Eastman528
WKR
I wanted to start a thread to discuss pack stock options and considerations for the dedicated mule deer hunter. I hope to get some good informative discussions going on regarding the pros and cons of different stock animals based on experience and it would be great to hear why others have picked their animal of choice. I explicitly stated for the “dedicated” mule deer hunter because I think there are some unique considerations when someone is primarily pursuing that species and more specifically hunting big mature bucks that differ from hunting elk for example, although some of those apply depending on where and how you hunt.
This topic is something I have been chewing on for quite some time as I try to figure out what works best for me and my hunting style as it has evolved over the years. Hearing Robby talk about his experiences and relationship with his horses on the Rokcast the other day really spoke to me and where I am at in my journey as a hunter and with pack animals right now, so I felt motivated to bring it up.
This could be a whole blog post on its own, but I’ll attempt to give a brief synopsis of my background, experience and developing opinions on pack stock and then hopefully hear yours as well and we can continue the discussion in the thread. I currently own 3 pack goats. It started largely out of necessity and my wife's lack of enthusiasm with me taking our horses (yes we also own 4.5 horses, the .5 is our kids mini horse
) into the back country alone. I'm not sure if it was her lack of confidence in my ability, awareness of my level of risk acceptance or some combination of the two likely but here I am now 4 years into the experiment and the jury is still out. About the time my wife and I got serious about packing with horses we began to have kids and my hunts increasingly became solo adventures, goats made sense as a safer option and the introductory cost was relatively low as we already had pasture etc. That brings me to my thoughts on the benefits and limitations of goats as a pack animal. Benefits; goats can quite literally go just about anywhere. I have been genuinely impressed with the places my goats follow me and their ability to navigate obstacles, this can be a big advantage for the mule deer hunter. This is somewhat related but you don't have to trailer them although some do, I haul mine in the back of my pickup allowing me to get places I cant/wont pull my horse trailer. Second they require very little to no feed or water depending on the time of year, their favorite browse is similar to that of mule deer so you can camp with the deer and water availability is less limiting. Disadvantages; I think the most obvious is they don't pack as much as other pack animals, that said pound for pound they are impressive. The approach I took can be summed up as "well that's 30 pounds that's not on my back", we can get into specifics in discussion but even just a couple of goats is the difference between packing a buck and camp out in one relatively easy trip or not with typical light backpacking gear. Now here is the big one that I seldom hear discussed in the pack goat community and I didn't think through initially; goats don't reach full packing age until about 3-4 depending on who you ask, my understanding is you can expect to pack them until about 8 so that's roughly 4 years of service life with equal time to get them to that point. Compare that to a horse or mule that takes roughly the same time to start and the years of service life you will get. This means to keep a string you continually have to be raising up and comers to keep them in rotation so instead of owning 3 goats I need to own 6 at least at some point to keep my string going. Another significant consideration is goats shouldn't be left alone, as an avid archery hunter that often hunts solo this is a bit of an issue that I haven't quite come to terms with. So these among other reasons are largely why I have come to the conclusion, at least for my personal needs the sweet spot for goats is on rifle backpack hunts particularly in rugged terrain.
As I mentioned earlier I also own horses and as funny as it is my wife and I have recently come full circle on the whole horse packing thing and have sense acquired a couple of really good ones that show allot of promise. She has come around to the idea of me packing by myself and we both have a desire to do it as a family as our kids get older. Which brings me to where I am at now and largely what motivated this post; 4 years into my pack goat experiment not ready to hang it up but with a renewed interest in packing with horses knowing I don't realistically have the time to dedicate that they both deserve and needing to make some tough life decisions. If you made it this far I appreciate it and hope to hear your perspective and experience, I am curious what others have found. What are some considerations with horses when hunting mule deer? is being limited by terrain and trails been an issue for you or water? Same for those who have used goats, to be honest I haven't spoken with allot of dedicated hunters that utilize pack goats outside of a select few. Or heck even the lama guys out there lets hear it!
My best goat Koda, he was a mutt but I believe Toggenberg/Alpine cross of some sort.
This topic is something I have been chewing on for quite some time as I try to figure out what works best for me and my hunting style as it has evolved over the years. Hearing Robby talk about his experiences and relationship with his horses on the Rokcast the other day really spoke to me and where I am at in my journey as a hunter and with pack animals right now, so I felt motivated to bring it up.
This could be a whole blog post on its own, but I’ll attempt to give a brief synopsis of my background, experience and developing opinions on pack stock and then hopefully hear yours as well and we can continue the discussion in the thread. I currently own 3 pack goats. It started largely out of necessity and my wife's lack of enthusiasm with me taking our horses (yes we also own 4.5 horses, the .5 is our kids mini horse
) into the back country alone. I'm not sure if it was her lack of confidence in my ability, awareness of my level of risk acceptance or some combination of the two likely but here I am now 4 years into the experiment and the jury is still out. About the time my wife and I got serious about packing with horses we began to have kids and my hunts increasingly became solo adventures, goats made sense as a safer option and the introductory cost was relatively low as we already had pasture etc. That brings me to my thoughts on the benefits and limitations of goats as a pack animal. Benefits; goats can quite literally go just about anywhere. I have been genuinely impressed with the places my goats follow me and their ability to navigate obstacles, this can be a big advantage for the mule deer hunter. This is somewhat related but you don't have to trailer them although some do, I haul mine in the back of my pickup allowing me to get places I cant/wont pull my horse trailer. Second they require very little to no feed or water depending on the time of year, their favorite browse is similar to that of mule deer so you can camp with the deer and water availability is less limiting. Disadvantages; I think the most obvious is they don't pack as much as other pack animals, that said pound for pound they are impressive. The approach I took can be summed up as "well that's 30 pounds that's not on my back", we can get into specifics in discussion but even just a couple of goats is the difference between packing a buck and camp out in one relatively easy trip or not with typical light backpacking gear. Now here is the big one that I seldom hear discussed in the pack goat community and I didn't think through initially; goats don't reach full packing age until about 3-4 depending on who you ask, my understanding is you can expect to pack them until about 8 so that's roughly 4 years of service life with equal time to get them to that point. Compare that to a horse or mule that takes roughly the same time to start and the years of service life you will get. This means to keep a string you continually have to be raising up and comers to keep them in rotation so instead of owning 3 goats I need to own 6 at least at some point to keep my string going. Another significant consideration is goats shouldn't be left alone, as an avid archery hunter that often hunts solo this is a bit of an issue that I haven't quite come to terms with. So these among other reasons are largely why I have come to the conclusion, at least for my personal needs the sweet spot for goats is on rifle backpack hunts particularly in rugged terrain.As I mentioned earlier I also own horses and as funny as it is my wife and I have recently come full circle on the whole horse packing thing and have sense acquired a couple of really good ones that show allot of promise. She has come around to the idea of me packing by myself and we both have a desire to do it as a family as our kids get older. Which brings me to where I am at now and largely what motivated this post; 4 years into my pack goat experiment not ready to hang it up but with a renewed interest in packing with horses knowing I don't realistically have the time to dedicate that they both deserve and needing to make some tough life decisions. If you made it this far I appreciate it and hope to hear your perspective and experience, I am curious what others have found. What are some considerations with horses when hunting mule deer? is being limited by terrain and trails been an issue for you or water? Same for those who have used goats, to be honest I haven't spoken with allot of dedicated hunters that utilize pack goats outside of a select few. Or heck even the lama guys out there lets hear it!
My best goat Koda, he was a mutt but I believe Toggenberg/Alpine cross of some sort.
but I’ve never feared for my life or a serious injury like I have riding horses. 
