2016 Mule Deer - Pack Goat hunt!

[Duck-Slayer]

I'm going too start this thread off by a recap of the last 2 1/2 years in preparation for this hunt, So back a few years ago I was lucky enough too bag a giant deer, 2 elk, on my own DIY style, the pack out hurt my already broke body, so I made the decision too get pack goats, easy too care for, easy too train, and they eat anything.

Fast forward too last fall, we took our 3 goats with us on my wife's Late Oct. elk hunt, they were not quite old enough too pack a full load but we wanted too get them out and get some experience, Mr. Bill (white multi color), Mr. Black (black one), and Mr. Buck (brown one), are our 3 goat's name's.



My daughter used Mr. Bill in the 2016 Canyon County Fair pack goat coarse and she got First Place in her division! I was really proud of her, She also used her (up coming) goat named Prince. She got 4th Place with Price.





I also built a couple of 11lb. pannier cooler's too carry in my frozen food, extra water, and some milk! I added 1" layer of foam to all side's and cover too help extend my frozen food.


Fast forward too Aug. been training with the goat's all summer, I've been running when I get the chance, got everything loaded in the packs last night, minus food (replaced with 4 gallons of water too simulate the weight) - Mr. Bill packed our water 6 Gallons - Mr. Buck packed all my gear - Mr. Black packed frozen food and extra water(simulated), and we went for about a 2 mile walk. They did great, no mishaps at all.



Now I wait till Monday too leave and pack into a completely new area, i'm giving up my 2 point hunting and going out in a general unit for any deer. I hope to have a great time and too make this a yearly event, unless I draw a tag here.

Made a few Bacon, Potato, Egg, Cheese burrito's too take in with me the other day, I also have been saving left over's from dinner the last couple of weeks, no dehydrated food for this guy! and I bought a 9 cup percalater off of Amazon so I get my daily caffeine fix!



Matt
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[hooknhunter]

I've never used goats for packing, but we used to raise goats when I was a teen. They have a lot of personality and can be a lot of fun. I'd definitely trying it some day if things worked out that way. You are going to have a lot of fun with that.

I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK ON YOUR HUNT. Keep me posted on how you do.
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[idahoron]

That is awesome!! I started with pack goats about 22 years ago. I loved them for real, they took me a lot of places.
If you find a book called practical goat packing by Carolyn Eddy I helped to write that book. My goat Rex was the picture on the cover.















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[Duck-Slayer]

Well, I called it after Thurs. mornings hunt. I ran into 2 bucks that had stripped there velvet already while I was having a bugling contest with a bull. Both were 22" 3x3's - nothing I wanted to shoot. I also glassed an additional 3 does 5 fawns, I also saw the bigger velvet deer from evening 1 on my way to the glassing location. He was very wild, does not stop and goes straight into the mess of blowdowns and trees. I think he is a 25" short tined 4x4, only got glimpse of him as he ran through all that mess. I also saw a small 6x6 and 11 cows across from camp, 2 other bulls circle camp bugling all Wed. night. This area has more elk in it than expected. I will be modifying my location next year for this hunt. This particular location I picked was a lot harder too glass than I expected, The distance's from ridge to ridge from which to glass from was farther than expected.

The goat's did fairly well, The pack in was a little difficult on my pasture potato's. They were not in the shape they needed to be in come to find out. So note to self they need about a 6-8 weeks of hiking before instead of only 3 weeks prior. Mr. Bill(white) he carried 6 gallons of water in and is the smallest goat I have. He did very well for his size. Mr. Buck(brown) did very well also, he carried my entire camp and my extras and it all weighed in at about 53lbs. Mr. Black(black) is my biggest goat and he carried my homemade panniers and 2 frozen gallon jugs and all my food/beer/rockstar's for the trip, total he was at about 64lbs, he carried very well and did the best at packing in my opinion, the problem is he is stubborn and doesn't listen very well, I cussed him out a few time's for not following and getting tangled in stuff, but he was a champ and I only had too get him out of 1 mess he got stuck in, my panniers did great, they are a little big, i'm taking 2" off the side's too narrow them and about 3"-4" of the top too shorten them. I planned on putting 2" foam in them and only went with 1" foam. My frozen stuff stayed frozen for 2 days and cold for 4 days, I believe if I use dry ice in them that they would easily go 6-7 days if not longer. I will post my flurry of pictures here today, as soon as I get all the vids/pics loaded and somewhat edited. If you have any questions feel free too ask them.

I also need to mention I forgot a few things, cause I did not look at the list that I had made. I forgot the gopro in the truck, I forgot my power cord to charge my phone at home or I would have posted way more pics and such. I did conserve and got 4 days out of my phone, my GPS cord stopped working so I was at about 50% power after 2 days, I was able to recharge after the first day thou before the cord broke/stopped working. I really like the portable power supply's my wife and I got with our IPhones, they work good to recharge just about anything if it has a usb charging cord.

There are a few things I would change, I brought a portable seat that folds out, its light but I did not use it, also I brought a sweatshirt and a pull over, leaving the fleece sweatshirt, also going to bring less liquids in the cooler, not so much frozen food, i'm going too shave a few lbs off by using dehydrated food's for half of the food I bring. One thing I will always have with is the Bacon, Egg, Potato, Cheese burritos that I made, they were outstanding, stick them in the boiling water in the mornings with Coffee was awesome while I glassed from camp. Bought a small 9 cup aluminum percolator and that is on the must have list if you like coffee, fits perfect right on top of the MSR Pocket Rocket. I need to upgrade a few things to save some weight also, my sleeping bag is 7 lbs and is only a 30 degree bag, which was fine for this hunt, I need to get that weight down to 3 or so lbs. In all honesty the goats were the best investment I have made, they do take patience, so if you don't have patience when they are stubborn or chewing on stuff, rubbing on tree's, and making noise than they are not for you. The make all kinds of noise walking, they like to rub there horns on everything, they like to climb on all kinds of stuff, they have this internal need to 4x4 all the time , kinda cool in my opinion. I loved the trip, even thou it ended a little sooner than I would have liked. Between there not being very many deer and elk were all over with no elk tag, my phone going dead and my GPS, horse guy's that were elk hunting, had a wall tent at the spring that the deer were using, figured the deer would move out with them there. And labor day weekend coming up and i'm sure more people would start venturing my way. But it may have been better hunting that way, all the deer down lower may have been pushed up to where I was at also? That is all for now. Thanks for following along.
Matt
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[Duck-Slayer]

An old Tree stand that was left up in the high country....



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[Duck-Slayer]

Camp was in the patch of trees,

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