I went hunting yesterday. I like to feed our dog game meat, so I appreciate it when I have the opportunity to shoot a goat. I generally would choose to shoot a big billygoat for the dog and leave the other goats alone to breed up and do their thing.
I spotted a small mob of goats at what I thought was maybe 200 yards away. To be honest, I don't really know how far away they were across the gully. I think I was better at judging distance when I used to regularly shoot on a range with open sights. But the goats were quite a distance off, even though they looked plenty big enough when I screwed my scope up to nine power.
I scanned the group for a likely male, and the only eligible one that I could see was a smallish (young) black billy. I figured that the dog could share this one with me if it looked tender enough. I chambered a cartridge in my Mossberg .308 and waited for the goat to move into position for a good shot. It cooperated, so I squeezed the trigger. With the recoil I didn't see exactly what happened. When I focused again I saw the goat walking apparently unharmed. I fired three more shots and none appeared to connect. The animal I was keeping my eye on didn't appear distressed and there was no bleating. This knocked my confidence. Up until now I hadn't missed anything with this new rifle. Maybe I'd knocked the sights.... or maybe the distance was a further than I thought and the bullets were shooting low.
Then I saw a larger black billy in a good position. I fired and saw it drop. All the remaining goats disappeared into the scrub. I lay there for a short time in case the goat moved, but it didn't. I stood up and saw another mob of goats just below me maybe fifty yards away. If I'd known they were there, it would have been much better to get one of them instead of having to recover an animal from a steep hillside covered with spiked vines and shrubs. I resisted the temptation to shoot at the new mob. I already had one goat and limited freezer space. I didn't want to be greedy, and I only had two cartridges left anyway.
Keeping some landmarks in mind, I climbed towards where I thought I'd shot the goat. Before I reached the spot I found the smaller black goat that I'd shot at. It was dead. After a few more paces I found another dead young black goat that looked very similar to the first one. Then I found the bigger billy.
My shots were lower than I'd aimed, and it appears that two may not have connected. I had not been aware of the second small black billy when I first saw the mob. It must have been in a hollow or behind a bush.
I now had a lot of meat to get home. I dragged all three goats to a spot that was less steep and I skinned them and cut all the meat off the carcasses. It took quite a while, and the wet, muddy hillside was not an ideal place for the job. I managed to fit all the meat into my pack.
I had two knives with me... a BK9 and a small fixed blade in a nice plastic sheath. The BK9, as usual, proved its worth in clearing a space to work in. The little knife had not impressed me in the past. Although it was very sharp, it seemed to lose its edge quickly while cutting up an animal. However, this time I skinned and boned out all three animals and the knife stayed sharp enough for the whole operation. I'd sharpened this knife a while back, and I wish I could remember for sure what I did that was different (I sharpen a lot of knives). I think in the past if a knife took a shaving edge with a steel, then I felt that it was in good shape for whatever I needed to do. I think what I did prior to this hunt, was to sharpen the flat-ground blade on a stone and then apply a micro-bevel by dragging backwards on a fine stone.
Perhaps the original 'factory' flat ground edge was a bit too fine and allowed the edge to curl when I hit bone. I seem to recall seeing a glint of light along the edge of the dulled blade with my naked eye. Anyway, now that I'm aware of the difference I have some good food for thought. I'd previously classified this little knife as 'crap', but I kept using it because of its nice hygienic factory sheath. I have a much higher regard for the knife now.
Here's a pic of the goats. I must have got my hand or my phone cover in the way when I took the picture.
I spotted a small mob of goats at what I thought was maybe 200 yards away. To be honest, I don't really know how far away they were across the gully. I think I was better at judging distance when I used to regularly shoot on a range with open sights. But the goats were quite a distance off, even though they looked plenty big enough when I screwed my scope up to nine power.
I scanned the group for a likely male, and the only eligible one that I could see was a smallish (young) black billy. I figured that the dog could share this one with me if it looked tender enough. I chambered a cartridge in my Mossberg .308 and waited for the goat to move into position for a good shot. It cooperated, so I squeezed the trigger. With the recoil I didn't see exactly what happened. When I focused again I saw the goat walking apparently unharmed. I fired three more shots and none appeared to connect. The animal I was keeping my eye on didn't appear distressed and there was no bleating. This knocked my confidence. Up until now I hadn't missed anything with this new rifle. Maybe I'd knocked the sights.... or maybe the distance was a further than I thought and the bullets were shooting low.
Then I saw a larger black billy in a good position. I fired and saw it drop. All the remaining goats disappeared into the scrub. I lay there for a short time in case the goat moved, but it didn't. I stood up and saw another mob of goats just below me maybe fifty yards away. If I'd known they were there, it would have been much better to get one of them instead of having to recover an animal from a steep hillside covered with spiked vines and shrubs. I resisted the temptation to shoot at the new mob. I already had one goat and limited freezer space. I didn't want to be greedy, and I only had two cartridges left anyway.
Keeping some landmarks in mind, I climbed towards where I thought I'd shot the goat. Before I reached the spot I found the smaller black goat that I'd shot at. It was dead. After a few more paces I found another dead young black goat that looked very similar to the first one. Then I found the bigger billy.
My shots were lower than I'd aimed, and it appears that two may not have connected. I had not been aware of the second small black billy when I first saw the mob. It must have been in a hollow or behind a bush.
I now had a lot of meat to get home. I dragged all three goats to a spot that was less steep and I skinned them and cut all the meat off the carcasses. It took quite a while, and the wet, muddy hillside was not an ideal place for the job. I managed to fit all the meat into my pack.
I had two knives with me... a BK9 and a small fixed blade in a nice plastic sheath. The BK9, as usual, proved its worth in clearing a space to work in. The little knife had not impressed me in the past. Although it was very sharp, it seemed to lose its edge quickly while cutting up an animal. However, this time I skinned and boned out all three animals and the knife stayed sharp enough for the whole operation. I'd sharpened this knife a while back, and I wish I could remember for sure what I did that was different (I sharpen a lot of knives). I think in the past if a knife took a shaving edge with a steel, then I felt that it was in good shape for whatever I needed to do. I think what I did prior to this hunt, was to sharpen the flat-ground blade on a stone and then apply a micro-bevel by dragging backwards on a fine stone.
Perhaps the original 'factory' flat ground edge was a bit too fine and allowed the edge to curl when I hit bone. I seem to recall seeing a glint of light along the edge of the dulled blade with my naked eye. Anyway, now that I'm aware of the difference I have some good food for thought. I'd previously classified this little knife as 'crap', but I kept using it because of its nice hygienic factory sheath. I have a much higher regard for the knife now.
Here's a pic of the goats. I must have got my hand or my phone cover in the way when I took the picture.
