Do you "eat the meat from your Sheep or Goat?

[postalhunter1]

Hello Guys, Well I have been getting more and more interested in Goat and Sheep hunting and am learning how remote and difficult these hunts can be(especially on your own), which got me to thinking do you guys always make a point of hauling out all the meat along with your skull and cape? Is it illegal to not haul it out? Like in Colorado the only thing considered legal to leave would be the organs? If you are hanging on to a ledge with one hand, and caping your trophy Ram or Goat do you make that extra 4 mile trip through hell and back to get the rest of the meat?, or is it acceptable to grab the loins and leave the rest? Don't get me wrong, I don't waste my venison, and I certainly don't leave it to the coyotes. Those of you have done these hunts, what is the standard with these animals? What have you done on your hunts? Is the meat good, or not so good? I will appreciate any feedback, I know you guys are the real deal. God Bless. Jamie

 

[Bambistew]

In Alaska you must salvage for consumption ALL meat before you take any part of the trophy from the field. Sheep is probably one of the best meats if not the best there is.

 

[Sytes]

In Alaska you must salvage for consumption ALL meat before you take any part of the trophy from the field. Sheep is probably one of the best meats if not the best there is.

They tried passing that in MT... I like that idea, unfortunately more did not and it never made it to day light.

 

[Frenchy]

Right, I liked the Alaska Law of requireing on to pack out all meat before you can remove the cape and head from the field.

Postalhunter1. I'd suggest you plan on bringing it all out of the field if you plan on hunting sheep and goat. If you find yourself looking at an animal on a cliff where salvging an animal is in question. Maybe hold off on the shot.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Postalhunter- Planning how to get the meat out is part of the deal for any backpack hunt. And yes it often does require another trip or two to get it done. Thankfully for goat and sheep hunts you are only probably looking at @ 50-70lbs of boned out meat on an average animal plus another 15-25lbs for the horns and cape. That's easily doable with one extra trip.

Goat and sheep meat is worth salvaging. I've never eaten a Dall sheep, but the bighorns I've eaten ranged from pretty good to needing to be made into summer sausage to be considered edible. The mountain goats tasted better in my opinion but the younger billies tasted better than the one older goat as could be expected.
Not only is it required legally in most areas but IMO no ethical hunter would want to waste the meat of an edible animal just to save himself some work.
It speaks well of you that you want to get this aspect figured out before you embark on a hunt like this.
In all reality, its been my experience that getting out mountain goat and bighorn meat isn't nearly as difficult as packing out an average elk. Sure the hunts are in rougher, steeper terrain as a general rule, but with an average bull elk you are packing between 200-250lbs of boned out meat. With 60lbs of meat and another 10+ lbs of pack weight your looking at four good man trips to get that bull on ice. With a small bull and strong guys you can do it in three.

Its all part of the fun. The good thing is our bodies don't seem to remember the pain once we recover from it.

 

[TBinKodiak]

Well I've bucked two dall rams back home. One was 23 miles to the truck and the other was 8 miles to the landing strip. There was no option of going "back" for a second load, it all comes out. That means camp, food, clothes, eveything; if you can't buck a 125lb pack you have no business being in sheep country to begin with. Heck if you can't buck a 125lb pack you really don't haveany business being in Alaska to begin with. Also did two billies one was 9 miles the other 3 miles, of course I've helped others pack their goats out too. Dall sheep meat is the best meat I've tasted. The only reason I'm allowed to go sheep hunting is that my wife also thinks its the best meat on the planet. If I went on a sheep hunt and came home empty handed she would be very disappointed. Now if I went on a sheep hunt, and passed up a legal sheep to see if I could get a bigger ram and didn't get a ram, my wife would probably kick me out of the house.
Dall sheep horns will weigh 15-20lbs with the skull cap, cape will be 10lbs, meat will be another 50 lbs if boned and trimmed. Now all that changes if you have a guided hunt and they hump the weight for you.

 

[TBinKodiak]

Got a little pompus in the above post, sorry about that.

