Goat Hunt
1. How did you get into hunting?
Both of my grandfathers, my father, and all my uncles hunt to some degree so I was surrounded by it growing up. My father was very big into any outdoor activity. Whether it was fishing, trapping, hunting, and many other activities, my father was always doing something. He typically had myself, my sister or a group of other kids (friends or cousins of mine) with him. I can't remember the first time I went hunting but I started with hunting squirrels, rabbits, and grouse mostly and then eventually as I grew more patient, my father got me into deer hunting. Deer and rabbit were the two main things that I hunted as a teenager, rabbits being plentiful and fun, and deer for the opportunity to fill the freezer. We were lucky to get a deer and if we did, most of it was given away or shared with others as my family loved to feed people. Hunting slowed down for me while attending university and the first few years of working full time. The passion reignited for hunting when I moved to Slave Lake.
2. Tell us the story of how you got permission for this rare hunt.
For the last 3 years I have been sheep hunting on general tags and have been enjoying the challenges and adventures that mountain hunting offers. I had watched quite a few mountain goat videos on youtube and they have always intrigued me but living in Alberta, I never thought it would be possible. Alberta doesn't have a large population of mountain goats and it's a very hard hunting tag to draw. With the odds being so low, I foolishly applied for a mountain goat tag in a random zone without knowing any information about that zone. My thinking was "I never win anything, so what does it matter? Haha". Well, I had a 0.11% chance of drawing the tag, and I did. An odd thing for me is that I never found out I drew the tag the way that most people do, I found out by the biologist emailing ways to differentiate a billy goat from a nanny goat. Billies and nannies are very challenging to tell the difference between. Although shooting a nanny is legal, it is highly frowned upon as they take so long to sexually mature so shooting one has much more negative impact on the population. Also, if too many nannies are shot, it will jeopardize the entire hunt for the zone as the government will shut it down to maintain a healthy population. Hunting draw results for hunts are typically posted around the first week of July, but one of the easiest ways to check them does not include once in a lifetime draws, which a goat tag is in Alberta. So I found out on August 7th, my zone opened on September 10th. It did not give me much time to prepare or make time in my schedule. Luckily my wife is very understanding of my obsession with hunting and the outdoors. She realized what a unique opportunity this was for me and was 100% supportive of me doing what it took to be successful. I was able to move some things around at work and the schedule was set.
3. What made you decide that a packraft would be helpful for the hunt?
The hunt took place in Willmore Recreational Area which only allows foot or horse access. My zone was one of the very farthest back zones (30km as a crow flies from the trailhead to the edge of the zone) with very limited trails and access to it. Most of the outfitters, trappers, and other people I spoke to did not go back there much as it's super remote and the animals they are looking for have relatively low populations in that zone. There were some horse trails back there but no one was familiar with the condition of them. Also, I don't own any horses and I don't know anyone with pack horses that could go with me. Furthermore, I've heard horses are a pain in the butt to look after while backcountry hunting. I'm also not a huge fan of them, I see them as 1,000 pound temperamental cats. Haha. Since it was so late in the year, most outfitters with pack horses were already booked and the ones that were not, were out of my price range. However, speaking with the wildlife biologist, he mentioned that he had canoed a portion of the river that bordered the edge of my zone. He said he had dragged a canoe back and then paddled out. Despite my experience in canoes being pretty good, 99% of it has been in lakes so I was not comfortable taking one on this Class 1/2 river. That's when I remembered about a hunting podcast I listened to about people using packrafts to hunt with. They had hiked far back into the mountains and then floated out with their harvested animal. I started researching packrafts and everything that I could find led me to believe that even at my skill level, I could use one to float out this river. Where I wanted to hunt was roughly 45km back but knowing how things go, I figured on the ground it would be around 55-60km by the time we actually hiked it. We would be carrying enough gear and food to stay 8 days so for my hunting partner and I to carry camp plus half a goat each could put us over 100 pound packs on the way out. This would be too much to carry that far without having the meat spoiled so we decided packrafts would be the best option to get out quickly. The weather in September the last couple years has not been reliably cool enough to hang meat too long outside without spoiling. Plan was to hike up along the river until we got to the base of the mountain, hang the rafts and associated gear in a tree, and then hike up the mountain to hunt. This way we could lessen the load in our packs for hiking up the mountain and then come back and use them on the way out.
4. How did you decide on the MRS Surveyor Ultralight?
Packraft weight, durability, and carrying capacity were the main factors in deciding what packraft to choose. The raft needed to be as light as possible as we were hiking in with it so far but it would also need to float out about 300 pounds on the way out and be durable enough to withstand some abuse against rocks/sticks if it occurred. The MRS minnow was attractive for the weight and the price but it was too small to carry a person, half a goat and a pack with weapon. The next step up was the surveyor which turned out to be great. I would say it is the minimum size for a medium sized man, with a pack and a goat/sheep/deer. Having the zipper enclosure to store things inside the tubes is mandatory in my opinion if solo. It allows you to store the meat and most of your gear inside the raft, freeing up space for your legs. It also allows the meat to be touching the cool water, keeping it cold while travelling. The packraft was definitely tougher than I anticipated. We didn't abuse it but we ended up going over some rocks and sticks that we thought would damage it but it held up great.
