The ground work was laid for Randy Rau’s Mountain Goat hunt in August when he stopped at our booth in Fort Worth at the Texas Trophy Hunter’s Extravaganza. He was after a special animal for his trophy room and wanted to bring his father Ron to experience Alaska’s true wilderness in a wild part of the state that is often called “The Lost Coast”. Here the mountains rise from their base higher than any mountains in the world. The hunt for the elusive Mountain Goat is done on private land that backs up against the Mt. Saint Elias Wrangell National Park. There are 70 miles of coastline to hunt so the Goats rarely see people and most of them die of old age and natural causes.
Randy and Ron arrived into Yakutat on October 11. Randy picked up his Goat permit at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and headed directly out to the hunting camp in Icy Bay, a short flight of about forty minutes. The first two days were spent fishing for Silver Salmon and hunting waterfowl. On the afternoon of the second day, with the waterfowl specimens securely wrapped and in the freezer, Randy and the crew were off scouting for a trophy Goat. It wasn’t long before Garrett had a nice Billy spotted on the mountain. They studied the terrain and planned their stalk for the next morning. It was just a mile away but the route up was going to be challenging. This looked to be a hunt that they could complete in a day so they decided to save time and not pack a spike camp up the mountain. Everyone was excited that evening as they anticipated the coming days hunt.
The team was off early the next morning with high expectations. The climb was steep but the route through the trees was fairly good. When they reached timberline the shale made the going a little rougher. The climb up had taken twice as long as they’d planned. To make things more difficult the big Billy had moved over one ridge and time was getting away from them to complete the hunt and get back down while it was still light. Finally they topped out and were able to survey their situation. They located another decent Goat that was much closer than the record book Goat that was on the next ridge. They were tired and decided to take the closer Goat and hope to make it off of the mountain before dark. The final stalk was made and Randy executed an impressive shot at over 400 yards. He was using a .378 Weatherby that had been necked down. The going was tough getting to the Goat and the photos were taking up even more time. They dressed out the Goat and Randy and his dad each took a load to help out. Going down was a little easier but everyone had to be cautious not to slip and sprain an ankle or dislocate a knee. When they were half way down and into the timber it was obvious that they couldn’t make it out before dark. So, the safe thing to do was to pick out a good level spot and find an area that offered some protection. They snuggled up together and spread the Goat hide over them for additional warmth.
Three happy guys arrived at the bottom of the mountain the next morning. The going had been tough but the rewards were more than worth it. Randy and Ron headed back to Fort Worth with a prized Mountain Goat that had excellent horns and a hide with long magnificent winter hair. It was the trophy of a life time.
Good shootin Rawdy Rau.