sheff
Member
Goat Hunt
Good Luck! How many days do you get to hunt?
Sheff
Good Luck! How many days do you get to hunt?
Sheff
First goat scouting trip - Lots of pictures
- Thread starter npaden
- Start date
Thank you for the great photos!
I'm not an expert but I have missed out on a couple very big Billys because of this reason. They seem to stay in the general area, so I feel waiting until a better opportunity arises. There was one toad of a goat, that I guessed his exit route incorrectly and never got a shot, but I felt fine about it.
In my experience, they will move to feed or get out of the sun at some point. Usually they will offer a good opportunity while feeding or moving to feeding areas.
npaden
Well-known member
The season is from September 1 to October 31st.
Right now I'm planning on starting my hunt on September 20th and hunting a full week for sure. I have a good limited entry tag in Wyoming for elk that starts October 1st so if I tag out early I'll probably move over to that area and start scouting it the 28th or 29th of September.
If I don't tag out by then I'm going to sacrifice the elk tag or shorten that hunt anyway.
I have New Mexico Elk and Deer tags for October 25th - 29th and if I still haven't gotten a goat I will sacrifice those tags to go back up to Wyoming to try to get a goat.
My New Mexico Elk and Deer tags are both 3rd choice tags so I've even been thinking about sticking with my Wyoming Elk hunt (Unit 61-1) if I haven't shot a mountain goat by then and planning on going back during my planned New Mexico hunts.
Weather could be a real issue by then, but the hair on the goats would be super nice by then as well.
Quite a long answer to your question, but essentially I have 8 or 9 days dedicated to the mountain goat hunt, but could add 5 more days to that if I skipped my Wyoming elk hunt and could add 5 more days to that if I skipped my New Mexico hunts. I really hope that it doesn't become an issue though!
Ron Wright
Member
Nice pics!
That terrain looks like it could get tricky real fast. I'm assuming they feed away from the cliffs at night, so intercepting one in the morning on the way back might be a good strategy. Getting to that location in the dark might be an adventure in itself
That terrain looks like it could get tricky real fast. I'm assuming they feed away from the cliffs at night, so intercepting one in the morning on the way back might be a good strategy. Getting to that location in the dark might be an adventure in itself
hk_willow
Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2013
- Messages
- 90
At a few moments in my hunt when I had my rifle slung across my back and was crawling / climbing up into places I shouldn't have been I said to myself, is a goat worth not seeing my kids again and I slowly backed off that cliff and found a different way. Great pics and can't wait to see more of that country!
npaden
Well-known member
My buddy made a quick scouting trip for me yesterday and couldn't turn up a single goat. Not sure if we are just that bad at spotting them or what.
Two weeks to go until I'll be there hunting! Sure hope we can find some goats!
Two weeks to go until I'll be there hunting! Sure hope we can find some goats!
npaden
Well-known member
My buddy from Powell made another trip up there after the snow this week. Actually saw some goats!
Not the best picture, but you can tell they were goats at least. Said there were 7 of them and the 2 in the top right of that picture look like a nanny and kid so most likely all were, but he said there was one that looked much larger than the rest of them moving around with the group.
The rut isn't until November and everything I've read said the billies are going to be off away from the nannies and kids this time of year but who knows.
Just pumped that they actually saw some goats this trip as opposed to last week when he didn't see any.
Should be there about this time next week! Pretty pumped!
Not the best picture, but you can tell they were goats at least. Said there were 7 of them and the 2 in the top right of that picture look like a nanny and kid so most likely all were, but he said there was one that looked much larger than the rest of them moving around with the group.
The rut isn't until November and everything I've read said the billies are going to be off away from the nannies and kids this time of year but who knows.
Just pumped that they actually saw some goats this trip as opposed to last week when he didn't see any.
Should be there about this time next week! Pretty pumped!
npaden
Well-known member
Left the house at 6:30 yesterday evening and drove straight through with about 4 hours pulled off the road for a nap about 1:30 this morning. Got to the hunting area about 6:30 this evening after some last minute shopping in Cody that took longer than expected.
Got out on the canyon rim about 45 minutes before dark and glassed. Saw one lone goat over on the other side of the canyon moving from up high down toward the river about a mile away. He was moving along at a pretty good clip, just happened to be looking that way or I might not have seen him. Only saw him for maybe 30 - 40 seconds before he went back into some timber and I assume kept heading down which would have taken him out of sight. Lots of standing water from the snow a couple weeks ago, but bugs weren't bad, I guess the cold got about everything except a few flies.
