Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Mountain goat question...

Buddy drew the only tag in a great unit here in northern Idaho....
We laid eyes on this goat, I'm thinking billy right off the bat due to the glands. He lacks obvious mass, but is insanely long.
Am I nuts to guess 11 inches?


We're headed out early tomorrow, there are several billies around and he has the only tag in the unit.
Due to work he has to hunt the early season rather than towards November, although this goat has pretty decent hair for late September.

Thoughts on this goat? Opinions?

a bit closer...

I'm just about positive that's a nanny because the bases aren't very big, the tips flare outwards, and there isn't much curve to the horns until you get to the tips.

I can't quite make out the glands behind the horns that the males have. I too would guess nanny.

An 11" nanny, but still a nanny.

There are goats in different places that vary tremendously in basic body size. In CO there are places where they are pretty distinct... Either huge or tiny with little intergradation living in the same place. I think they say it is due to more northern goats being brought in to rebuild small populations.

I know little about ID goats, just a fair bit about goats in general. A big AK billy will easily go 300. If that was an AK goat it would probably make 11".

But I would call it a nanny... Billies have less continuous curls, bending faster after the first annual ring or two and then straightening out again. The difference in the curve shows up well from the front, also. The lack of mass is an automatic nanny call, too.

Would never say it is 100%, but it is really unlikely that is a billy, IME&O. Both billies and nannies have the pads behind the horns which I assume is what you mean by glands?

Assuming nanny and big body it will probably score pretty high, but not B&C (50 for all-time) If small bodied it would not make 10".

BIG nanny

Yeah, It has the really thin horns and horn shape of a nanny.

I thought the thick area at the bases might constitute some glandular presence = billy in spite of the thin horn.


Thanks for the insights.

My fist guess is Nanny based on the horn curl. But it seems to be a big one.

Nannies squat, Billies stretch to pee. Did you watch it long enough to notice?

My first thought was an extremely long nanny. Then I read others thoughts and appears we are all thinking the same. There is no mass at the bases and a billy that long should be thick. I don't put a lot of stock in horn shape as I've seen billies and nannies with that type horn, but tall horns with the tips curved back usually means nanny.

Nanny.

broomd;
Those are very fine goat photos sir!

As others have noted it's tough to say from area to area, but up here the billies are somewhat blockier bodied and generally have a yellowish tinge to them.

The goat in your photo looks way too clean to be an Okanagan/Similkameen billy - or a Stikine one either from what I can recall about them.

Good luck on your bud's goat hunt - I look forward to more photos of a successful one.

Regards,
Dwayne

Frank, you and Chad have fun up there. I hope you find a billy up there. I have heard of a few guys over the last few years who put in the effort and came out with a nanny or nothing at all. Beware of the fog, it can be horrible in the Joe country. Some times all day. Most of all have fun and enjoy yourselves.

Looks like a nanny to me. Generally billies will also have a dark hind end whereas nannies won't. That isn't 100% true all the time though. The horn shape and curve profile point towards nanny though.

If I had a goat tag in hand, that goat would die as soon as I could get the crosshairs pasted to its shoulder. Billy or nanny, it looks huge to me and that is my criteria for shooting stuff.

There is a single nanny listed in B&C... They dropped the designation in the '93 and later books though.

Based on research and planning for my own goat hunt in two weeks I would say Nanny, a very nice one. With those horns and that great coat, I wouldn't hesitate one bit to kill that one.

Thanks guys, appreciate the insights.
We found that same goat yesterday, she was up high and by herself as usual. My buddy passed only to give himself a bit more time to see if a big billy is found.

We were lucky to see her. The country is insanely timbered and the weather was horrible, rainy, foggy; she was the only goat found yesterday.

If push comes to shove, he may take her. She's obviously a very fine goat by any standard, 11" is very possible.

Sitka, I was told the Idaho state record goat for years was a 12" plus nanny.

"Chute em Clint ! Choot emmmm!"

If that was the only one I saw, I would not have any problem shooting that nanny. Would still be a trophy in my book, and probably better eating.

I was unable to verify that... But a look in the 1999 B&C book shows exactly 4 goats with at least one 12" horn. One is the World Record as of that edition. None were from ID. Nothing says the ID goat would have been entered in the book. One of the goats with 12" horns was surely a nanny judging from the base size.

While looking for the info I read the B&C's article on field judging goats and I found it pretty funny. They call the pads behind the horns glands and they suggest only billies have them. They may be glands, but both sexes sport them. A quick peek at any goat photo layout will show obvious nannies close-up that display the pads. I have caped more than a couple nannies...