Mountain Goat Hunt
Gear and Equipment

Footwear

Only the best boots.

Boots are your single most important piece of gear. Without your feet in good condition, you cannot effectively hunt. Wear your boots, hike in them while wearing a heavy pack, and use them prior to your hunt (this does not mean walking around the yard or golf course). Poorly fitting boots will at best make you miserable and at worst completely ruin your hunt. There is no “best boot” – everyone’s foot is different. What is great for some may be terrible for others.  Below is a list of high quality boots that have always given me and the majority of my clients consistently good results. Try them and wear them!

• Quality mountaineering boots: I recommend Lathrop & Sons Mountain Hunter Elite with L&S custom footbeds as the surest choice for a boot that will fit your foot. Other great options are Kenetrek Mountain Extreme non insulated, Lowa Tibet Hi GTX , Crispi Briksdal Pro GTX, Scarpa Ribelle Tech 3.0, Schnee’s Granite. There are many other options.
• Insoles: L&S Custom Synergy Othotics, Superfeet, Spenco Original Total Support.
• Gaiters: Kuiu Yukon Gaiter, Outdoor Research Crocodiles.
• Camp Shoes: We use these for crossing creeks and the river, in order to keep our boots dry. I would only bring Crocs Classic Clogs for this.
• Wool Socks: I recommend at least 6 pairs of the highest quality sock such as Darn Tough Heavyweight Hunting Sock, Kuiu Strongwool Hybrid Crew Sock, Smartwool Hunt Full Cushion Tall Crew Sock.
• Sock Liners (optional): I personally prefer to use sock liners. They are great to help reduce hot spots and keep your socks dryer and cleaner. Injinji Liner Crew Wool Socks (3 pairs).
• Puffy Booties (optional): These are great after a long day of hiking to slip on and keep your feet warm while back at the tent. They are also great to sleep in. I like the Enlightened Equipment Torrid Booties.
• Crampons: Essential for hiking on steep, slick, grassy slopes and trails, and for safe footing in rugged goat country. I suggest hiking crampons that buckle onto your boots, and NOT “microspikes” held on with a rubber bungee-type harness, which are not acceptable for this type of terrain. The best type of hiking crampon is the Kahtoola K10 Hiking Crampon.

Base Layer

Absolutely NO COTTON!

I prefer lightweight merino wool or merino/synthetic blend for its ability to avoid stinking and its excellent breathability and insulation.

• Lightweight Short Sleeve Merino Wool T-Shirts (2): Kuiu Ultra Merino 120 LT SS Crew-T, Stone Glacier Chinook Merino Crew SS.
• Underwear bottoms (4 pairs): Exofficio Give-N-Go Boxer Brief, Kuiu Ultra Merino Boxer Brief, Stone Glacier Chinook Merino Boxer.
• Lightweight Merino Wool Top (1): Kuiu Ultra Merino 145 Weight Zip-T or Stone Glacier Chinook Merino Hoody.
• Lightweight Merino Wool Bottoms (2 pairs): Kuiu Ultra Merino 145 zip off bottom, Stone Glacier Chinook Merino Bottoms, Smartwool Classic All-Season Merino Baselayer Bottom.

Mid Layer

Hoody and Pant.

• Mid Weight Merino Wool or Grid Fleece Hoody (1): I wear this over my t-shirt. I prefer hoodies, which not only can be worn when it is cool, but also offer better concealment from sheep eyes, which easily pick up bright human faces. Some options are: Kuiu Ultra Merino 210 hoodie or Kuiu Peloton 200 Zip T Hoodie, Stone Glacier Helio Hoody, First Lite Kiln Hoody, Sitka Heavyweight Hoody, Eberlestock Pioneer Half Zip Hoody.
• Pants: Note: Instead of wearing typical soft-shell “hunting pants” we prefer to wear breathable rain pants over the top of lightweight merino wool long underwear bottoms. It is always wet on Kodiak, and you can expect rain, snow, or sleet on any given day. The brush and ground are wet even when it’s nice out, so you will likely get wet pants if you do not wear your rain pants. For this reason, we like to wear top quality breathable rain pants over the lightly insulating and highly breathable merino bottoms and not utilize typical softshell hunting pants. See pant types under “rain gear”.

Insulation Layer

Jacket, Parka, Pant.

