Florida Mountains Ibex

I had a buddy draw a once in a lifetime tag this year (his first time applying, Ive applied 15 years and never drawn)for ibex in the Florida Mountains. It was absolutely nuts, the whole thing. You hike straight uphill, then go rock climbing, then have to figure out a way to get down - and you do that about 2 or 3 times a day. We figured it wouldnt be that hard, only 25 tags and the mountains are only 10 miles long. We were wrong, spotting these tiny things requires a spotting scope - binoculars rarely work. Then when you find them you get to start hiking to them, and most of the time you get busted or they just disappear into the cliffs - after you had hiked 3 hours to get to them. We didnt have radios, huge disadvantage as all the guides out there had 2 or three spotters with radios telling the hunters where the ibex were while hiking. It got very frustrating after 3 days of walking out butts off then coming up empty handed. On the last day, I ran into an old friend who showed us where he had seen some ibex earlier in the day - then offered to hike with us to them. He pointed to the highest freaking spot on the mountain, and we tried to spot them and couldn't. But we decided to trust his judgement and took off towards the peak anyway. It took 2 hours to get to the point where we could actually see the peak, and we spotted a herd of about 45 goats. So we snuck around another point to a crack in the cliffs about 4 feet wide - this took another hour. When we spotted the goats, they were 472 yards away. I was calling marks off and best I could tell the goat was at 506 when he shot. He folded up and fell 200 yards before stopping, had a small bush not been there he would have gone another 500 yards. It took 45 minutes to get to the goat and by that time it was getting dark. So we gutted it, and hung it for the next morning....which meant we had to actually do that hike all over again. Just a crazy hunt in a crazy place.....I told my buddy he did that goat a favor by taking its life.



Biggest billy we saw, you have to look real close




Where he shot from

awesome!

What an amazing hunt. I've always wanted to put in for it. I better just go ahead and do it.

Congrats to you and your buddy.

Outstanding! Thanks for sharing and congrats to your buddy!

Great job! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting the photos and the report. Congrats on a fine looking Goat!! I Mule Deer hunted the Florida mountains in 1983/4 and I still remember those days as some of my most physically demanding days in the field ever. It was hot and windy everyday and I wore out a fairly new pair of hunting boots each year on those rocks! Thanks for the trip down memory lane....... now I think I'll go lie down. Baker

no wonder the Apache liked the place

Might have been a tough hunt but I bet its one you'll remember the rest of you life. Congrats.

AWESOME!!!!

Congrats.

Outstanding!

Once in a lifetime draw. Congrats to your buddy!

Great job and congrats. I actually live about an hr away from the Florida's and those are some of the nastiest, jagged, most unforgiving pile of rocks this side of the universe. Great pics but they really don't come close to showing how truly rugged those mountains are!

A long shot bucket list draw of mine. Congrats!!!!

Congrats. on taking a very fine Ibex.

Sucker had a set on him.

Great pictures and congrats on an amazing hunt.

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Great animal, sounds similar to my mountain goat hunt in Idaho, except it took 9 days to get a shot and kill at 440 yards. Outstanding jeff~

I didn't know Florida had mountains.....

Wow greatness!

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That it is

Congratulations and thanks for sharing the pictures!!!

I drew a muzzle loader tag back in the 90's and spent two weeks there on my own without any luck. One of the hardest, most demanding physically and emotionally hunts I've ever been on. The wind was terrible and somewhere towards the end of the hunt, I lost my tent. It was just shredded up when I came back to camp and I spent the last couple of nights sleeping in the back of my Bronco. I had a fairly new pair of boots that where ruined by all the rocks. The leather just wore away to nothing in places. Many times I had my flashlight in my mouth while climbing up a rock wall praying that when the sun came up I would be able to find another way down.

I saw plenty of animals, but getting close enough for a muzzle loader proved beyond my ability. Seeing them on the rocks, and how fearless they are was truly the highlight of the trip!!!

Eddie

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