Alaska Sporting Journal – August 2019

aksportingjournal.com | AUGUST 2019 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL 57

‘A TEST OF WILL

AND ENDURANCE’

Four friends got the challenge they

hoped for on Kodiak Island during

a grueling mountain goat hunt. As

they’d find out, spring hunting

entails ascents and descents

through deep snow. (BRIAN WATKINS)

BY BRIAN WATKINS

J

ack Frost once said, “If goat hunting

was easy, it’d be called sheep hunting.”

There couldn’t be a truer state-

ment about goat hunting. Sheep hunting

is often seen as the crème de la crème

of the hunting world. In all honesty,

I’d say goat hunting is far more favor-

able. The season is longer, the cost is

less, and while the terrain is generally

more dangerous, you don’t have any full

curl rules to drive your anxiety and peo-

ple aren’t so worried about it.

AVALANCHE DANGER, WET WEATHER,

IMPENETRABLE THICKETS – ALL PART

OF FOUR HUNTERS’ QUEST FOR KODIAK

ISLAND MOUNTAIN GOATS