Mountain Goat field judging

[Fire_9]

Can anyone say definitively whether or not the length of goat ears tend to max out at 4”? My 4 1/2 year old goat has 4” ears and is 8 1/2” in horn length. He probably only weighed 150lbs. live weight. This goat has at least a hundred pounds or more on mine. If the ears are proportional to body weight I can see 4 1/4” or 4 1/2” being a reasonable length of ear.

They most definitely don’t max out at 4”. I’d be willing to bet the goat in question has ears that are at least 5” and probably closer to 5 1/2”. The pic attached for reference is a 9 year old, 9” billy from the Crazies. It looks like I’m stretching the tape a little but he was really haired up and it’s at the base of the ear. After comparing picture from goats that I’ve laid hands on, there’s no doubt in my mind that thing is 10” and maybe even a touch more

 

[The Hedgehog]

I measured my goat mount's ear at 4.5" from the inside of the dark to the tip. The whole ear is quite a bit longer. As the horns all look pretty much the same, the plan is to just find the one with the hulkiest body size as I'm sure the horns will be fine.

I drew the area my son has in 2012 and spent a lot of time in the unit, a whole month or more. I shot mine in late September. Hair was average, but he sure was a nice goat. 11years old and 9.5+ and 5.5+ on horns. He made B&C awards. I never found that goat until mid August so in my early photos of him, he's got more fuzz around his body and looks fatter. I honestly think the goat we saw last week is bigger, has longer and heavier horns. Who knows. Have some more looking to do in other places, but I suspect last week's goat will be on the radar this fall.

 

[recurveman]

Tell everybody that you shot a monster. I don't have a single friend that would know the difference. I think great hair would really make the goat too. Hair is more important than the horns........if you ask my wife.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Story time.. A few minutes after shooting that goat above, a hippie rock climber walked up and said, "Why did you shoot that baby billy? I used to ski with that billy, see I even saved some of his fur and carry it around with me." I let him touch the goat while he shed a tear. I gave him a tutorial how to age them by their horn rings. He walked off sobbing. Then, after skinning, boning and loading him into our packs, my friend Kevin looked down to the base of the mtn with his binoculars and said, "Hey get a load of this - there's 20 women doing yoga by our tent!" He wasn't joking. We were hunting way too close to Big Sky. Looking back, pretty sure I could have killed that goat with a spear, a hammer, or maybe even a rope. I never tried to get very close because I didn't want to push him. He was with another billy when I shot him. The other billy never got up after I shot. We were 300 yards away, and by the time we loaded up, talking, and walked toward my goat, at about 150 yards, the other goat finally stood up. But he only turned the opposite direction and laid back down. It wasn't until we were about 15 yards away when he got up and walked off. I killed a hippies buddy and interrupted a yoga class - not something you can usually expect on a goat hunt.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Goats can get XL on a good diet of overpriced burgers, sushi and lattés.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

Hippies can get fat too, though I'm not sure what they eat to get there.

 

[Irrelevant]

GH how do you feel about that hunt? Did you expect it to go like that? Did you get out of it what you hoped?

Just curious, based on your story it seems completely different than what I would have pictured a goat hunt to be, but I may just be naive on what goat hunting actually is in the lower 48.

 

[The Hedgehog]

GH how do you feel about that hunt? Did you expect it to go like that? Did you get out of it what you hoped?

Just curious, based on your story it seems completely different than what I would have pictured a goat hunt to be, but I may just be naive on what goat hunting actually is in the lower 48.

Pretty frikkin fantastic. Can't really fathom how much hiking I did from July-October that year, but a SHIT ton. Killing it was simple, but the hunt started in late June and that goat didn't come without a lot of sweat. But no, I did not expect to see a mountain climber or team of ladies doing yoga that morning. It didn't ruin anything for me. Pretty funny actually.