 

[Monteman11]

I think your post while honest at heart Tb would probably rule out 90 percent of hunters. Carrying a 125 lb pack is one thing, humping it a few miles is another. The heaviest pack I have humped is 100 for about 3 miles in elk country. Doable, absolutely, and that was when I weighed in about 45 lbs heavier than my pack!

Back to sheep meat. It really is teat stuff, and I haven't ever had a bad cut. Some of the best meat i have ever eaten was from my Tahr in New Zealand marinated in red wine cooked on an open fire.

That is an OYOA I need to do, while the first trip was guided, I have worked the details out and hunting New Zealand self guided is doable for both Tahr and Chamois.

 

[cowboy]

I have taken 2 goats and 2 big horn sheep. Meat was very edible. Been in on a few more goat and sheep hunts/meals and it is my opinion that the meat is as good as you take care of it. Logistics back to your rig, keeping things clean, and temperature all plays a big part in any meat you are intending to eat.

As for the amount you take out or leave - I've never left any behind no matter what the conditions or distance so I won't get on that band wagon.

If you plan and do your part - you will be fine with good table fare.

 

[AkBearHunter]

I've eaten every form of big game meat Alaska has to offer (less goat) and nothing compares to sheep (dall). By far the best eating meat I have ever had and would trade half a moose for half a sheep any day. If your going to make more than 1 trip to pack out the meat/cape/horns, at least here in Alaska, you must take out the meat first. You can bring the horns out once you have all the meat removed from the kill site.

Luckily I had a buddy with me this year when I bagged my ram, otherwise I would have had to make 2 trips and with a grizzly in the area, that would not have been fun having to pack meat and watch my back at the same time.

 

[Breaks Runner]

Tenderloins from a bighorn taken in the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness. Red meat does't get any better than that.

When we finished off boning this ram the only thing left was a greasy spot in the snow.....

 

[Lawnboy]

My brother has shot 2 rams that the meat was ok on. To be honest they were pretty gamey. Not sure why. The only thing I can figure is that it was real warm when we got it and with it basically sitting over night and then a full day packing out it just didn't do the meat any favors. This year I shot my ram it was real cool and windy. We shot it just before dark but we went ahead and boned it all out and had it cooling on some boulders over night. We packed it out the next morning and it was still real cool. The meat on that sheep was incredible. It just has a really great taste. Almost sweet if that makes sense. So that's been my sheep meat experience and maybe it was just bad luck that the others were gamey.

Like TBKodiak said you need to be prepared to haul 70-80 lbs on your back and that's if you have 2 of you. Where I was hunting I couldn't even fallom making a second trip back in. So you've got to get all the meat,horns, and camp out on your back in one trip. This year our packs were both 80+ pounds to make that happen.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Personally, I cut off the head and back straps and kick it down the hill.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Boring day Dink? Better get out your spotting scope and see if your neighbor is out shoveling her walks.

 

[Dinkshooter]

My little flower only blooms in spring.

 

[30338]

Really enjoyed my sheep meat and would't dream of leaving any on the hill. The best set of wild game ribs I have ever enjoyed and the rest was even better.

The mountain goat I got was a bit on the tough side. But ended up grinding the balance and did can up a few jars. It was quite good as well once I did that. As has been said, if you don't have a plan to get the meat out, don't sign up for the hunt.

 

[Southwind]

I have always felt the meat is my first priority.

 

[SDHNTR]

Even the desert sheep I just shot is excellent eating, and I swear that thing ate rocks! I was not expecting much, but it is really good! My wife is super sensitive to gamey meat. She can sniff out gamey rutted up buck meat even when mixed into the spiciest of sausage. She also swore initially that she wouldn't touch the sheep meat due to some wierd mental hang up. I tricked her, fed her some and told her it was elk, which she loves. After she cleared a whole plate and commented on how good it was, I told her the truth. She was blown away. Just this morning I saw her pulling a package of sheep out of the freezer to thaw for dinner tonight!

 

[Breaks Runner]

I snapped this pic of a friend licking his chops in anticipation of some August dall sheep backstrap....maybe it's the fact of where you are when you eat it that makes it so delicious.