Goat Scouting Tips

[Rizzy]

I drew the Idaho unit 39 goat tag this year and plan to start scouting in the next few weeks. I kinda want to get up there before the snow melts so I can an idea of what the terrain is like with snow and find where the burn off/feeding areas will be. I will probably hunt in the first 2 weeks of October, which is usually after the first snow in the high country here.

I will be using a 65mm spotter and in regards to judging Billy's and distinguishing billys from nannies are there any preferable picture angles, or things you wish you would have looked at/for while scouting goats? Video always seems to be the best, and will be my priority.

Am I going to be under glassed with the 65mm viper?

 

[Stid2677]

Congrats on the tag,, remember gravity kills!! Easier to get up than to come down...

If you spend some time scouting you will soon see that a mature Billy is almost twice the body size of a nanny or young Billy, Billies have much larger bases and their horns sweep straighter back verus a nanny that has thin horns and bases and tend to form a "V" shape.

Nannies squat to pee.

Billies often have a very dirty rump.

In my limited experience mature Billies seem to be loners and all the really big ones I have seen have been near, but away from other goats.

Good Luck

 

[Stid2677]

Here is a photo of 3 goats,, Nanny on the left, young billy, and a more mature billy. Notice the tight growth rings on the nanny,, good optics will let you see things like that.

 

[Rizzy]

Wow, there is a big difference in head size on those skulls and I do see the growth ring sizes.

thanx for the tips Steve

 

[Nick Muche]

Congrats again on your tag! The nice thing about that tag is that the hunt area is not very big, you should be able to find the goats in a few trips out and your 65 will be plenty. Best of luck and keep us posted on how it's going!

 

[Rizzy]

Nick,
I would really like to see how deep into the Sawtooth I can get and find an old Billy and maybe a big Buck for that matter My first trip will be a 2 dayer and I will get a good idea of what my range will be after that and how much time it will take to get to where I want to go. I have been in on Queens a couple years ago, it was a bushwhack and a lot of river crossings. It took longer than I thought it would. The fire may have helped that a lot this year though. If I have enough time I plan to go in on most of the trailheads surrounding the wilderness. All the goats I have seen in the past have been out of the hunt areas too.

 

[jcbhuntandrun]

Nick,
I would really like to see how deep into the Sawtooth I can get and find an old Billy and maybe a big Buck for that matter My first trip will be a 2 dayer and I will get a good idea of what my range will be after that and how much time it will take to get to where I want to go. I have been in on Queens a couple years ago, it was a bushwhack and a lot of river crossings. It took longer than I thought it would. The fire may have helped that a lot this year though. If I have enough time I plan to go in on most of the trailheads surrounding the wilderness. All the goats I have seen in the past have been out of the hunt areas too.

I spent 5 days I early may hunting bears out of the power pant trailhead and saw 30 goats. Be glad to share what I saw. Email me at [email protected]

 

[mmbackpacker]

Congrats on the tag!

 

[Rizzy]

Any good resources on skinning and trophy options out there?

 

[Jason Snyder]

Look for goats that have a "horse face". A big billy is just so much more massive through the body that after looking at a few there will be question, kind of like the difference bodywise between a big bull elk and a cow.

A really big billy will have almost no real gap between the bases of the horns. A long and spindly nanny will.

I can't remember who on here posted it, but someone did a fully body rug of a goat that looked incredible. If you get one with a nice winter coat I don't think you could go wrong doing that.

 

[muleman]

Any good resources on skinning and trophy options out there?

Ron,

I would have your taxidermist lined up ahead of time. Then meet with him and go over how he wants the cape prepped. That worked out great for me on last years goat. Also remember to take the measurements in the field that the taxidermist wants. My taxidermist looked at me funny when I told him how big the abdominal measurement of my goat was. That is until I showed him the pictures of all the measurements.

My advice for scouting the one, is look at as many goats (on the hoof) as you can. The really big mature goats have a posture and lumber different from the younger goats. I opted to harvest the biggest bodied goat I had seen over the longest horned. Just because he was so big compared to the other mature billies I had seen.

Congrats on the tag! I can't wait to get your scouting reports.