Didn't do a good job of getting any pictures taken. Don't have my spotting scope until I hook up with my buddy tomorrow.
There's a travel trailer parked just off the highway a bit where a couple road/trails go down near the canyon, but no one is home. Haven't decided what I'm going to do tomorrow morning before hooking up with my buddy. Probably check out another easy access spot and see if anything is hanging out there.
I've got one good spot of cell coverage, I'll try to get this updated when I end up in that spot.
That's it for now. The plan is to be here 8 days before switching to elk, hopefully it won't take that long. Not sure what the plan is if I still haven't tagged out in 8 days.
Got out on the canyon rim about 45 minutes before dark and glassed. Saw one lone goat over on the other side of the canyon moving from up high down toward the river about a mile away. He was moving along at a pretty good clip, just happened to be looking that way or I might not have seen him. Only saw him for maybe 30 - 40 seconds before he went back into some timber and I assume kept heading down which would have taken him out of sight. Lots of standing water from the snow a couple weeks ago, but bugs weren't bad, I guess the cold got about everything except a few flies.
Didn't do a good job of getting any pictures taken. Don't have my spotting scope until I hook up with my buddy tomorrow.
There's a travel trailer parked just off the highway a bit where a couple road/trails go down near the canyon, but no one is home. Haven't decided what I'm going to do tomorrow morning before hooking up with my buddy. Probably check out another easy access spot and see if anything is hanging out there.
I've got one good spot of cell coverage, I'll try to get this updated when I end up in that spot.
That's it for now. The plan is to be here 8 days before switching to elk, hopefully it won't take that long. Not sure what the plan is if I still haven't tagged out in 8 days.
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LCH
Well-known member
Good luck! Looking forward to seeing another big billy bite the dust..
double_a85
Member
Good luck! Hope we see another successful goat hunter this year.
Gerald Martin
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2009
- Messages
- 8,684
Good luck!
TheJason
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2024
- Messages
- 18,584
Best of luck!
redwoood
Well-known member
Awesome. Keep us posted!
npaden
Well-known member
Been at it hard but no luck so far. Had a nice billy bedded Sunday morning but decided to wait for my buddy before going after him. He got up and left a couple hours later and I haven't seen him since. Seeing some nannies and kids everyday, but not many billies.
Hiked up to Becker Lake on Monday and went all the way to the Montana state line and wouldn't you know, there were 2 nice billies about a mile on the Montana side at Albino lake.
Moved back down to the Sunlight Canyon area today, but no goats so far. This is steep stuff here so no sure if I could pull the trigger because I'm not sure I could recover one anyway.
Pretty discouraged right now, talked to a lot of folks and everyone makes it sound like this is a slam dunk hunt, but in 3 days I've seen one billy in my area and I'm starting to really kick myself for not going after him. Beautiful country though. I always say when I'm hunting that I should come back to some of these areas and just do some hiking and camping without the pressure of filling a tag. I never end up doing it though.
Oh well, wish me luck, looks like I'm needing it!!
Thanks, Nathan
Hiked up to Becker Lake on Monday and went all the way to the Montana state line and wouldn't you know, there were 2 nice billies about a mile on the Montana side at Albino lake.
Moved back down to the Sunlight Canyon area today, but no goats so far. This is steep stuff here so no sure if I could pull the trigger because I'm not sure I could recover one anyway.
Pretty discouraged right now, talked to a lot of folks and everyone makes it sound like this is a slam dunk hunt, but in 3 days I've seen one billy in my area and I'm starting to really kick myself for not going after him. Beautiful country though. I always say when I'm hunting that I should come back to some of these areas and just do some hiking and camping without the pressure of filling a tag. I never end up doing it though.
Oh well, wish me luck, looks like I'm needing it!!
Thanks, Nathan
MinnesotaHunter
Well-known member
Good luck, Nathan. It only takes one! It seemed like when we were chasing Randy's billy that, with the warm weather, and the goats starting to hair up, that most of the billies were hanging just inside the timber most of the day.
Hang in there. You will find what you're looking for.
double_a85
Member
Good Luck--- Hope ya fill the goat tag. You are in some of the most scenic country in the world... take it all in!
Also--- looks like the weather will be turning over the weekend, hope you are aware... some of those places I would not want to be caught at during a winter storm...
Also--- looks like the weather will be turning over the weekend, hope you are aware... some of those places I would not want to be caught at during a winter storm...
