Anchoring a goat

[sacountry]

This is a question to all of you who have taken a goat or been apart of a goat hunt at the point of the shot. I've been scouting my goat district now for a month, either by glassing from afar or hiking within the district. Having seen it, I cannot seem to resolve the best method to anchor a goat. Certainly the goat's location at the time of the shot plays a HUGE role, but where I've seen goats I've also seen immediate options for 1,000 foot suicide jumps after the shot. I've talked to some of you on private message and there appears to be a couple of options. Just want to make sure I'm not missing one. I've heard it's a good idea to take both shoulders out with the first shot. I've heard that if the goat is close (within 100 yards) and I have a good solid rest, consider a shot one inch down and one inch back from the ear. I've heard take a slightly bigger caliber than the body size warrants. Any other thoughts, ideas, preferences? I plan to use the 30-06 BAR that my dad handed down to me when I first moved to Montana.

 

[JohnCushman]

People do it with bows every year...why overthink it with a rifle?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I've never hunted a goat... but I've glassed them a decent amount.

I would imagine that restraint is more important than cartridge or anchoring. If a goat is on a 20 degree + slope above a 500ft cliff on shale, it doesn't matter if it's a brain shot or a lung, that goat is going over.

 

[sacountry]

People do it with bows every year...why overthink it with a rifle?

I've seen one bow hunt where the goat jumped and fell/rolled several hundred feet. I've also seen a bow hunt where the goat went 10 yards. Based on where I'm seeing goats (granted summer goat behavior may change when the cooler fall temps set in), I do think this is something to determine prior to the hunt rather than just assume all will be ok.

 

[Trial153]

A roll is cards on any goat or sheep kill, bow or not...it is what it is. I don't rifle hunt so can give advise into anchoring animals with gun shots. With a bow I will chose a good COC fixed head all day in situation that i dont want animals to be running off at the shot. I have seen a stark contrast in the reactions of animals shot with Mechanical heads vs fixed blade heads.
good luck with your goat, i cant wait to get back up to BC next year for my goat hunt.

 

[Jape]

On my goat hunts our focus was always on taking the front shoulders out. Hard for them to move and hopefully allows for a good follow-up shot.

 

[Mtnhunter1]

Always have to be conscious of the goats location when contemplating a possible shot. From your scouting video, goat falls on one side of the ridge and will probably hang up on the brush or a tree. Goat falls on the other side of the ridge and there would not be much left to pack out. Be patient and wait for the right shot opportunity and things will work out for the good. Taking out both shoulders can be the way to go in most instances,,,but I have seen a goat rear up and lunge forward when hit this way. That goat ended up loosing about 900' of elevation in a hurry and looked like it had been hit by a train when we finally reached him.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I found out the hard way what happens when you put a bad shot on a goat and you have to finish him in the cliffs.

Don’t shoot for the head. Way too much chance to mess up the cape in a way that can’t be fixed.
Wait for the goat to be in a recoverable location and take out the shoulders.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I hope I live long enough to draw a mtn goat tag so I can have the problem of figuring out whether I have a safe shot without worrying about the goat falling off a cliff.

 

[Moosie]

Yah.... Another NO vote for the head shot from me. Just no...... Why ruin the face unless you don't plan to mount it. I'd gamble 100 out of 100 times of a fall. Worst case is your taxidermists fixes a horn. a Face shot will most likely have you buying someone else's cape.

Shoulder, And look for another follow up. No way to plan the fall and odds are they won't be in flat area.

 

[ashersdad]

On my one and only goat hunt I passed on several goats because of where they would likely roll/fall after the shot. I had talked to another hunter earlier that shot a goat and it ended up being unrecoverable and I didn't want to even chance that. Finally found one where the fall would only be around 50 feet and took out both shoulders. No damage to the goat after the fall.

I have to agree, I would not try for the head shot. Good luck!

 

[ovis2]

I've shot one Mountain goat and two sheep. All, initially, went bang-flop with the first shot from my 30.06 (or a 25.06 on one sheep).

The goat was on a fairly wide ledge, about 50 feet above a sloping boulder field (which we were on a few hundred yards below). After the shot, he laid there for a bit, then started to roll sideways, not really flopping, just rolling, like somebody rolling a log. He got to the edge of the ledge and rolled right over. He bounced and flipped about halfway to where I was laying in the boulders and tied to sit up, but a couple of more shots finally got the job done. The cape and hide were a bit beat up, with only a small section of one of the horns broken off. The finished mount kind of looks like he has a black eye.

