The Goats Are Back

[jigsaw 11,899]

after months of hot weather and no shortage of grazing the mob og goats went uphill and never returned.........UNTIL NOW .I had a call from a landowner and he told me he saw them last tuesday for the 1st time.i had not pursued them at all this summer as they were not bothering anyone so i thought live and let live.

Well this morning i ventured up the hill with the kelpie x and the pup i bred from my 1st x saluki and the full saluki bitch i owned, it was dam cold,,,just after getting light i got to the 1st farm,parked up,,, as there was no sign of life from the owners of the land i went straight up on to the hill.The vegitation there was unreal.After the brilliant summer we had ,it should have been expected i suppose,but it was treatcherous walking,stepping into the unknown,every foot placement was a lottery,you just never knew for sure wether youd take a slide or a dive ...I climbed the ridges and scrambled and crawled amongst the trees and gorse and fresh paths were visible,but hell if I could come across the mob.I reached the furthest point I could travel,for after this was a wall of evergreen trees.With great dissapointment i turned back and decided to stay on this ridge as it cut through the tree lines and would help me avoid the heavy scrubby/boggy land.While i was scrambling and falling over I could see the kelpie showing some interest in a bunch of rocks,her way of showing interest is by just sitting down and stareing in the direction of whatevers caught her interest,if you didnt know her you would not catch on to her ways.I took the gun from my shoulder sling and carefully approached the rocks,but i could not see a thing.Wondering what caught her attention,i stood for a bit and then I saw the movement,a very long way over I could see the mob of possibly 20 goats laying in the grasses and relaxing.The down side was the only way to approach them was from their far off side,which meant I had to get back to the yard,jump in the wheels and drive in a semi circle kind of direction and then start to climb from a different farm again,so back i headed,,dogs in tow.

Got to the yard and lots of activity there,the owners were milking the cattle and when they saw me they asked if i had any success,as these chaps do not like(to put it mildly)the goats.So I told them I had seen them and I was en route to sort one or two out.We chatted for a short while and I left post haste to try get on terms with the mob.I pulled up in the derilect farmyard and let the dogs out and got the gun and off we went again.Way up the hill,but from this side it was a long hike,so I traveled as fast as I could trying to avoid the obvious pit falls but finding the not so obvious.I took 2 falls on the way,nothing too serious but enough to have me swearing and cussing and the dogs keeping an eye on their nut case of a master.

on the way up we saw a load of snipe,every few yards they seemed to rise.

After 25 minutes of hiking up I was sure I was getting to the place i had seen them,the paths and bedding areas were quiet obvious to the eye.

I was walking at the bottom of a rock face when I noticed Taz sitting and staring above me and a few yards ahead,I kinda knew then there was something in front of us,thre are a lot of deer here too and you just never know where you might bump into them,I sneakes up to the dog and low and behold there were a dozen heads all relaxed and oblivious to my presence.The pup was unaware of the goats close proximity and with that,i lifted the gun and placed the cross hairs on the first head I saw.Now I must admit I was well out of puff at this point but I held steady,pulled the trigger and heard the tall tale thump of the target being struck.The kelpie was sent in and the pup followed and on seeing the fleeing mob took off at speed and met the shot goat that was staggering about in its death throes and he duly took it down with a good neck grip.For a 12 month old dog he has the uncanny knack of taking the neck each time hes been on big stuff,which has been 3 times so far.

he has this habbit of lying down with them when hes holding on and it looks rather peculiar.

job done,

from here on in it was the hardest job of all.for me to get the dead beast back to the van,It took me 1 and 1/2 hrs to drag the thing back and at times I cursed I ever met them but the best about being up that far in the hill is.....NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU .lol.

After a long and arduous time I made my way back to reality and a very welcome drink of well water(water from an underground well )The mob have been hit hard by the forestry managers and 42 have been taken from their numbers over the summer I was told due to tree damage so this year im going to take it very handy with shooting them and hopefully they can recouperate their numbers in the next few years.

Edited December 4, 2014 by jigsaw

[TUFFTY 1,481]

Exellent read yet again jigsaw,

[Brewman 1,192]

Cracking read as per usual.

[jigsaw 11,899]

the down side to all this is im sitting here with reoccuring cramps in my thighs lol,ive drank a litre and a half of water but im still knotted up.the kids think its fukin hillarious lol.''lets watch dad scream and limp all over the kitchen'' its dam sore though.

[Brewman 1,192]

Next door got a pygmy goat and I thought that you hadn't written about the goats in a while. Fcuking thing never stops bleating but the youngest girl winds it up which gives me a chuckle.

[stripes 401]

Hard walking in the gorse jig, dogs did well,, some drag that .

[sussex 5,777]

Nice read Jig , that is hard earned sport .I struggle like fcuk just lifting the deer onto the quad ..let alone taking the fcukers mountain climbing ..

[sandymere 8,263]

Great read

[jigsaw 11,899]

thanks folks,i now have the task of skinning the whooore,lol and its freezing at the minute

[moxy 617]

Cracking read jiggy, nice one

[hedge hunter 107]

Honestly mate, always the best post in the forum. Always enjoy your goat threads. Keep up the good work mate. Cheers hh

[blackmaggie 3,377]

likes been said good read jig i think you need a young apprentice for all that pulling and dragging

[jigsaw 11,899]

jeeze guys thanks,i think i just waffle on about it ,lol glad you enjoy it.i swear every time im not putting my arms and back and legs(not to mention my heart)through it again but i have to admit,i just cant resist it.i get a great buzz from searching and trying to sneak up on the wiley ould critters,the shot and the kill is not the biggest buzz from it.then again,on the occasions ive missed the target ive felt sick after all the sneaky work i went through to get to them.this usually means i have to follow them again to get a second oppertunity which also means it can add on an extra mile of distance to drag em back.At one time I shot 5 goats and it took 4 hours to get them to a road for collection.pure madness i tell ye.

[jigsaw 11,899]

likes been said good read jig i think you need a young apprentice for all that pulling and dragging

hes jacked in the little bollix,lol he goes to the gym,lifts weights,takes protein/whey but refuses to pull the smellies ever again ,lazy git.

[BGD 6,436]

Great write up and pics, you have some cracking sport on them goats