
rdnck
Posts: 1885
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 9:33 pm
Location: Woodlawn,Texas

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by rdnck »

Bob--Carry the 45-110 and don't look back. As well as you shoot, you won't have any problem hitting one at any distance you choose. The big Sharps kills better than the Remchester anyway. Shoot straight, rdnck.
Chairman, Phd
Caddo Lake Chapter
FES
Charter Member FBASS

Charter Member OGANT
Denali
Posts: 240
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 8:17 pm
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by Denali »

Bobw,

Good luck on your Dakota super slam!

This weekend I will try to fill my first ever cow elk tag in the Colockum area where the big Table Mtn fire has been burning. Scouted last weekend on the dual sport bike (klr650) and had elk 75 yards standing still from the bike. It's a muzzleloader tag so I will be using a 330 gr hardcast PP (plastic patch) bullet and a 45-110 case worth (about 110 gr) of Goex 2F.

Got THE call from Shiloh yesterday so my 44-77 is ready to ship (business rifle). I need to get it dialed in for bison in November in Ekalaka MT (Crazy Woman Bison ranch).
ironramrod
Posts: 1364
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2003 1:12 pm
Location: Dakota Territory

Re: Anybody draw a tag they been waiting years for?

Post by ironramrod »

Denali, From the description of your m.l. bullet it sounds like an LBT bullet. Good hunting to you.

Regards
"So many liberals, and so little time to teach them how to balance a checkbook." (Unknown)
Post Reply