School me on pack goats

[TauPhi111]

So I'm up late enjoying some Makers and reading about pack goats, and it sounds like an interesting endeavor, especially for one that might want to travel solo into the backcountry or go really far in or for many many days. These pack goats seem like the way to go for someone who does a lot and doesn't really have the time or money for horses or llamas, but I could take care of a couple goats pretty easy.

For those of you that use pack goats, a few questions come to mind right off the bat: 1. How do you go about finding a good pack goat in non-western states? 2. What kind of training is necessary? Is it like a dog where for the very best performance you want to start with a puppy (kid), or do you buy a young goat that already has some training, more like what you might do with a show horse. 3. This is my biggest question...After you pack in and set up camp, what do you do with your goats while your actually hunting? Do they come with you? It seems that might be a bit of a burden to sneaking up on an animal with 2+ animals on your tail moving around. Do you tie them up at camp then? If so, what do you do if a mountain lion/bear/wolves decide they look tasty?

 

[CX5Ranch]

Don't be fooled by some website that the only place to get pack goats is from them. You have someone raising goats within 10 miles of your house.

Buy a young one and break it to lead. Break it to picket.

When he's broke to picket, he will still be at camp when you get back.

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[Idaho Brad]

Well, first off. There are a couple breeders that do so specifically for "pack goats". Dwight Sharp is probably the most well known. He breeds for a specific confirmation and from what I've seen, he puts out great pack stock. I went to a dairy farm and picked 3 alpine/oberhasli cross kids and have raised them from 3 months old to now. They are currently 3.8 years old and this is the first year of any serious packing. I got lucky with my limited knowledge on pack goats and mine have turned out to have good conformation. Definitely don't leave them in camp unattended! That's a good way to lose them. Multiple stories of people coming back to camp only to find that something ran them out of camp and resulted in a full day of looking. If you leave them tied up at camp unattended it is likely that if something comes into camp, your goats will get eaten.
Take them hunting with you or have someone at camp with them. Raising them from kids is your best bet. There is always a reason someone is selling their goat!!! Try and buy bottle raised goats to limit the amount of bonding time. Mine were dam raised and even though I have spent hundreds of hours with them they are still not real lovey. Which is ok, because they still come when called and load easy, but don't care for much affection. Once you are bonded with them they will follow you anywhere you go. They are better to hike with than dogs, that's for certain. Get them with horns if you can, but if you don't want to worry about them, de-budded ones are fine. They just don't have that level of protection from four legged predators. Any more questions, feel free to ask me.

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[Marc Warnke]

First off, all your questions can be answered on PackGoats.com I'd start off at the FAQ and then listen to a few podcasts. Also look into the YouTube channel by the same name, you should get what you need there. Yes, to what Brad said, do not leave them unattended in camp EVER. There is a good article on PackGoats.com called How To Hunt with Pack Goats. That should get you a good start...Good Luck. Feel free and reach out to me directly anytime.

 

[amp713]

Listen to the podcast with Marc (the guy above this comment) and Ryan avery on the avery adventures podcast! It is a ton of info!

And I will say that I own horses and some of the pack goat talk sounds harder than horses but I live in a ranching community so it's easy to get horse help. Not so with pack goats