Goat Hunting Advice
 

After seven years of applying for my goat license, I drew in 2005 for goat unit 16. My fishing trips to fish Silver Dollar Lake (about 12,000 feet), on the east side of the Divide, were also scouting trips for goats, although I didn't know it at the time.

When I decided to apply for a goat license, I then realized my fishing trips were also scouting trips because there was not a trip the lake where we didn't see goats. Many of them were on top of Argentine Peak, part of which is in unit sixteen.

When I received notice I had drawn, I began panicking just a bit because I knew absolutely nothing about hunting goats other than it's sometime easy to be very close to them and I was confident I would find them on Argentine Peak. At the lake, the closest I was to one is about ten feet.

In my notice about drawing, was an invitation to attend the goat/sheep hunting seminar hosted by the Division of Wildlife, as it was called at that time. I attended and found the information presented was useful (like the success rate for goats was 80 percent); however, the most useful information I got was in a room next to the seminar where outfitters, taxidermists and others selling this and that were located.

When you shoot a goat or sheep, you must take that animal to the DOW office within five days of the kill. DOW gathers biological information and asks you to indicate, on a map, approximately where you shot your animal.

One of the vendors (don't know if he is still doing this) buys this plotted information from DOW (I assume he buys it) then transfers it to large topographical maps arranged by goat/sheep units. Kill sites are indicated by small red circles. When I saw the large number of red circles directly on top of Argentine Peak and in unit 16 in general, I felt very confident I would get my goat. I believe I paid $35 for the map. This information may be available from DOW either for no charge or a charge.

So, my advice to you is to attend the seminar then locate this vendor.

Yes, I got my nanny opening morning. I hunted the early September season to avoid nasty weather.

Why shoot a nanny? I grew up in Golden and spent a lot of time on Quanella Pass. Used to catch a lot of cutts in Silver Dollar. There are some big billies in the area. Since goat tags in CO are so hard to come by they are essentially once in a lifetime tags.

I drew one for G13 in 2001 and hunted until I found a good billy. Mine went almost 10 inches. There is a picture on my photo album on my profile page.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

A meat hunter like yourself should know the answer to this. Welcome to the forum Pogy. That's a hunt many hunters can only ever dream of! I'd also probably look for a billy but if it was legal, congrats! :barmy:


-Jake

Nobody hunts mountain goat for the meat. They are edible but they are not what you would call real good eating. These are a specialty animal, not a common meat animal. Goats are normally taken as trophy animals and a nanny isn't near the trophy a good billy is since they lack the mass of horns. Here's my billy, taken at 13,800 feet in elevation on Mt Huron in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area:





My point is this is probably a once in a lifetime hunt for anyone and taking a nanny on the opening morning doesn't make much sense, especially in an area that is known for really good goat hunting. But to each his/her own since it is their tag. If the OP is happy with the animal then I'm happy for him/her but I think they jumped the gun if they took a nanny that early in a hunt they can probably never do again.

Would have to agree with flags on this one since a tag like that is few and far between and probably an OIL tag to take a nanny the first day. To each his own though!

The way I look at it everyone has standards as to what they would be happy for. The holder of the tag has the decision of what to try for. That nanny would be a trophy to me especially since I'll probably never get the chance to hunt for one. Heck... I haven't even seen one in my trips out west. The first elk I killed was a nice big cow and I was thrilled since it was among the first group of elk I had ever seen. As it turned out there were 2 shooter bulls just out of sight that were taken after I shot. I was still thrilled.

I agree completely. I just find it strange that someone would pop a nanny on opening morning when they are in an area known for really good billies. This isn't an elk hunt where you can just go down and get a tag or apply with near certain chance of pulling the tag. CO only issues 199 goat tags and over 12000 people apply for them. This is basically a once in a lifetime hunting opportunity and once that trigger is pulled it is a done deal.

When I drew my tag I arranged for a 2 week period to hunt and had informed my duty station that I could be opting to extend that leave for an additional 16 days if needed for a total of 30 days of hunting. I tagged out on day 7 and passed on probably 20 nannies along the way. Like I said, I don't understand tagging a nanny on opening morning if you tried for years to get the tag. Heck I would have been willing to risk brig time for my goat tag since it took me over 20 years to draw it.

Flags,

Your last response has a link to a You Tube video. It has a nasty virus in it. Please rethink.

Nanny vs. billy.

Let me add a couple of other things.

I didn't have the time you had; I had three days for the hunt.

My bad back does not allow for the hard work after a kill (a hunting partner was with me) and certainly will now allow me to negotiate terrain that is upandicular (steep) and or rugged.

I think about your statement regarding a once in a life time opportunity and the fact that the success rate was 80 percent. I didn't want to take a chance on being in the twenty percent - a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

I couldn't afford an outfitter.

You have a nice billy and some other trophies.

It's also a bit like the small 5X5 bull I shot in unit 76. It wasn't the size of the bull but rather, where I was and the person with me.