Olympic National Park Goat Hunt Group Anyone?

[John B]

15 miles per day for 7 days listed in the health and fitness requirement document......would put you well into Canada.

Not likely hiking in a straight line

[Parasite]

I'm interested.

[opdinkslayer]

May I suggest people post the session or sessions they are wanting to participate in?

Session dates are September 9-19, September 22-October 2, and October 5-16.

If they really want the goats eliminated why wouldn’t they schedule the dates a bit earlier in the year when there is a lesser chance for prolonged foul weather & 0 visibility? Some years it’s beautiful all the way to deer season & some it’s not. I get the goal is eradication for free but those dates aren’t going to maximize the ONP’s goal if the weather doesn’t cooperate & could get somebody hurt or killed in some of those areas if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. Take it from someone who has climbed Olympus,Carrie,Constance etc & cross country’ed into some other places in the western olympics, this isn’t gonna be a cake walk. There’s hikes that are brutal with a trail let alone when you have to cross country to go a few miles in steep brushy ground just to get cliffed out or down into another canyon to get closer to the goats. I suggest study google earth & think this one through thoroughly before raising your hand for duty. I know I am & this is in my back yard!

[D-Rock425]

Goat team 6 reporting for duty!   

[Dan-o]

May I suggest people post the session or sessions they are wanting to participate in?

Session dates are September 9-19, September 22-October 2, and October 5-16.

If they really want the goats eliminated why wouldn’t they schedule the dates a bit earlier in the year when there is a lesser chance for prolonged foul weather & 0 visibility? Some years it’s beautiful all the way to deer season & some it’s not. I get the goal is eradication for free but those dates aren’t going to maximize the ONP’s goal if the weather doesn’t cooperate & could get somebody hurt or killed in some of those areas if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. Take it from someone who has climbed Olympus,Carrie,Constance etc & cross country’ed into some other places in the western olympics, this isn’t gonna be a cake walk. There’s hikes that are brutal with a trail let alone when you have to cross country to go a few miles in steep brushy ground just to get cliffed out or down into another canyon to get closer to the goats. I suggest study google earth & think this one through thoroughly before raising your hand for duty. I know I am & this is in my back yard!

My guess on timing is they want to minimize interactions with hikers.   

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

I'm all in. Have successfully solo'd a goat hunt before. Can't see why I wouldn't meet their criteria's or not make a good team member.

And I'm not trying to scare people but this is the toughest hunt you may reasonably ever go on.

If I don't make it on a team or even if I do, I will help with everything I learned from my hunt.

[jstone]

It would be better to have hunters up there instead of a helicopter flying around shooting animals and leaving them. That’s a bad look

[HntnFsh]

May I suggest people post the session or sessions they are wanting to participate in?

Session dates are September 9-19, September 22-October 2, and October 5-16.

If they really want the goats eliminated why wouldn’t they schedule the dates a bit earlier in the year when there is a lesser chance for prolonged foul weather & 0 visibility? Some years it’s beautiful all the way to deer season & some it’s not. I get the goal is eradication for free but those dates aren’t going to maximize the ONP’s goal if the weather doesn’t cooperate & could get somebody hurt or killed in some of those areas if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. Take it from someone who has climbed Olympus,Carrie,Constance etc & cross country’ed into some other places in the western olympics, this isn’t gonna be a cake walk. There’s hikes that are brutal with a trail let alone when you have to cross country to go a few miles in steep brushy ground just to get cliffed out or down into another canyon to get closer to the goats. I suggest study google earth & think this one through thoroughly before raising your hand for duty. I know I am & this is in my back yard!

My guess on timing is they want to minimize interactions with hikers.

And its after their last roundup.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

May I suggest people post the session or sessions they are wanting to participate in?

Session dates are September 9-19, September 22-October 2, and October 5-16.

If they really want the goats eliminated why wouldn’t they schedule the dates a bit earlier in the year when there is a lesser chance for prolonged foul weather & 0 visibility? Some years it’s beautiful all the way to deer season & some it’s not. I get the goal is eradication for free but those dates aren’t going to maximize the ONP’s goal if the weather doesn’t cooperate & could get somebody hurt or killed in some of those areas if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. Take it from someone who has climbed Olympus,Carrie,Constance etc & cross country’ed into some other places in the western olympics, this isn’t gonna be a cake walk. There’s hikes that are brutal with a trail let alone when you have to cross country to go a few miles in steep brushy ground just to get cliffed out or down into another canyon to get closer to the goats. I suggest study google earth & think this one through thoroughly before raising your hand for duty. I know I am & this is in my back yard!

My guess on timing is they want to minimize interactions with hikers.

Their are advantages to a later season in that the goats can get pushed down and its less work.... if it were later then they would have a thicker coat too which if you got a nice billy it makes a better mount should you choose to go that way. But yes weather can and will play a factor in visible days to hunt.

I wonder if they have any judas goats left.... I can't imagine they wont be giving out coordinates to where the goats are.

[jackelope]

The hair will just barely be started getting longer by the latest cull dates and you can't keep the horns, so a mount isn't an option.

[bigfish51]

I spent a bit of time on the phone with the bio in charge of this cull/eradication hunt.  You do get to keep the skull and horns, but it's kind of complicated.  If a group of 6 guys shoots 4 animals, you get to keep 2 heads.  The other 2 heads would then be given to the tribes for ceremonial purposes.  If the same group of 6 guys killed 10 goats, then each guy gets to keep a head.  This isn't a "trophy hunt" per se, but a tool that NPR is allowing to help (hopefully) remove all the goats from the park.  So, in a normal world of goat hunting (Jackelope and other goat hunters who have talked about it, feel free to chime in), you would be discouraged from shooting a nannie, as she would probably have kids around and the likelihood of said kids surviving on their own is pretty much nil.  In the case of this hunt, you are allowed as many goats as you can get, and if the same situation of nannie/kids is presented, you are encouraged to shoot them all.  Otherwise, it would be inhumane and unsportsmanlike to allow the kids to just basically die a slow death.

Also, there are no tag fees and you don't lose any points as this is a NPR thing, not a WA state administered hunt.

All that said, if you are like me and have been applying for a goat tag for 26 straight years and not drawn, this would be great opportunity to get in the game.  I'm planning on applying along with a group of my hunting buddies.  Good luck to all!

[Tbar]

It would be better to have hunters up there instead of a helicopter flying around shooting animals and leaving them. That’s a bad look

Helicopter retrieval rate would be much higher than boot hunters. Make no mistake, this will be a media feast and "hunters" will undoubtedly be villains. This is an unfortunate deflection of blame from the antis on to hunters.

[fishngamereaper]

Did they clarify what NP expectations are for the dead goat's..it says pack out what you want but I can't imagine they want dead goat's just laying around if guy's don't pack them out.

[D-Rock425]

It would be better to have hunters up there instead of a helicopter flying around shooting animals and leaving them. That’s a bad look

Helicopter retrieval rate would be much higher than boot hunters. Make no mistake, this will be a media feast and "hunters" will undoubtedly be villains. This is an unfortunate deflection of blame from the antis on to hunters.

first thing i thought of was the anti hunter back lash.

[Born2late]

I wonder since this is not a wdfg hunt, if you had access to a airplane could you fly the area and make a map of were the goats are at to better aid in making your miles hiked more efficient when you where able to go in? If legal it would be well worth doing to get a better lay of the land and were the animals like to hang out.Even if you paid a local flight service for a hour flight
you would have a great idea if what you are in for and where to attack it from.