How good are these Billies?

[elkhunterUT]

A buddy of mine has a Utah Mtn Goat tag and we had a great scouting trip this past weekend, seeing a ton of goats and even saw a coyote separate a young kid from a big herd of goats and take it down-pretty incredible!! I don't have a lot of experience with Mtn Goats, so wondered what all of you with more experience than I think of these billies we got pictures of? Are they shooters? Score estimates?

 

[muleman]

Take or leave my opinions as you like. I'm a long time goat viewer, short time trophy field judge. The goat in the last picture appear to have the longest horns. It also looks like a mature billy with a hump. Can't tell if it has a roman nose though. The goat in the second picture seems to have the biggest bases of the three and a slight roman nose. The goat in the first picture doesn't look very long to me.

That coyote is probably the one I missed a couple of years ago at 213 yds with a muzzleloader. I must of hit close though, cause he sprinted three ridges over before looking back.

What are the hunt dates of your buddy's tag? I have the early billy tag on Willard this year.

 

[elkhunterUT]

He has the early billy tag as well - September 9th through the 22nd if I remember right on the dates. I am hoping to get up there on the opener with him, so we may run into each other. I see your location is Northern Utah - do you live near the unit? Have you been seeing some good billies?

 

[muleman]

He has the early billy tag as well - September 9th through the 22nd if I remember right on the dates. I am hoping to get up there on the opener with him, so we may run into each other. I see your location is Northern Utah - do you live near the unit? Have you been seeing some good billies?

Yeah, the unit boundary starts on the street I live on. I have seen some good goats there over the years. I haven't found a monster goat yet this year. Where are you guys coming from?

 

[elkhunterUT]

Nice to live so close to the unit I am sure. We are from Lehi, so a little bit of a drive, but not too bad. Next time I go up there I am going to bring my 4-wheeler to drive the road up from Mantua rather than my truck!!

 

[tater]

If you are looking for book, none of them make it. The fact they are in a group (even now), coupled with the short horns (less than double ear length plus 1") that narrow quickly in the curve make me think young (3 year old) billies. First goat also has good gap between bases on front even from that angle shown.

Having said that, they may be representative for that area. I would be more inclined to seek out that more mature billy that is by himself (really mature billies only hang with other goats late October-late november rut) and see if there is a marked size difference (again looking for double ear plus 1" minimum) and almost no perceptible gap between bases when viewed from front).

I'm betting there will be something higher up, two ridges back that will meet the criteria.

 

[Bighorse]

Not true for my area. I just knocked over a 10 yr old chilling with three others all of maturity in August. Although I've found old singles before. My wife shot a 9 yr old also from a group of four mature Bills. I've got a good friend who has knocked over a mature bill chilling with a nanny/kid group in Sept.
The last goat looks good to me and perhaps broomed.