Goat Judging

[JBS]

I have spent 6 days scouting my unit and practicing field judging goats. I want to know what some of the goat experts think about these 3? Thanks for the help.
JBS

 

[Schaaf]

That first picture is tough, he looks very heavy but it's tough to pick his horns out the further up they go.

 

[JBS]

Yeah sorry for the lessor quality pics. I was holding a point and shoot camera up to my spotting scope. But even in person it is hard to see the top half of the horns on a lot of goats since they blend in with the rocks.

 

[TRS_Montana]

I'm by no means an expert and I am sure you will get better advice than mine, but here are my thoughts:

The upper right seems to be the worst of the three. By the looks of his face and how he doesn't maintain his mass very far up his horns, I would guess he is a younger billy (maybe 3?).

The upper left looks to be a better goat. Like Schaaf said, however, it is tough to tell. His face looks a bit older and looks like he has a little more mass, but it's just tough to see much. One plus for that goat is that he appears to be alone. Most mature billies will be by themselves.

Of these three, I guess I would probably take the lower left goat. He appears to have the best genetics, but I don't think he is that old since he is with (what I assume) is a group of nannies and kids.

If you are looking for a trophy, I have heard that you want the horns to be about 2 to 2.5 times his ears.

Again, I am sure you will hear from some people that know way more than I do, but just wanted to add my thoughts.

 

[Big Billy]

the smaller the space between the base of horns usually helps determine circumference..any Billy is a trophy ..typically a 9+ is a good one and a 10 "+ is a great one...they are hard to judge..if all else fails go for the one with the biggest body INHO

 

[Point Creep]

Terrible pictures to go by but I'd pick 1, 3, then 2. Based only on the shape of the head. 2 is clearly a young billy.

 

[Gerald Martin]

http://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?t=255190&page=4 There are some pics and pretty good info on judging goats in this thread.


I 'd agree with Greenhorn as to which goat is the better goat, but I don't think any of them are older than 4 years old. I'd guess them in the 8-8 1/2 range. Good luck on your hunt! Any goat is a good goat and you will earn whatever you kill no matter what the size.

 

[mtmander]

Good you have a few to choose from , I would keep looking and then make your decision. I think any of them would be a shooter.

 

[Baerman]

I would agree with greenhorn. put those goats in your back pocket and keep looking. If you are having a hard time finding a mature goat, find the nannies and wait until the second week in October if you can. A big billy will show.

 

[Randy11]

You're doing well to be finding billies, but like others have said, you should be able to hold out for something a notch bigger than these.

I had no problem finding goats, but billies were hard to turn up for me in the summer.

 

[JBS]

I am definitely still looking for bigger and not hoping to notch my tag until at least the last week of September. Attached are a couple more pics of the same goats, the first pic is the same as the 2nd pic of previous post and the second pic is the same goat as the 3rd pic. I am pretty sure this was a 2-3 year old goat with a young looking head and still hanging with nannies. Gerald thank you for the link I have been reading it about once every couple weeks since I drew the tag. Greenhorn I can only dream of having the goats in my unit documented half as well as you did a few years ago across the river. Randy, I slogged into the basin that you hunted a couple weeks ago my wife doesn't ever want to step over another blow down log. I will try to post my hunt up as I can this fall. Thank you all for your help.
JBS

 

[Drake4]

#2 and #3 are both young billies. #1 looks like he has some potential, but hard to tell from that one pic. Got any more pics. of him?

 

[teamhoyt]

Not to hijack the thread or anything but how big (Body size) is a mature billy? I ask because over the 4th in Glacier park we had one come down within 10' of us and I was amazed by how small it was, I would guess it had 8" or so horns but it seemed like the top of his shoulder was only slightly above my knee.?

 

[JBS]

Drake, that is about he best picture I have of him. he was down low near the creek about 1 mile from the trailhead and I wanted to make it up to the ridge and glass some basins on the other side so I didn't spend any time getting closer. Is your Dad starting to get excited for his tag yet?