My Dall sheep was on a really long sloping grassy ridge, that kind of reminded me of a big roll of French bread - that ended in a 200 ft drop off. He was bedded down about 300 yards away, warming himself in a moment of infrequent sunshine, while a herd of ewes and lambs grazed around half way between us. When he finally stood up and presented a broadside shoot, I made the relatively easy shot just behind the shoulder, he wobbled a bit, lowered his head, and plopped right back into his bed. Watching through the rifle scope, he laid still for several seconds and then his back leg started to kick. Then the slow rolls began, then faster rolls, punctuated with occasional complete air-born bounces. It was an uneasy site when he silently bounced over the cliff's edge and flipped into the blue skies out of sight over the precipitous edge of that giant loaf of bread. It took a while to work our way around and down, but again, I ended up pretty fortunate. His body was definitely beat up and broken, but the horns were only somewhat scuffed up and scratched, although one lamb tip was somewhat fractured (adds character to the mount).

The other sheep, a desert, was shot from above, literally between the shoulder blades with the 25.06 and didn't move from the dust cloud he fell into after the shot.

So, you just never know. I haven't thought about these details in a while. Thanks for rattling the memories.

 

[geetar]

I hope I live long enough to draw a mtn goat tag so I can have the problem of figuring out whether I have a safe shot without worrying about the goat falling off a cliff.

What is goat hunting like in Nevada? I know they have a population but I figured it’s not big because it’s resident only hunting.

 

[sacountry]

On my one and only goat hunt I passed on several goats because of where they would likely roll/fall after the shot. I had talked to another hunter earlier that shot a goat and it ended up being unrecoverable and I didn't want to even chance that. Finally found one where the fall would only be around 50 feet and took out both shoulders. No damage to the goat after the fall.

I have to agree, I would not try for the head shot. Good luck!

Thanks!

 

[MTGomer]

The only one I watched die we were trying to anchor it to the small patch of trees right below it.
She shot it twice with a .300 wby mag and it still moved enough to miss the trees and tumble off the cliff. It didn’t break or anything but we did have to wait until morning to retrieve it.

 

[buffybr]

I have only killed one Mountain Goat. I shot him with my .30 Gibbs (like a .300 Win mag.) and a 180 grain Nolser Partition. It was no more than a 100 yard shot and like most of my Montana hunting, I put the bullet just behind his shoulder. He dropped at the shot, and he was at the edge of a cliff. When I got to him, he started to raise his head and I shot him again through his shoulders. I was close enough that the shot made a powder burn on his shoulder.

I have three friends that also killed goats in the same unit as I got mine. One friend shot his goat and his son shot two billys with his .22-250 and 55 grain Hornady soft point bullets. My other friend shot his billy with his .270. All were one shot kills.

Like others have posted, I would NEVER shoot a goat in the head. A very small vital target and a very high chance of ruining the head and cape.

Many years ago I shot a bobcat with a 180 grain Sierra from my .30-06. It was a very steep downhill shot, and my bullet hit him in the head. Most of the head was gone.

 

[Gr8bawana]

What is goat hunting like in Nevada? I know they have a population but I figured it’s not big because it’s resident only hunting.

The last few years there have been only 8 tags available to draw, as you said resident only.
Those lucky enough to draw one have very good odds of being successful. The average success rate is between 75 and 100%.
The area I apply for is nowhere near as rugged as the other 2 areas in the same range, but it is still above tree-line.
I also know exactly where to find them, we've been watching them for about the last 15 years.

 

[sacountry]

I have only killed one Mountain Goat. I shot him with my .30 Gibbs (like a .300 Win mag.) and a 180 grain Nolser Partition. It was no more than a 100 yard shot and like most of my Montana hunting, I put the bullet just behind his shoulder. He dropped at the shot, and he was at the edge of a cliff. When I got to him, he started to raise his head and I shot him again through his shoulders. I was close enough that the shot made a powder burn on his shoulder.

I have three friends that also killed goats in the same unit as I got mine. One friend shot his goat and his son shot two billys with his .22-250 and 55 grain Hornady soft point bullets. My other friend shot his billy with his .270. All were one shot kills.

Like others have posted, I would NEVER shoot a goat in the head. A very small vital target and a very high chance of ruining the head and cape.

Many years ago I shot a bobcat with a 180 grain Sierra from my .30-06. It was a very steep downhill shot, and my bullet hit him in the head. Most of the head was gone.

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback and the experience

 

[LopeHunter]

The slope may not seem steep enough to allow a dead goat to pick up speed then tumble where goes airborne during the process but if there is not brush to catch the goat in the first few yards then all bets are off along the ridges. Both my goats tumbled and thought the second goat would not. Gravity does its job.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Found the pics that show what happens when you shoot a goat off a cliff and he ragdolls nearly 400 ft down the mountain. He was in a nice grassy meadow when I pulled the trigger the first time. Too bad I didn't consider the crosswind and hit him just behind the diagphram. He ran about 30 yards and cliffed out. There was nothing left to do but finish the deed and live with the consequences.