Copy of my letter to the game dept. reference goats.

[actionshooter]

Thanks for trying to educate the WDFW, What your doing can't hurt, hopefully they actually look at it.

[Falcon]

NP:

Great letter with some sound thought involved. If the game dept doesn't start thinking about some population issues, I fear that the almighty mtn goat will soon be a non game animal in this state.

I have been blessed to have harvested 2 nice billies. The first in 84 in the Pratt
River which has been closed for over 15 years, and the second and my final back in 99 in the Coral Pass unit. My billy was shot out of a herd of about 30 goats !

Its a shame that the guys that really want a shot at this beautiful animal may never get a chance if the dept doesn't stop shutting down every unit because they haven't taken the time to survey them. If  thats the case, let some trained volunteers get it done !

[Ridgerunner]

Great letter, better to do something than just sit back and complain.

[norsepeak]

nice goat falcon.  It just makes me want to spend my money out of state, where they actually care about the animals and the hunter!!!

[shanevg]

That's a real nice goat Falcon, what does he score?  Hopefully I can get drawn someday and get one like that on my wall.  If I can't get drawn I'm just going to have to save up for BC or Alaska (or get lucky in Montana or Colorado I guess - but they just don't grow the same caliber trophies.)

[Falcon]

Thanks  guys,

That goat was shot 84 in the Pratt River. He was shot early season, so his hair isn't real long. I haven't had him scored. My taxidermist said he looked to be around 6 years old.  Horns measure 8.5 x 5. Not real long, but heavy enough to look good on the wall.

A mtn goat hunt is truley a once in a lifetime experience. I wish more guys had the opportunity to hunt these great animals !

[TeacherMan]

That sounds great. Maybe someday I will be able to use your services because of this letter. Very sound and I like that you have actual reference material, not just emotion and opinion.

[norsepeak]

we'll see what happens, been 4 days and no response yet.  He probably just deleted it anyway....who knows.

[popeshawnpaul]

Your letter is spot on regarding the science Norse.  Many are reading that study like it is the managment bible.  It is not.  It is a good study to consider but actual numbers like you gave regarding Colorado are much better because it's a tride and true study in progress.  The population is sustained and they are taking a larger percentage of the goats than we do.

I would be willing to bet their population is wrong.  Dead wrong.  I would get there is over 5000 goats in this state, maybe more.  I base this on all my time in the mountains and goats I see everwhere from the alpine lakes to chelan.  I truly don't think we see many of the goats.  This type of managment is costing the wdfw lots of money.  It's also costing hunters our valuable resources.  If we are not going to give out any tags, why do we need the wdfw managers?  Think about that one when you make your management recommendations. 

I guess I'm putting my wildlife managment degree to good use after all...

[popeshawnpaul]

I wanted to also add that I don't buy the issue that they are concerned about female goats surviving.  I think that is short sighted.  It would be very easy to require people watch a video or training seminar on male identification before they go hunting.  If we ensured that people only took males, we could offer quite a few more permits under the department's way of thinking.  That would be easy and not cost much. 

[andrew_12gauge]

when have you ever known the wdfw to take the easy way of game management, c'mon pope you know better

[shanevg]

Emailed WDFW concerning the lack of funds for proper goat research.  In a nut shell I suggested what we have all been suggesting here: a. Get some volunteers (perhaps through the Master Hunter program) to help with wildlife research. b. Require up front tag costs for OIL tags so they can gain interest in addition to the $5 application fee so they have more funds for research. and c. Look at how other states (e.g. Colorado) are successfully managing their goat populations.

Not that I really think they will listen to me, but the more often they hear it the better.  I honestly am shocked that the WDFW doesn't require up front tag costs just to get the interest as they seem to try to think of anything they can think of to suck money out of us. 

[norsepeak]

I'd also like to see them do like other states and only offer "up to a certain % of tags" to non-residents.  They way it is now it is POSSIBLE that all of the goat tags in the state go non-residents....not a good system.