Just returned from a long anticipated hunt for Catalina Goats at Angry Goat Outfitters in San Angelo, Texas and oh boy, what an adventure and treat it was. I 1st want to thank both Eric Henderson of "Adventures Afield" for putting the hunt together and to thank J.D. of "Angry Goat Outfitters" for not only being a great guide but for also putting out a wonderful service at a beautiful ranch.
Check them out at: https://www.angrygoatoutfitters.com/
THE BACKSTORY: Eric Henderson posted on Facebook that he wanted to put on a long range Catalina Goat hunt at Angry Goat Outfitters using Big Bore Air guns. 30 caliber and up making at least 215 FPE (Texas Law). If I remember correctly, it was supposed to be shots over 100 yards. This was right up my alley as it was something I had been wanting to do for many years now. Long Range Airgunning is kind of my thing ya know. I originally went into this wanting to make a 300 yard shot. This is and was a personal goal and not out of the realm of being possible. After talking to Eric, he verified that the shot was very possible at that ranch. Not guaranteed but possible. After that, I sent off my deposit to the ranch which in turn, sets the date planned for the hunt. IT'S ON!
THE AIRGUN: As far as my gun for the hunt is concerned, it was not going to be my .375 Badger but, my .338 AirPua. The .375 has already taken South Carolina hogs on video. The .338 AirPua has proven on video to easily make long range shots. The bullet selections of 175 and 205 grs where right in the ballpark of what I knew it would take. And they put out over 370 FPE on what I would label as, a "medium" power setting. The 175 gr HP's are what I choose and at a speed of 950-955 fps and at a range of 300 yards, they still make 240 FPE! The rifle was originally a 457 AirForce Texan and is essentially now a .357 Texan converted to .338 caliber. The Airforce line of air guns are very modular and can be converted or modified easily. The air rifles features are, Bartlein barrel (35"), Witt Machine muzzle brake, MadDog RJ-9A rifle stock and 20 MOA rail, LRA Bipod, Athlon Argos Scope and a 4500 psi Carbon Fiber tank. This gun is capable of a lot more. Future testing still to come.
THE ADVENTURE, THE HUNT: Leading up to days before the hunt, a few people cancelled on us and we went from 5 people hunting down to 2. This kind of bummed me out because I looked forward to meeting new airgunners with whom I would have shared a great hunting experience. But it wasn't to be. And that's OK, after all, i'm still going...….lol. I had a wonderful flight down to Texas to meet up with Eric (despite TSA not knowing how to classify an air gun). It was at this point, the fun really began. Eric Henderson is as much a goofball as I am and he loves to laugh. I really get along with people like this. Eric and I actually have known of each other for roughly 15 years but I had the chance to meet him face to face for the 1st time at SHOT SHOW 2019. We also hung out again at SHOT SHOW 2020 but this hunting excursion was the 1st time we've spent this much time hanging out and talking airguns and hunting and life. Eric and his lovely wife introduced me to some of the best BBQ and Mexican food Texas has to offer. And boy did it live up to Eric's hype. While the main course was fantastic, the dessert at Uncle Julios was even better. We ordered (1st time in my life) a dessert called, "Chocolate Piñata". Its a 1/4" thick HOLLOW ball of Chocolate with fruit on the inside. And you actually break it open with a mallet. It was pure sin to say the least. After dinner, we headed off to Eric house for some much needed sleep.
The next morning, the 2nd hunter, Chris Coleman met us at Eric's house. The 2 of us met and exchanged pleasantries then headed out. We made a few stops along the way and one of them was at Air Guns of Texas so we could sight our rifles in. Its kind of hard to be at an airgun shop you've never been to and then have to concentrate on sighting in your rifle. While at A.G.O., I had the pleasure of meeting Edwin Bumpass (owner/operator https://airgunsoftexas.co/) and taking a tour. It was very cool to just go out in the back of his store and set up targets at 300 yards. After putting my gun together, I began to sight in and experienced some never before seen issues. I was having POI problems and my shots wondered all over the place. Now, 1 week before this hunt, I had previously found my FX scope rings to be misaligned and had reinstalled them straight. I still have no idea how they became tweaked. Anyways, a week before this hunt, I went out with my good buddy Nick Nielsen and resighted the gun in and was shooting excellent groups at 100-200-300 yards. Even with others there spotting me. But here, at A.G.O.T. the bullets were impacting all over the place. ARRRRGH! Remembering this same issue from only 2 weeks ago, I loosen the scope ring clamps and reset them and voila, I quickly found my P.O.I. and was able to sight in. But something still didn't feel right, the gun was not consistent like usual. My AirPua had never done this. And now, its CRUNCH TIME and I didn't bring enough bullets to fully figure this issue out. I wasn't there to trouble shoot, I was there to hunt and rely on my equipment, well, to be reliable like it always is (when I'm at home of course). Its dark now and we leave A.G.O.T. and head to our hotels for the night.