I prefer Synthetic Insulation for Goat hunts. Down is a fantastic insulator, compresses better and weighs less than anything synthetic, and I certainly prefer it on sheep hunts and in certain situations, but even treated “waterproof” treated down is inferior in wet, humid weather to modern synthetics like Primaloft Gold, Climashield Apex, or many
others. These hunts are very wet, and you will be damp. Synthetics handle this weather better than down. The choices below are all top notch synthetic fill.

• Mid-Warmth puffy jacket (1): This should weigh about a pound and be highly compressible. This is your most used layer: Sitka Kelvin Aerolite Jacket, Kuiu Kenai Hooded Jacket, Stone Glacier Cirque Jacket, Otte Gear LV Insulated Hooded Jacket.
• Super Warm puffy parka (1): Should weigh no more than 2 pounds & be highly compressible: OR Pro Colossus Parka, Barneys Brooks Range Jacket (these are my favorite two jackets). Other options are the Kifaru Lost Parka, CANIS Pamir Insulation Jacket.
• Extra Puffy layer (1 – Optional): Goat hunting can be very cold, especially late-season October and November hunts. For this reason, if you are sensitive to cold temperatures, I recommend a third ultralight weight puffy jacket, in down fill, for weight and space savings. Lots of good options available, including the following: Kuiu Super Down Pro Hoody (my favorite), Stone Glacier Grumman Jacket, Sitka Kelvin Lite Down Jacket, First Lite Brooks Down Sweater, Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisper Jacket.
• Lightweight Puffy Pant (1 Pair): Kuiu Kenai Pan, Patagonia DAS Light Pant, Rab Photon Pant, Mountain Hardware Compressor Pant.

Rain Gear

Buy Only the best 3 Layer Gore-Tex Type Rain Gear!

• Gore-tex Rain Jacket (1): This is the jacket you will live in all day every day. Kuiu Yukon Jacket (preferred), OR Pro Allies Mountain Jacket, Kuiu Kutana Jacket, Sitka Stormfront Jacket, Arcteyx Alpha SV jacket, Stone Glacier M5 Jacket.
• Gore-tex Rain Pant (1): Kuiu Yukon Pant (preferred), Kuiu Kutana OR Pro Allies Mountain Pant, Kuiu Kutana Rain Pant, Sitka Stormfront Pant, Arcteryx Beta AR pant, Stone Glacier M5 Pant.

Pack

Only High-Quality Packs!

You MUST have a pack that is at a minimum, 6900 Cubic Inches, and I prefer 7900. Besides your boots, this is your second most important piece of equipment. The pack must fit 7 days of food, your gear, tent, sleeping bag and pad, and anything else. You must be able to comfortably carry 50 lbs with it. Do not bring a small pack thinking you will have to carry less. A high-volume expedition pack weighs virtually the same as a small pack. You need the larger volume pack for this hunt, no exceptions.

• Barney’s Pinnacle Pack and the Stone Glacier Sky Guide 7900 are really the only two packs I would consider.

Other Gear

• Warm Hat and Ball Cap: Enlightened Equipment Torrid Hat, Kuiu Kenai Bomber Hat.
• Fleece Gloves: Sitka Jetstream Glove, Outdoor Research Gripper Sensor Glove, Kuiu Guide X Glove.
• Shell Mitten with puffy liner: Kuiu NorthStar Glomitt, Stone Glacier Altimeter Mitt, OR Revel Shell with Alti II Liner Mitt.
• Water Containers: You should have one Platypus 3L Hoser to drink from while hiking and one 48 oz Nalgene Bottle.
• Water Filter: Platypus Quickdraw Filtration System.
• Camp soap.
• Headlamp (2): Fenix HP65R with extra battery.
• Blister Patches: Such as Glacier Gel, Rock Tape, Moleskin.
• Small roll of backpacking duct tape.
• Recharging battery bank (to charge your phone, inreach, etc) : I prefer Anker Powercore Essential 20k.
• Communications (optional): Garmin Inreach and/or Irridium Sat Phone.
• Reading Material: A couple of good books, or book on phone/audio book: (no hard cover/heavy books).
• Trekking pole(s).
• Cook Stove: Jet Boil or MSR Windburner 1ltr or MSR Reactor 1ltr.
• Long Handle Spork: Sea to Summit Alpha Lite Spork.
• Lightweight Drinking Mug: GSI Outdoors Fairshare Mug.
• Binocular Harness: Kuiu, Stone Glacier, Mystery Ranch, Marsupial Gear.
• Ultralight SilNylon Dry Bags: I like at least 3-4 of these compressible ultralight dry bags of various sizes to put my jackets, gloves, extra socks, and other gear in so that it is organized in my pack and safe from moisture, and tightly compressed so as not to take up space. A mix of sizes is best depending on what you plan to put in each bag. I prefer the Kuiu Roll Top Dry Bags or the Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Dry Sack.
• Soft gun case (optional): You will want a basic soft gun case to travel with your gun on the flight from Kodiak to Camp. I really like Rubberized Waterproof cases on Kodiak, especially the Nomar Waterproof Rifle Scabbard.
• Knife: If you bring a knife, don’t bother bringing a heavyweight large knife. Just bring a small, super lightweight folder or fixed blade, such a Victorinox or Havilon.

