Dreaming about a mountain goat hunt for much of our lives we had never being lucky enough to get a tag in our home province of Alberta, Canada.
The province to the west, British Columbia, is home to over half of the world population of mountain goats. Outfitters are allocated tags; it was only a matter of deciding who to hunt with. Booking with Golden Bear Outfitting operating in the Stikine River area of northwestern BC, our hunt was on. As they had horses in one of their remote camps we could ride to the tree line thus reducing the climbing required to get to mountain goat habitat. It seemed like a hunt that was tailor made for the two of us. Both of us had spent considerable time in the mountains with horses and were only too aware of our diminishing capabilities. The mountains were getting higher and steeper as we got older.
Dreaming of a hunt in spectacular mountains with sunny days and glorious Fall colours we left our home town, Edmonton. Along with my wife, Carole, my brother Duane and his wife Lucille, we spent a week driving to Telegraph Creek visiting attractions along the way. First Nations were dip netting salmon; we bought two for supper. On a guided tour of Ksan First Nation Historic Village we were intrigued by the ceremonial mask of a one horned mountain goat. The world's largest collection of totem poles at Gitanyow/Kitwancool Historic Village was awe inspiring. Watching from the safety of a raised boardwalk we were entertained by grizzly bears as they caught salmon in a small creek at Hyder, Alaska.
The Stikine Canyon on the way to Telegraph Creek was spectacular but the road was not for the faint of heart. There were no guard rails, even around shwarp corners and on steep hills. In places the rough gravel road was only one, very narrow, lane and we felt like we were hanging over the cliff. At Telegraph Creek our pilot, Rick, met us with a 1953 Beaver on floats. Our destination