That morning, we meet up with our guide J.D. Verfurth of Angry Goat Outfitter and went to breakfast where he explains how the hunt goes and to find out what we want from the hunt. Things like, the color of the animal, the size, and what type of mount you want. He of course explains the type of shots to make and what to expect. I can tell you guys from his explanation and experience, Catalina goats can take a hit from the most powerful of powder burners and run off. With a full understanding of what to expect, we finish our breakfast and head off to the ranch. The ranch is 2800 acres an in the heart of Texas hill country. Once we go through the main gate, we are amazed at all the wind turbines on the property and in the distance on other properties. While they are tall and beautiful, this shows you that man is reaching further and further out to supply energy to our ever growing population (kinda sad to see). Once we get close to the main house to park, in a vast field to our right, we spook a heard of whitetail deer. This is not only beautiful but its a sign of good things to come. We park, pack our gear into the guides truck and head off into the hills. We drive around the property to our 1st stop, exit the truck and walk to the top of a ridge. Oh my, the scenery was amazing. 380 yards in front of us and down the ridge was a watering tank that the goats frequent. And as JD is telling us this, hear comes the goats down the opposite ridge and right past the watering tank. It was beautiful watching the herd of goats travelling along. I then told JD, to get us closer as 300 was my max. We shoot more video then head back around following that 1st herd trying to get closer. By this time though, the winds were at 10 mph and seemed to steadily climb.
We decide to relocate and to start tracking another group of goats. We drove for about 10 minutes and spotted another group in the distance. We exit the vehicle and stalk to within 302 yards of the herd. We glassed the goats and I found one I liked after about 10 minutes. We grab the cameras and gun and settled in on him then BAM, we got busted and the herd slowly scampered off. We let them crest the hill then slowly began to pursue them. The goal is to stay down wind of them all the while trying to head them off. We catch up to the group and watch for a while but somehow, somewhere, I lost sight of the one I liked. As I am trying to pick another goat to my liking, we get busted and that the heard again moves. This time, we let them get way ahead as we knew where they were going and the plan was to let them settle for a while before with stalk them. Once we started moving towards the group of goats, we surprisingly ran up on 3 wild pigs 50 yards right in front of us. JD whispers loudly for me to set my gun up and take the pig out. The owner does not want them on the property. I set my gun on the tripod, aim for the shoulder of the sow and let the 175 gr HP fly. There was the deepest thud sound, then the pig dropped and squealed and was no more. 1 pig down, 1 goat to go................
After the porker, we decide to pack up, take a lunch break then head back out afterwards for round 2. After lunch, we decided to try and locate the same group we left off from and had a good idea where they could be. We soon find the group and gave them a very thorough glassing over. Chris Coleman spotted a couple of stragglers off to our right while I kept my eyes on the ones in front of me 200 yards out. I told Chris, "lets go over to the goats you spotted and lets try to get you a shot". So we did just that. Chris picked up his Texan .257 and all 4 of us stalked to within 95 yards of the one he wanted. We where surprised that we could get that close as they were skiddish. Chris set up his tripod, aimed true and put a 70 gr solid right into the goats OFF switch. After 3 seconds, the goat just dropped and JD was so shocked. Shocked because, this was his 1st guided AIR GUN HUNT and he has never seen a goat just drop the way it did. They are fighters and will often take a solid hit from a center-fire and run with it. This goat just stood where it was shot and dropped. From a .257 cal Air gun! WAY TO GO CHRIS!
So now its my turn and we head off to find other herds. JD spots a few stragglers off on a hillside and a reddish one with black accents in the small group was absolutely gorgeous. I was already not confident in my rifle from the issues a day before and the winds were pretty brutal. So, we stalked to 200 yards and Eric set up the camera and JD put me on the tripod. It was to be a beautiful shot from both the gun and the camera but, as I pulled the trigger, I heard no thud on the receiving end. The shot went extremely high! This was disheartening as I felt down in my soul something was wrong with the scope or rings from the day before and this confirmed it. I should have nailed the goat square in the lower chest (high heart shot) but instead, the slug flew true windage wise, but the elevation was over his back. And that ladies and gentlemen are a LOT of mil-dots off the mark. Thank God the shot missed so high. I did not want to wound and animal with that far of a shot. So, off to the truck I went. I checked my 100 yard zero and it was 8-10" high and left. I zeroed the gun, then in my mind settled on making a 50 yard shot. My confidence was severely deflated. Once again, an air gun has let me down in the field by either breaking or having something "OFF" and not being able to determine what it was. Especially since I shot squirrels in the head at over 150 yards the week before.
At this point, I didn't have tools nor did I have enough ammo to fully strip the gun down and start over with a sight-in. I re-verified 50 and 100 yards and told JD and Eric Henderson that 50 yards would have to do. So, we soon found another group of goats and picked out a nice one with black and subtle grey undertones and stalked to within 50 yards. To do this, we spotted the group which was moving to our right and decided to quickly get downhill and ahead of them and to wait for them to catch up in a clearing. And that we did. The goat came across us as I was setting up and then turned to walk right towards me. I quickly aimed and fired the .338 AirPua and was rewarded with a loud THWACK. It was a frontal chest shot which broke his right shoulder. The goat then turned broadside and I quickly followed up with a shoulder to shoulder shot with a complete pass through. GOAT DOWN!
All in all, despite my .338 AirPua having a "HUNTING MELTDOWN", I just about had the best time I've ever had on a hunt. Eric was a great host and videographer, JD was a great guide and did all he could to put us on goats, Chris Coleman was a pleasure to hang and hunt with (new friend), the animals on the ranch were world class, the food was fantastic and the ranch scenery was absolutely beautiful. What more is there. I would hunt here again at the drop of a hat. I am coming back. Well, make that, WE!
A FEW MORE PICS OF THE OCCASION:
Thanks and STAY TUNED for more!
Tofazfou