5. How did packrafting change how you packed gear, food, and weapons?
With paddles (purchased lightweight, carbon fibre ones), life jacket, patch kits/extra rope, and the packraft itself, it added approximately 9 pounds to overall pack weight. This is relatively substantial when you plan to pack it for approximately 55kms so we had to go light on most other things. There was no room for "nice to have" things, only necessity items. My hunting backpack is a Exo Mountain Gear pack which is specifically made for backpack hunting. My pack has a meat shelf between the bag and the frame of the pack, and is designed to carry heavy loads well. This is where I put the folded up raft which worked very well. Once I put it in there, I did not have to touch it again until I unpacked it when we reached our destination along the river to start hiking up the mountain. My hunting partner rolled his up and had it sitting on top of his pack in between his pack and pack lid. Wasn't as ideal but it worked. Paddles in side pockets, life jacket hanging on a strap on the outside of the pack. The total weight for my pack was 65 pounds and that includes 2 litres of water and everything else, including weapon, food, you name it.
6.How did the packraft expand or limit where you could hunt?
Allowed us to hunt farther back as we did not have to worry about packing the heavy meat all the way out.
7. How did the hunt go?
It was a lot of work and I wish I had more time to prepare and get in better shape. We hiked 32kms the first day, then 14kms the second day. On the second day we spotted goats on the first mountain we looked at in my zone so we did not have to hike as far back as we thought we would. We hiked up the mountain the morning of the 3rd day and shot a billy in the late afternoon. So it was very successful. We spent the night on top of the mountain under a tarp as we did not want to hike in the dark all the way back down the mountain to our camp at the river.
8. Were there any crazy stories or scary moments?
On the morning that we went to float out, the river had risen 12-18 inches which made things very interesting. We assume it was due to glacier melt further up river as it had been very hot the last couple of days. It turned what we thought would be a relatively easy float out to a somewhat stressful time. We floated out the 46kms in 4.5 hours and that includes taking at least 30 minutes to portage around an unsafe corner that had large rapids going into a sharp corner. So we travelled roughly 11-12km/hr floating out river. The water was very fast and it pushed us around quite a bit, really had to look ahead to ensure you were avoiding sweepers, log jams, and large rapids as it took a lot of time and energy to paddle to the other side of the river. There were a few close calls with sweepers and I ended up doing a 180 while in rapids so I had to swing myself back around. The 180 was mostly caused by me not ensuring the weight inside the tubes of my raft was evenly balanced after portaging. I had made sure things were even prior to that but we had carried it on its side and things shifted. I did try to shake it to move things around better prior to relaunching but I should have just deflated and did it proper.
9. If you were to do it again, what would you change?
Better shape ahead of time. More practice with heavy loads in similar river conditions. If loads become uneven in packraft tubes, properly adjust loads. More time to scout the area.
10. What advice would you give someone dreaming of a similar Canadian Rockies hunt?
I have too much advice. Haha
- Don't make excuses, just do it. Even if you do mini trips, through time and repetition, things will get easier and less daunting.
- Good boots, satellite communication device, and pack are what people should spend top money on.
- Nice gear is great if possible, experience is better so go with what you have and make do.
- Let people know your plans and have a check in system with someone
- If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough.
11. What moment from this hunt still stands out most vividly?
Honestly, the packrafting out. I have hunted in the mountains for a few years now so that was kinda all the same but the packrafting out was something new and intimidating which made it exciting at the same time. The water conditions weren't ideal and I'd rather not paddle out a river in those conditions again but we made it and have a really good story because of it. I was told by quite a few others that my plan wouldn't be able to work so the fact that we were successful feels pretty good. To be fair to those people, some of those concerns and doubts were justified.
12. How did this experience deepen your connection to the outdoors?
To be honest, my connection outdoors is already pretty deep so I'm not sure if it did. I grew up in the outdoors, I work in the outdoors, I play in the outdoors so I just mostly feel at home when I'm doing these adventures.
13. What’s next for you—another packraft hunt, or something entirely different?
One of my original plans for 2025 was archery bull elk until I drew this tag so I will likely go back to that plan. I thought I would sell both of the rafts after the goat hunt as I don't plan on having another mountain hunt near a large river like that but once I returned I really understood the possibilities that one allows you to take advantage of. They are so easy to inflate and pack around that you can use them for a lot of things. One thing I thought of for sure is duck hunting in more remote ponds or areas. Also, they allow you to easily cross rivers, opening up country that no one else has easy access to and I love not seeing anyone while hunting. So I can see myself keeping one of the rafts to do some of those things. I did harvest a moose this hunting season and a whitetail so it was a busy fall for me so I'm kinda in rest mood right now. As for mountain hunts, I plan to take a break in 2026 as it is tough being gone for 7-10 days away from my wife and kids and only texting through an InReach once or twice a day.