Degree slopes for goats???

[wvhunter304]

I will never be able to hunt. Mountain Goat but have a question. I'm a union pipeliner in West Virginia and currently working on 42 degree slope.

How common is that slope in goat country? How often are you on it during a hunt? Do you go up and down those slopes all day?

 

[BackofBeyond]

yes, that kind of slope and steeper is common in goat country. Never hunted goats, hope to some day, but been in their country quite a bit, and I can imagine on a hunt you're up and down it a lot. The trick isn't to go straight up it, or straight down it constantly - it's to gain your elevation, then do whatever you can to not lose it. So get up, and stay up until you absolutely have to come down.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

North American Mountain Goats and wild goat species from around the world live on the steepest most gnarly faces around. I have seen them climb, feed, bed and just walk/run on cliff faces. 42 degrees to them would be a walk in the park. To hunt them you have to get to where they live, find them and shoot them in recoverable locations. When hunting them you are limited to your abilities as a hunter and human. I'm not sure what the slopes were on my goat hunts, but there were a few situations where it was pretty freaking sketchy.

 

[wvhunter304]

I guess my main question is if you are going up and down all day? Or do you climb a slope like that for over a thousand feet?

We are up and down all day. Difficult to carry equipment. Easy to fall. Wears anybody out.

 

[MTGunner]

My goat was taken on a 65 degree angle shot. He fell over 500’ before landing on a ledge. It took me over two hours of climbing to get to a point where I could take a good shot and be comfortable with the shot.
Mountain goats can and will live in the nose bleed country. When spooked they climb higher. MTG

 

[BAKPAKR]

On my goat hunt, my brother and I were just trying to find goats so we started at the bottom every morning and hiked up to the top of a different mountain. The elevation that I got my goat at was about 2400’ higher than where we started that day. The goat in my avatar photo and the one in the photo below were about 3800 feet above the truck at the end of a 4 mile hike.

I think a big issue with goats, as @MTGunner pointed out, is shooting one in an accessible place and having it end up in a really nasty place.

Since you are in West Virginia, you are probably familiar with the rock in the second photo. If that rock was in goat country, there would be very few spots on it where I would be surprised to see a goat.

 

[TOGIE]

 

[wvhunter304]

Bakpakr,

The hill we are on is very similar to Seneca Rocks.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I am guessing there are several people on here who have hunted, shot, and packed elk on slopes that were 42 degrees or greater. I am pretty sure I have.

 

[buffybr]

I've seen mountain goats of cliff faces where I wouldn't go unless I was roped up, and I've seen them in the bottom of valleys drinking water from the river, and even licking salt off highways.

When I shot my goat, the season opened in early September but I didn't start hunting them until mid November when they had their long and thick winter hair. The mountain that I shot my goat on was at lease a 45 degree slope with scattered vertical cliffs that I had to detour around. The day that I got him it was -5* F and knee deep snow where I started up. Previous scouting on that mountain with no snow and decent temperatures, I could hike to the top in about an hour. The day I shot him it took me 3 hours to get to the top.

In the few years after I shot my goat, 3 of my friends drew permits in that unit and they all shot their goats in the bottom of the valley, about an half hours walk from the road.

Before my Mon passed, she wanted to do one last trip to the top of Mt Evans, west of Denver. There is a paved road to within a couple hundred yards of the 14,265' summit. On the drive up we saw goats on 60-80 degree cliffs, and goats on the less than 20 deg grass slopes above timberline.

 

[MThuntr]

I'm not a goat but I'm regularly on +70% slopes...the kind if you slip it's a long slide down. In fact, 42% would be a treat at work

 

[gouch]

I'm not a goat but I'm regularly on +70% slopes...the kind if you slip it's a long slide down. In fact, 42% would be a treat at work

View attachment 319951

70% = 35°

 

[MThuntr]

70% = 35°

I didn't catch that he mentioned degrees...my brain defaults to % slope.

To the OP: goats are often on slopes greater than 42 degrees. Get those legs in shape if you want to be where they are. Honestly, the goal would be to switchback up the slope to a ridge then use the ridge for travel.

Here's an example. Slope is slightly less than 40 degrees (actually I measured at 78% slope on our field visit). There is a trail that goes back and forth across the slope then to the small ridge. Saves the legs. Obviously the goal would be to only go up once and come back with a heavy pack but we all know that's not going to happen LOL.

 

[ismith]

I get vertigo just thinking about some of the places I went while hunting goats in the Beartooths.

 

[RobG]

42 degrees is a 90% slope, and a lot steeper than you would think. If you slipped, you probably wouldn't stop until you hit the bottom.

This slope was about 80%, and about as steep as you can climb without using your hands.

 

[MTGunner]

BAKPAKR’s right about terrain, critical terrain, that goats like. Also, you, as an ethical hunter, must decide whether taking a goat and recovering said goat is possible. Mine fetched up on a ledge…..thankfully. He fell a good 500’ from the perch he stood on when I shot him. I watched him for a good 20 minutes trying to decide if he fell whether I could retrieve him. It turned out for the good. I full body skinned him for my first trip down. Once again another trip to bone him out as here in MT you must take all the attainable meat. It was brutal! But, worth the effort. This I did at age 64 in 2011. From the day I found that I drew this tag I trained faithfully each day. But, even after training all summer and early fall this hunt kicked my old butt. Worth the pain? Indeed!
BTW, goat country is NOT for the faint of heart. You better be comfortable with heights. MTG

 

[Sandbrew]

A 42 degree slope is less than the 12/12 pitch on my steep roof to shed snow. I'm 100% sure every mountain goat I've been on has involved climbing at least a slope that steep or steeper. The last goat stalk and pack out I was on was 789 yards to the where the goat ended up and 1575 vertical climb up and down from 11,430 to 13,005.

 

[sneakem]

Goats spend a good amount of their life in the cliff bands. They eventually wander out to feed onto some lesser slopes, which is where you’ll want to try to ambush them.

I shot my goat in that nice grassy flat pasture circled in the middle of the photo.


Flat being a relative term in goat country…

 

[Ckleeves]

That bottom one wouldn’t be stalkable just based on the size of balls it would take it would be really hard for the owner of said balls to drag them up the mountain.

 

[BAKPAKR]

View attachment 320285View attachment 320286
That bottom one wouldn’t be stalkable just based on the size of balls it would take it would be really hard for the owner of said balls to drag them up the mountain.

And the top one is stalkable?