Help with Crazy Mountain Goat Survey

[RobG]

Please help MFWP and the Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance survey mountain goats in the Crazy Mountains Aug 6-7th. You will get some great hiking in and meet some great people and even get a little food on Friday.
https://goatalliance.org/2016-crazy-mountains-backcountry-volunteer-project/

We are excited to announce we are returning to the Crazy Mountains of Montana for an August 6-7th, 2016 backcountry volunteer project. We have our fingers crossed for another great volunteer turn out and hopefully better weather than we encountered last summer. We hope you can join us!

The Crazy mountains of Montana have been called the “Crown Jewel” of mountain goat hunting opportunities in the lower 48. With 85 permits available in the island mountain range in 2014, 50 permits in 2015, and 55 proposed tags for 2016, this area is home to more opportunity for sportsman and women than several other states combined. With an estimated population of 350-400 animals, many people have wondered what the reasoning for issuing so many permits has been.

In the late 1950’s and into the early 1960’s the range boasted similar goat numbers to what we have today. The population suffered a massive collapse that closed the area to hunting for 30 years until 1991. The die-off has been shrouded in mystery but mainly attributed to starvation. In an effort to avoid another massive loss of the area’s goats, liberal hunting has been implemented to stabilize the population. With 65-75% of recent year’s tags used on billies, there is concern the heavy hunting has not slowed the population’s growth. For this reason, 25 nanny tags have been proposed for 2016.

On August 6-7 of 2016, RMGA will once again hit the trails to assist Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in a kid recruitment survey of the Crazy Mountains. The project will kick off with a 6:00pm Friday, August 5th BBQ where regional biologist, Karen Loveless, will distribute survey materials and delegate search areas to different teams. The 6:00pm Friday night BBQ will be help at Stone Glacier’s headquarters at 2308 North 7th Ave Bozeman, MT 59718. We will be targeting five different drainages with the objective of documenting as many kid goats as possible. Our search areas include Campfire Lake, Sunlight Lake, Sweetgrass Creek, Rock Creek, and Big Timber Creek.

Search teams are encouraged to begin at first light on Saturday, August 6th, documenting goat sightings as they hike to their backcountry campsites. Surveying will continue until dusk, when all volunteers will camp at their designated locations. The search will continue on Sunday morning before volunteers hike out that afternoon. Survey folders will be collected that afternoon or will need to be dropped off the following Monday.

We need your help! If you would like to join us in the mountains for a two-day, one-night, backpacking survey, please contact RMGA President, Pete Muennich at [email protected] or (406)551-5104. All able-hikers welcome! Please come prepared with proper backcountry camping gear including good boots, water filtration systems, food, optics, GPS and cameras if you have them. Help us spread the word and share this project with anyone and everyone who may able to assist.

https://goatalliance.org/2016-crazy-mountains-backcountry-volunteer-project/

 

[MTGomer]

Good group doing great things.

 

[RobG]

Bump.

 

[OpenCountry]

I'm just curious if this always falls on the first weekend in August or does the weekend change year to year?

 

[Irrelevant]

A couple friends and I helped RMGA do a survey in the Goat Rocks here in WA a couple of weeks ago. It was a ton of fun, just being in goat habitat is awesome and to be able to help them understand the populations better is icing on the cake.

 

[SteveE]

Really wanted to volunteer for this but my schedule would not allow.

I KNOW some of you did this

Report back damnit!

Preferably with pictures!!!

 

[HSi-ESi]

This is a really neat org - and I love the approach. Wish I could help out this year.

 

[RobG]

I'm just curious if this always falls on the first weekend in August or does the weekend change year to year?

I emailed Peter. This is the second year they have done this and it was the first week in August last year too. He said they might move it to late July next year if it will get more volunteers.

 

[CoonRock]

My wife and I participated in this opportunity. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested. We made it through the rain and lightning and managed to see a few goats. SteveE I took a few photos with my phone, but none are of goats as they were too far for a good photo.

 

[mtmiller]

I had a great time as well. Same story, too far for decent shots. GuNR had issues early in the hike, but after I put the beer in my pack he miraculously recovered. Great country.

 

[RobG]

It was pretty fun. I was up Sweetgrass and it gets a lot more water than the southern Crazies. It reminded me of Glacier.

The glacier-carved valleys were crazy. Most of the goats we saw were on the far cliffs, way too far for pictures.


The strawberry patches were Just crazy


The trees were so crazy their cones grew upwards!


And the lodgepoles were so crazy they zig-zagged.

 

[SteveE]

Very cool. The scenery alone makes for great pictures. No goats required.

Maybe GuNR needs to switch over to a light beer.

Thanks for the update!

 

[Mtnrunner]

Here's a few my partner took from above Glacier Lake.

 

[RobG]

Were those on the cliffs of the mountain I have pictured above?

Glad you got a better count as we were too far away in the SF Sweetgrass valley. There were 4 on the east wall of the valley, but the rest were above Glacier or over the ridge which you probably couldn't see.

 

[Mtnrunner]

We were on the very furthest distant ridge in your picture. On the divide between Cottonwood and Glacier Lakes. Kind of a sketchy climb and descent to get up and over, but we had a great view of both drainages from above. Saw 17 goats I believe total. Most were down around the lake, with a couple pairs higher up on the cliffs.

 

[mtmiller]

Nice place to count goats.

Ended up with 31 goats on Saturday. There are 10 on this face behind GuNR on the way out, just before it got nasty at the pass.

 

[Southern Elk]

Beautiful country! I would really like to help with one of these counts one day.

 

[RobG]

I got in a little fishing at Moose Lake. Picky rainbow trout. My sides are looking a little soft but I'm pretty sure that is a camera issue compounded by shadowing from the bright alpine sun. There were a bunch of goats on the back cliffs but I didn't count them since that was Miller's turf.


On the way back from Moose I noticed this patch of False Hellebore that was ravaged by the goats. It looked like a flock of domestic sheep had been stomping through there. They ate all the seed heads, and broke the leaves, even though they didn't eat the leaves. They seemed to use the trail system a lot so I wonder how many were int he trees that we couldn't see.

 

[Southern Elk]

Nice place to count goats.

Ended up with 31 goats on Saturday. There are 10 on this face behind GuNR on the way out, just before it got nasty at the pass.

What kind of pack is that on your dog? And how much weight does he carry?

 

[mtmiller]

What kind of pack is that on your dog? And how much weight does he carry?

http://www.ruffwear.com/Approach-Pack-Dog-Pack

I don't think we were over 10# on this trip. Probably have gone as much as 15# in the past. Usually just his food and my beer.

The spine toward the middle of the picture where the light and dark meet, just above the trees in the foreground is where I saw most of my goats. There were over 20 in that spot at one point.