Sleeping

• Lightweight down sleeping bag rated to 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Should weigh between 2-3 pounds and be backpack style: Kuiu Super Down Sleeping Bag 0 Degree, Western Mountaineering Antelope MF 5 degrees, Western Mountaineering Kodiak GWS 0, Feathered Friends Ibis EX 0, Stone Glacier Chilkoot 0 degrees, Mountain Hardwear Phantom Gore-Tex.
• Lightweight sleeping pad: Thermarest NeoAir  Xtherm is the only way to go.
• Inflatable Camp Pillow (optional): Sea to Summit Aeros Pillow Premium.
• Compression Stuff Sack for sleeping bag: Sea to Summit Ultra Sil Compression Dry sack.

Rifle, Ammunition & Optics

• Caliber: When hunting Goat, I personally prefer the 30 magnums, paired with proper heavy bullets, which deal with the windy conditions we usually encounter, and are plenty powerful for goats or bears should the situation arise. Although I like the 30s the best, anything from 6.5 up to 338 works. Just a few options are as follows; 6.5 PRC, 6.5-284, 6.5×47, 6.5 GAP, 6.5-280 AI, 270 Win, 280 AI, 7mm-08, 270 WSM, 7mm Rem, 7 PRC, 30-06, .308 Win, 300 WSM, 300 Win Mag. or 300 PRC , 338 Win. I suggest bringing two boxes of ammunition (40 rounds).
• Rifle: I recommend very accurate purpose-built lightweight mountain rifles. Kimber Montana or Sako Finlight are two very nice factory-built rifles. There are literally countless custom-built mountain rifle options available, Alterra Arms, Fierce, Gunwerks, Borden, Double Broom Mountain Rifles, Proof Rifles, Gunwerks – just to name a few. Your rifle set up with scope should not exceed 8.5 lbs on the heavy side, and can easily be made much lighter, in the 6 to 7 lb range.
• Rifle Scope:

  I recommend high-quality optics. These should be variable power in the 2-15x range, give or take, with 1″ or 30mm tube diameter, and no more than 44mm objective diameter to save on weight. finding the right balance between quality glass and lightweight is difficult, but your scope should not weigh more than 20-23 oz at the most. The scopes I have listed are proven very durable and repeatable, and have adjustable elevation turrets for shooting long range;

  Leupold VX3 2.5-8.5 x 33mm, VX3 4.5-14×40 or VX6 2-12×42, Nightforce NXS 2.5-10×42, March-F 3-24×42, Zeiss Conquest V4 4-16×44, Swarovski Z6 2.5-15×44.

  I strongly suggest getting a Ballistically matched turret for your scope, or knowing the MOA/Mrad come up at different ranges. This is the best way to shoot repeatedly accurate at longer ranges, beyond your 200 yard zero range.

• Rings and Bases:  I recommend Talley Ultralight.
• Binoculars: Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss – 10×42 are best. Use the best quality optics.
• Spotting Scope (optional): Swarovski ATX 65 or 85, with quality tripod such as Outdoorsmans or Gitzo Mountaineer, and fluid head such as Gitzo or Outdoorsmans. I do not recommend clients bring spotting scopes unless you do not mind carrying the significant extra weight.
• Bipod (optional): Spartan, Atlas, etc…