I just looked back and that was my 34th day in that mountain range looking at goats. I fished 9 different mountain lakes, and when the time was right, killed the biggest goat in the unit. 24 hours later was with a friend who killed another 9.5" billy, 10 miles in one way from the opposite side of the unit. My goat was 4 miles from the trailhead, probably the easiest place in that unit to kill a goat. It just so happened to be where the big one was that year. It's very unlikely to be that way this year.

 

[Irrelevant]

Pretty frikkin fantastic. Can't really fathom how much hiking I did from July-October that year, but a SHIT ton.

I just looked back and that was my 34th day in that mountain range looking at goats. I fished 9 different mountain lakes, and when the time was right, killed the biggest goat in the unit. 24 hours later was with a friend who killed another 9.5" billy, 10 miles in one way from the opposite side of the unit. My goat was 4 miles from the trailhead, probably the easiest place in that unit to kill a goat. It just so happened to be where the big one was that year. It's very unlikely to be that way this year.

Gotcha, that sounds awesome. The short story left me wondering

 

[Jape]

Nice heavy goat. When the hide was on it, there was certainly more of a gap between the horns as the glands and hair sets above the base of the horns. I have a goat in my den that I can't fit my finger between the bases, yet he had an inch of hair in the space when hide was on.


How often have you done that?

I donated the meat from my mtn goat to the Raptor center and I'd be surprised if the birds could eat it. I'm hopeful my son's tastes better. I did get a few good laughs out of offering goat jerky to friends and watching them try it.

Yeah, my buddy could not give his away it was so bad.

 

[rmyoung1]

I think that goat looks like a white, horned horse. Good enough for me if I had the tag. Good luck to you guys.

 

[TheGrayRider]

Congratulations. All mountain goats are true trophies. I hope you went with the full-body mount for your spectacular harvest. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider.

 

[shoots-straight]

That Goat you pictured? BOOM!

 

[PNWGator]

Really love reading about your adventures as they truly sound like a lotta fun with a lotta hard work and heavy packs. Like things should be... Looking forward to how this plays out.

 

[noharleyyet]

....sub'd

 

[LopeHunter]

Story time.. A few minutes after shooting that goat above, a hippie rock climber walked up and said, "Why did you shoot that baby billy? I used to ski with that billy, see I even saved some of his fur and carry it around with me." I let him touch the goat while he shed a tear. I gave him a tutorial how to age them by their horn rings. He walked off sobbing. Then, after skinning, boning and loading him into our packs, my friend Kevin looked down to the base of the mtn with his binoculars and said, "Hey get a load of this - there's 20 women doing yoga by our tent!" He wasn't joking. We were hunting way too close to Big Sky. Looking back, pretty sure I could have killed that goat with a spear, a hammer, or maybe even a rope. I never tried to get very close because I didn't want to push him. He was with another billy when I shot him. The other billy never got up after I shot. We were 300 yards away, and by the time we loaded up, talking, and walked toward my goat, at about 150 yards, the other goat finally stood up. But he only turned the opposite direction and laid back down. It wasn't until we were about 15 yards away when he got up and walked off. I killed a hippies buddy and interrupted a yoga class - not something you can usually expect on a goat hunt.

If hikers did not feed that goat granola then it would have been healthier and retained the fight or flee response upon seeing you. The hippie was no friend to that billy any more than the dealer that provides heroin to the junkie.

 

[The Hedgehog]

 

[UncleRick]

heading out the ninth, weather permitting on my goat hunt, if i see anything that looks like that goat ill be happy

 

[BuzzH]

No picture of the hippie touching the goat?...or the yoga ladies?

 

[EYJONAS!]

Sounds like my moose hunt. Shot my bull on the 32nd day of the hunt right in front of a group of hikers in the bridgers. The lady was freakin irate over it. How could you kill my moose I see every morning on my walk? You bastard! ...... me " mmmmmm I dunno I have a tag he was a decent bull and right off the road. I guess I can send you some snack sticks or burger if you want"...... my brother in law killed a goat in the crazies and he literally had to politely ask hikers to move out of the way because he was gonna flick the safety on his goat and they wouldn't effn move! You never know what your gonna run into out there.