Which goat would you shoot?

[hunterednate]

The above photos are good, look at the head/neck and 'stance' of the animals. that applies to pretty much all species. Young animals have baby faces, that 3rd goat is a good example. His horns look quite thick, but thats because they are short, and his face is small. compare that to the big nanny above and she is a whole different animal.

Dont pay much attention to glands, all goats have em.

A mature bill will walk with a swagger, he will be well built and look solid right through his body. A good billy will look like a white shetland pony haha.
Study the body/behavior long before you look at the horns.

Roger that. Thank you! And thanks to Sneek-ee for those photos, too.

That's my only reservations about goat #2 for me - his face just doesn't have that distinctive horse/donkey look to it. Face looks more canine than equine to me (but the photos were also taken from a pretty extreme downward angle - right above the goat, pretty much. That perspective could be distorting my perception of his face profile). Body seemed plenty big when I was observing him, though. Is it possible he's a younger goat with great horns? Or does that much mass usually mean he's an older billy no matter what?

 

[OFFHNTN]

# 2 for me as well. Good luck on your hunt!

 

[hunterednate]

# 2 for me as well. Good luck on your hunt!

Thanks OFFHNTN! Getting back up there on Saturday to try to find him again (and hopefully some plan B or C goats in other parts of the unit). 6 weeks till I can pull the trigger.

 

[yhc]

OP,

I am also getting ready for my first goat hunt in late September. I have found the following YouTube video to be helpful. It’s produced by Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance.

Regards,

 

[hunterednate]

We got back in the unit last Saturday, but fog hampered our scouting efforts. We found this goat, though, and while we didn't get great pics, he seemed to me to have that older donkey face/Roman nose that Sneek-ee mentioned in his post.

What do you guys think? Is this goat an older billy?

And, would you rather shoot an older goat with average horns....or a younger goat with above average horns??

 

[Bob L.]

#2 stood out to me.

 

[Kootenay Hunter]

#2

 

[cardbender1]

I would say he is an older goat, definitely has donkey face, some older ones have broomed horns so may not be as long as other goats.
My son's Billie last year had big head and both horns broomed off. Tooth analysis came back as a 14 1/2 year old Billie

 

[CCshirley]

#2 looks heavy wider than heys and when he is looking face on not much gap between horns looks like a toad to me.

 

[hikenhunt]

Thanks for the replies everyone! The season has started but we are waiting for a weather window that coincides with our schedules and camp reservations (there is limited overnight camping in the area). The last scout trip at the end of September had cold temperatures and about 6 inches of snow on the ground!

 

[hunterednate]

Thanks for the replies everyone! The season has started but we are waiting for a weather window that coincides with our schedules and camp reservations (there is limited overnight camping in the area). The last scout trip at the end of September had cold temperatures and about 6 inches of snow on the ground!

Here's what our camp site looked like 3 days before the opener. Yikes! Oct. opener's are rough in goat country...

 

[hunterednate]

Here's what our camp site looked like 3 days before the opener. Yikes! Oct. opener's are rough in goat country...View attachment 124840

More of the country we'll be hunting next week. Most of this should have melted, but more snow in the forecast before we get up there...

 

[gunnar_17]

Good luck man, we are facing the s as me weather in Northern B.C. for our October goat hunts.
#2 is a stud maybe not 10 years old but a mature Billy most people would be more than elated with.
As said above, we generally look for a "horse" nose, pot belly, and swayed back to judge an old goat.

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

 

[hunterednate]

Awesome. Thanks gunnar_17. Clear skies and sunny here on Wednesday and Thursday...but cold! And that's after 3-5" of snow have dumped on Tuesday. Hopefully we can still navigate the slopes alright and spot the billies in that blanket of white.

Best of luck on your October hunts.

 

[hunterednate]

Got it done on October 10th! The snow stayed and only got deeper as the hunt went on. The area where we photographed the goats in the pics above was under 10" of snow, and we only saw one set up goat tracks up there after an afternoon of glassing. Yikes! Ended up shooting a billy we had never scouted before about 1500' lower down, but I'm thrilled with him. Thanks to all for helping look at these photos and offer input.

 

[hunterednate]

For the full story, check out the write up I did on the hunting-washington forum:

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,243574.0.html

 

[TX_Diver]

Ugh. Now I'm gonna spend the rest of my life (and $) trying to draw a goat tag and have an experience half that cool.

Awesome trip and write-up man. Congrats!

 

[OneRingTrTa]

would get them both

 

[Big Ern]

congrats

 

[PaulBlair90]

Hopefully he'll be good and haired up by them - good luck!