As usual, I start at the back of new magazines and slowly thumb through the ads looking for good deals on hunts. When I saw Dennis Campbell and the big goat, I thought it was some kind of Ibex. I couldn't get to the phone and call David Moore at Celtic Field Sports fast enough to get the details and find out about the critter in the picture with Dennis. Well, here's the story: the animal is a Bilberry goat and is only found in Ireland. It is believed to be related to the Pashmina, Maltese or Cashmere goats and most likely came with the Huguenots from France 400 years ago. They are definitely a species of their own and considered feral and a nuisance to sheepherders. Nevertheless, they are an outstanding trophy with enormous horns and a beautiful shaggy coat and as I mentioned above, can only be found in Ireland. After a few minutes of conversation with Dave, I booked the hunt and told him to give me a day to check with my hunting partner, Don Jacklin, who would most likely join me on the hunt. I first met Don and shared a hunt with him on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East. Since then, we have been on a number of hunts together. Don is a couple years younger than I am and I always like to have him along to look after me. I immediately got him on the phone and told him about the hunt and suddenly things slowed down a bit. Don explained that he was getting ready for surgery on a damaged ligament in his shoulder, brought on by a golfing accident. I reminded him that I had always said golf was a dangerous sport. After consulting with his Doctor, it was decided that he would be able to go afield on a mountain hunt the later part of October. David Moore said that it would be a good time to go because it was the end of rutting season and the beginning of cooler temperatures. He didn't mention that it was also Ireland’s "drippy” season. The dates for the hunt were set back to the later part of October and we departed on the 20th (2011). I arrived in Dublin one hour ahead of Don and learned that the papers for my gun were not going to be available until four days later, on Monday. We were met at the airport by Dave’s sister, Bernadette, who drove us to her brother’s very nice lodge, Broomfield, about an hour's drive from the airport. From the very beginning, Don had elected to use the lodge’s gun and the next day collected two sheep. I preferred to wait until the papers for my gun were available, so my wife and I checked out all the local antique stores. My refusal to use their gun and my reply to their continued suggestion to do so was that it would be like going to a dance with your best and prettiest girl and then not dancing with her. My rifle and scope that I have worked on and lived with for so long is a part of me, and I am not going hunting without it and that's that! The Bilberry goats that were the main target and reason for the hunt are located four hours to the northwest of David's lodge, near Killarney. With the delay of getting the permit, we decided to return to Dublin for the weekend and spent Saturday and Sunday hunting through more antique stores. Don and his wife, Dorothy, like antique shopping as much as Esperanza and I do, so it was time well spent. On Monday morning, one of David's men arrived with the gun papers. It was our intention to pick up my gun from the airport police station where it was being held and head straight to the goat hunting area. Retrieving the gun was no problem...until we drove out of the airport right into the middle of Ireland’s worst flood in 100 years. A few miles out of town we were stuck bumper-to-bumper and our car died right in the middle of the highway. Now, that part of the trip gets a little damp. Ireland’s worst flood in a hundred years and we spent four hours on the side of the road waiting to be rescued. Fortunately, the filling station where we landed had WiFi and food. Because of the long delay, we elected to stay at Broomfield and depart early the next morning. During the night, Don decided to collect another sheep and did so the next morning. Our departure was delayed a few hours so we arrived at our next destination, Kenmare, a few miles from Killarney, the headquarters for the goat hunt, later in the afternoon. There we met up with our guide, Davey, and his hunting guide partner, Patrick, and settled into a very comfortable B&B that Davey and his wife, Carmen, owned. It was decided to check my gun to make sure the possible rough treatment of the case had not jarred the scope and the necessity to re-sight it. I knew that nothing was wrong with the scope, having traveled around the world a number of times with it secured in the best gun case made, Tuffy. In all the years I have traveled with my gun securely fitted in the Tuffy case, I have never had to re-sight my scope. I have always thought that sighting-in was just a ruse by the guide to see how well the hunter can shoot. |
6 comments:
Maybe Dial can fly off to a slaughterhouse in Chicago and shoot a couple of cows as they come off of the transport trucks. Chickens at 50 yards might be sporting. Dial could stay in the Valley and shoot them in the back yard of a shack in some poor Colonia west of Harlingen. Chuck, do you have any free-range chickens running around your trailer house?
As Herd Keeper of the Bilberry Goat Herd a Registered and protected Wild Goat Herd located in the centre of Waterford City Ireland i find your above story to be no more than lies after lies Bilberry Goats have never been hunted and are safely guarded the goat in your picture is a admix breed of saanen/British Alpine/Feral i remind you also it is illegal to shoot wild goats in Ireland since 2005 under European rules I have given the information on your site to Garda and Dept of Agriculture for their viewing.
Martin Doyle
Herd Keeper
Bilberry Goat Herd
Waterford City
Ireland.bilberrygoatheritagetrust@hotmail,Bilberrygoatheritagetrust.com
Leave it to a Texan to fly all the way to Ireland to kill things. I live in Alaska and the same thing happens here. Sad.
Martin, could you post what you sent to the authorities and their reply here, so we can all have a good laugh!
goats are deemed vermin if they are a bother to land owners.I shoot them regularly and have spoken to the gardai and explained why I need to do this.They have visited the landowners and spoken to all concerned and wished me luck in my exploits.martin my man.............YOU ARE FIBBING OR JUST TALKING PURE SHITE
Rest easy - study the photos. He is hunting in a fenced in area. Note the second picture has a fence in the background. Then look at the clothes he is wearing, when I walk - my body heats up resulting in me shedding clothes. No way would I wear a heavy hat out walking and then the heavy shirts. He was clearly in an animal pen and then posed for pics.
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