I returned home from my mountain goat hunt on Kodiak Island 9 days ago. I was successful and everything with the outfitter worked out great. I ended up having my own guide. We split into 2 camps that were about a 2 hour hike apart in order to have eyes on more country and find more opportunities. Plus, my hunting partner is a physical specimen and could move a lot faster than me, so they pushed on to the further camp. We had heavy rain and high winds for 2 days. Once the weather broke, we both tagged out within an hour of sunrise, and both goats were close to camp. My buddies goat did cartwheels down the mountain, fell into a chute and dropped to the bottom of a canyon. They spent the whole day extracting the carcass. Mine slid 10-15 yards from where he was shot, and we were able to butcher and skin him right where he laid. The hike in and out of camp was very physically demanding. My guide was awesome and packed my entire goat out for me. I tipped him 12% since he did so well with me (he was patient when I was slowing down, kept me motivated, etc).
Even though I had an issue before the hunt with the outfitter (about the quoted cost, see my original post), the whole hunt was great and a very good experience. I'm glad I "survived" and managed to successfully harvest a mountain goat (we found out the odds to draw this tag was only 3% and we did it on our first attempt). The memories will last a lifetime. I'm going back to "easy" hunts like elk or mule deer!!
