Western Traveler1
Well-known member
I will be 71 years old in a month. I had shoulder replacement in late Spring on my shooting side so archery hunting was out. Having built 8 points for Montana Antelope and having a big issue with wife's health I had hoped to avoid being drawn this year. Of course I was. I cleared a quick excursion with her, then headed down to the area for a day of scouting and then 2 days of hunting a couple weeks later. A couple hunters I had talked with indicated they had paid trespass fees to hunt. I found an area of public and Block Management land that looked promising. My intention was to kill a legal buck and enjoy the time I had before heading back home as I have taken others in the past and a trophy this trip would be a punched tag and meat on the table. I found a spot where the lopes were crossing under a fence from private to public the first morning. After hunting the general area throughout the day I returned that evening and spotted this goat (the first buck I had seen). He was on the move down that drainage and I stalked him downhill 2 miles before getting a shot. I quartered him out and hung him from my Trigger Sticks tripod out in the open about 100 yards from the carcass (grizzly and wolf area) as it was heading to 31 degrees and late evening and I was hunting alone. I returned the next morning, spent about 15 minutes glassing for predators then loaded him up and packed him out. It was a very gratifying hunt to know I can still hunt and pack animals with my new shoulder.
