Average Archery Shot and Hunt Duration

[HornPorn]

Im strongly considering booking a mtn goat hunt and am considering bow instead of rifle. Many outfitters seem to tout 90-100% success rates even for archery. Are goats generally easy to get close to compared to other mountain game?

To those of you who have been there and done that, what would you say the average shot distance is?

Any how many extra days do you think (assuming weather is not a factor) does archery add on average to a guided hunt vs rifle?

 

[squirrel]

1st. 38 days 10 yards ( steep learning curve and apparently my brain is rather flat)

2nd. 3 days (actually in goat country) 20 yards

3rd. 3 days (actually in goat country) 20 yards

Bunch of rifle hunts as assistant, never more than 100 yards

There are a lot of variable factors in your time question, lots depending on the skills or lack thereof of your guide/outfitter and getting you into the country that holds goats and favours archery (wide open easy safe tundra aint it)

Goat hunting with a bow is all about the country they live in and the actual goats are just one part of it. Keeping your nerve and physical health in the crags is too much for some, for others no big deal. Clinging to a large rock and bawling like a little baby is not a memory you're going to treasure, but it happens...

Tremendous variability of goat habitat too. Sometimes they are in stony timber which is way different than classic cliff habitat, talk to the people who know where you are going.

In the first pic there is an XL billie in the middle of that rock face, challenging would be an understatement, even for rifle.

In the second pic there was tons of easy safe cover to approach within spear tossing distance.

Very different hunts just one ridge of separation.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

Following

 

[Coveyleader]

They are pretty easy to hunt. It’s just getting to them. I’d say if you can shoot to 40, you’re more than good. I’ve killed a few, all under 20 yds. If the weather isn’t a factor, and you know where the goats are, it’s only a matter of time before you get in range.

 

[Jimss]

I've lost count of how many goat hunts I've been on in Colo and Alaska. All were with a rifle with shots of 100 to around 300 yards. Goats are one of the toughest critters in North America to put on the ground. Obviously, there are a few that drop in their tracks but my guess there are a lot more that have done death dives or rolled off cliffs.

The big thing to keep in mind, especially with a bow is where is the goat going to end up if shot and he runs any distance before dying.

Goats obviously have incredible eye-sight. They also have keen noses. Definitely keep those 2 in mind when stalking. I've been 15 to 40 yards from gobs of goat while scouting and filming in the summer months. They definitely are approachable....especially in the evenings before they head to cliffs to bed for the night. I've learned a great deal about goats from spending so many hours watching and filming them.

Every area is obviously different. There are so many factors associated with goats that I won't touch on days/harvest and how tough it is to do with bow. For the rifle goat hunts I've had time to scout, it usually takes less than a day to harvest a billy I've scouted.

 

[Coveyleader]

I think the goats being tough with arrows is definitely due to long range bad /marginal shots. I’ve only arrowed three, and none of them went 50 yds. Two dead sub 25yds. They were all stumbling right after being hit. Here is exit on the last one I got. Dead in 10 seconds.