Issue link: http://ssaansw.uberflip.com/i/251089
It was rise and shine at 3.45am today for a goat hunt about 1.5 hours from my place, out towards the Araluen Valley, an 1800's gold rush region Met up with the 3 blokes I was to be hunting with at the local bakery for introductions before we made tracks into the hills. 3 of our group, myself included, had never hunted this place before. None the less a quick look over some topos with the property owner had us hitting the hills with somewhat of a plan. The wind was in our faces so we took position on a rock and waited it out, they fed within 20 yards of us before working us out, at that point it was all guns blazing, or so I thought the plan was, turns out I let off 3 more bangers for 2 more goats, and the other blokes didn't fire a shot. Again my first shot was the best billy in the mob, he went 22.5 inches, nothing to write home about, but still it's my best to date. We headed west and it was only 15 minutes of walking before we came onto these rub trees. There was definitely some deer in the area, but none to be seen today. A little further on up into the steep stuff we came onto the first mob of goats, crouched in some fallen timber we glassed through our scopes as they grazed away unaware of our presence. Our instructions from the property owner had been to target the goats which had been getting out of control. I kept this in mind on the first mob, once I took the best billy in them I proceeded to get 2 more shots off in quick succession before the mob had done the lickety-split and vanished from sight.. It seemed the other blokes missed the bit about it being a goat hunt, as in the time I laid down 3 shots with the 308 they all just stood there with confused looks not able to get a shot off! We followed the mob which went north, right to the top of the ridge where the country flattened out… the view wasn't bad! By this stage the goats had scattered pretty well however we were able to stalk and take another 2 goats who had perched themselves on a rock ledge. We walked along the ridgeline for about 1500 metres before turning east and going back down the saddle of a ridge, it wasn't long before a kid goat gave away the position of the mob, and as it turned out they were feeding up the gully towards us. The descent back to the house was well over 2 hours, slowed considerably by the goats over the shoulder, but it was well worth the effort. Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. Paul Taylor (a.k.a PointBlank) 11