When Zach drew this tag we knew that there was some work to be done. We knew from talking to people that had archery hunted the Florida?s Mountains that there was a good chance we would get an opportunity at a quality billy at around 300 yards. We also heard that the mountain was one of the most physical hunts there was.
We spent a lot of time hiking during the summer and that was huge as far as getting us ready physically for the hunt.
We started out shooting some of our smaller rifles, but, Zach said to let him shoot the 300 win mag (keep in mind Zach is still only 11 years old). I let him shoot it and he handled it well.
Besides some shooting during the summer, the final week before the hunt I told him to go out every night for a week and shoot 1 bullet at a target set at 300 yards. He did this completely on his own. He was getting about a 5? group at 300 yards so I was feeling pretty good.
Our first scouting trip, our friend ML came with us about a month before the hunt. Our friend had hunted the Floridas many times and his advice and experience was critical. That morning we glassed up 4 groups of Ibex at over 1.5 miles from the mountain. Zach and I were amazed how they set up lookouts wherever the herds went and how they bounced around the mountains.
Our game plan for the hunt was to carry gear in our packs that would enable us to spend the night on the mountain. The weather forecast called for a 92 degree high so between Zach and I we carried 3 gallons of water, small tent, and minimal other gear. Our buddy Curtis (Cookie2) made the awesome sacrifice to go to the Florida?s 2 days before the hunt to scout.
Our plan for opening morning was for Zach and I to hike up the mountain and Curtis was to go to another vantage point to try to find a monster he had hunted the year before during archery season.
At daylight Zach and I started glassing the mountain before we started the trek up. About 10 minutes from decent glassing light I spotted 2 billies on one of the minor hills below the main mountains. We watched them for a bit and could see that they were working their was North. We made a quick plan to get in front of them. We hiked to where I hoped they may go, but, it did not work out. We had not spooked them, but, we miscalculated where they were going. We hike back to the truck and quickly found them again now with the spotting scopes and 15x binocs on a tripod. There was now 3 billies.
One was snow white and the others were brown compared to him, but, no matter how hard we studied them I could not place one as larger than the other. They were all big. I told Zach if we had a choice he was to take the White one. Curtis and out other friends had told us that the older they got the whiter they got, the dark horizontal stripe got darker and the face got blacker.
They climbed to the very base of the mountain right before the cap rock and settled in the shade. We called up Curtis and told him we were going to put a stalk on them and if he could keep an eye on them for us. He was a pretty good ways off and by the time he got to us they had disappeared into a crack in the caprock. After awhile we decided that the crack opened up all the way to the other side of the mountain and they had crossed to the other side of the mountain or at least that is what we hoped.
Zach and I took off climbing the mountain. When we finally got to the first saddle we went to the back side and I found one in the back side of the crack. They were over 800 yards away. We went back to the other side of the mountain where he could not see us and worked our way in. When we ran out of cover, we crept back to the other side to where I could see a little into the crack. I could not find them. I decided that the safe approach was to wait them out. We found a little rock enclosure to set up. I ranged the bottom of the crack at 360 yards and the bottom before the rock slide to be about 340 yards. We got set in for the long wait.
I called Curtis and told him the situation and he had Tony (Stinkstomper) text me the bullet drop at 400 yards. We decided that Zach had to hold 8? high (Ibex are a small animal so it made a difference). As I was glassing the Mountain I noticed a rock chute inside the crack that went to the top of the mountain and as I studied it I noticed ? the way up there was a dark cave and in it was a billy.
I could not believe there was a billy in that cave way above the bottom of the crack. In a vertical rock chute. He was about 70 yards above the bottom of the crack through the mountain. I ranged him at 372 yards and he was staring right in our direction. I am pretty sure he had seen something and was now watching the general direction of where we were. I got Zach set up again and again we waited for him to go broadside. He finally did it and seconds later Zach shot. As I watched in my binocs he dropped 30 yards down the rock chute and then somehow caught himself and came bouncing off the walls of the chute. Once on the bottom I told Zach to put another one in him any where he could.
Zach got off another shot and the billy disappeared. We had quite a climb to get to where we hoped he was and we glassed constantly to make sure he did not get up again.
We climbed up and there he was on the top of the rock slide.
I am pretty sure this was not the snow white billy so that means there are a couple other huge billies still in that area.
With the 50 feed of parachute cord I carried we eased him down the mountain about 100 yards or so to where we could get pictures. That took us almost 2 hours and by that time Curtis joined us for photos, celebrating, and caping. The climb down just about did me in carrying a full body cape, head and horns, one shoulder and all of the gear I had brought up. It was a great feeling.
We got a lot of help from our friends to make it happen. Zach and I just pray that we get the opportunity again to hunt ibex in the Floridas.
