Montana Mountain Goat

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I made a run over to my unit to check on current snow levels and hopefully get a little glassing in. I was hopeful that I'd be able to spot a goat or two from a long ways off, but was pleasantly surprised with being able to find a bunch in various parts of the unit. Other than what I think is one young lone billy, everything was nanny/kid groups.

There's still a fair amount of snow on the crest, so I don't expect all these goats to still be this low when I get back over there in a couple weeks.

What a fascinating animal to watch. I think a Nanny has got to have it as rough as anything when it comes to parenting. These kids are nonstop energy, and not bashful at all when it comes to headbutting, kicking, or climbing on the nanny's head while she's trying to sleep.

This is the one that I think is a young billy (somebody call b.s. on me if they think it's a nanny), and the same one in the bedded pictures. The black blob just to the right of him is what I'm pretty sure is the entrance of a tunnel. He got down on his knees and crawled in to it, and popped out about fifty yards away on the other side of a cliff a couple minutes later.

 

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Some more pictures from the weekend-

 

[Mudranger1]

Pretty awesome pictures

 

[Nameless Range]

Sweet Pictures. Sounds like you've got a great summer of scouting/daydreaming Mountain Goats ahead of you.

 

[kansasdad]

Someone's got mountain goat fever, and I like it!

 

[npaden]

Congrats on drawing the tag. For sure this seems like the year of the mountain goat on hunttalk.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

I made a VERY short stop looking for goats in my unit in Wyoming on my way back from Montana on Saturday and only got to spend maybe 30 minutes glassing for them but didn't see any. Hoping to go back through there and spend at least a day looking around in early August.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Nice pics Randy!

 

[The Hedgehog]

This is gonna be good. Have fun! That's a great goat unit.

 

[Yotkilr]

Wow very cool pics! Thanks for sharing

 

[MTbowhunter84]

Great pictures looks like you are off to a great start!

 

[Marshian]

That is extremely cool. The beauty of drawing a tag isn't just the hunt itself, it's the summer of anticipation leading to it.

 

[shoots-straight]

Nothing like it. Nice pics young man.

 

[Big Fin]

By the end of August, you will probably have names for all of them. Excited for you.

 

[ihuntelk]

Looks fun. Love the pics. Congrats on the tag!
-Cade

 

[recon6036]

Outstanding pics! Can't wait to see more

 

[ashersdad]

That is exciting. They are a very cool animal to watch.

 

[Mica Man]

Cool stuff Randy! Like what you have posted and am looking forward to more of your scouting trips. You have got to be pumped for sure!

 

[1_pointer]

Great pics! Being able to get to country like that 'for the weekend' makes me hate you a little bit...

 

[Baerman]

This group has gotten good at drawing goat tags. Will be fun to follow along on another goat hunt all summer long!

 

[dihardhunter]

Can't wait to follow along on this scout/hunt. Great pictures! You need to wait in that tunnel with a club and knife and kill one hand-to-hand combat. After the 261 hunt thread, this is the only way to balance out the fair chase continuum of Montana hunters. We are counting on you Randy, the tunnel is our only hope.