Well...figured it was time to post mine. This forum has been kind of slow in terms of goat hunting except for EyeJonas' epic story. I was lucky and drew a mountain goat tag close to my home town. Spent 7-8 days scouting is all, and turned up very few goats. This unit isn't known for a large population of goats. Me, My brother, my cousin's husband and two good friends went in on August 31st (the day before the opener) and set up camp about 5.5 miles in. That evening we went out to glass and turned up 16 with 4 billies in the bunch. They actually had us trapped between our camp, and even had a nanny at 7 yards! We waited until dark and walked back to camp in our headlamps. The next morning we relocated the goats and had a nanny at 80 yards within the first hour. Some hikers ended up spooking them and they left the area. We couldn't locate them again. That evening we located a lone billy about two miles away. He was walking towards us on a string. We saw a mountain lion where he was at about 30 minutes prior so I'm not sure why he traveled all the way that he did but he ended up below us at 380 yards! He had a big horse face and looked like a mature billy to me (he ended up being 9.5 years old). That was my goal was to kill a mature billy. 4 well placed shots (those things are tough) and it was all over. We decided as a group we would pack the goat and camp out that night so we could sleep in a warm bed that evening. Made it back to the truck at 2 am. I've got a new obsession and that's mountain goat hunting. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced and wish everyone could experience it at least once in their lives. It's too bad I can't do it every year.
Montana Mountain Goat
- Thread starter Lota lota
- Start date
B&CTom
Well-known member
Congratulations, that is a great looking old goat!
Thank you!
Sask hunter
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- Sep 20, 2016
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- 3,338
Congrats!
Thank you! Definitely the toughest hunt I've ever done.
ashersdad
Well-known member
Very nice goat! It would be nice to hunt them more than just once. Congrats!
Thank you! I agree but don't know if it's in the cards. Might have to buy a BC hunt to kill another one.
Hem
Well-known member
Great goat.
Congrats!!
Did you not have your make-up kit for the pics?
Congrats!!
Did you not have your make-up kit for the pics?
Hem
Well-known member
Your avatar is plenty.
EYJONAS!
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- Mar 17, 2017
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Nice work congrats on a solid billy
Hawk Tuah
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- Apr 6, 2018
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Nice work!
ismith
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Very nice!
kiwi hunter
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- Jul 21, 2013
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You can. They are called Tahr and live in NZ. Hunt every year for the foreseeable future.
I had a perfect goat hunt in 2022. It was awesome. I won’t apply for a tag again though mainly because the meat was so terrible. I killed a 6yo Billy that was in perfect, prime health. The carcass was beautiful. Every time I’ve ever killed a healthy 6yo Buck or bull the meat has been incredible. The mountain goat fooled me-it looked like it should’ve been 4star but was the opposite. We first cooked the tenderloins- you couldn’t chew them and they tasted very funky/rutty. Tried the back straps and steaks next-same thing so I took all of it to a game processor and had them make it into sausage/meat sticks (embarrassing). The Billy and the memories of the hunt were incredible enough to last a lifetime so since I consider them almost inedible I won’t try to get another tag
WNC2500
Well-known member
Congratulations. Nice goat
We turned all of mine into jerky and breakfast sausage and it tasted great! I would imagine during the rut would be a different story. Definitely has a unique taste that's hard to describe. My brother killed one in 2017 on November 11th and the dog wouldn't even eat it.
