Washington Goats

[BENCHLEG]

DITTO. look and see what oregon has done to all non-residents.

[BillyG]

I talked with Mike Davison the State Biologist for the Mt.Baker area Mountain Goat population last night and he said they just finished a study and counted over 500 Goats in the Baker area. He made it sound like there will be more opprotunities in the near future. I have a meeting planned with Mike next week to talk more about Mountain Goat.

[HUNT]

I would like to see out of state applicants for the goat, moose and sheep tags pay for their tag up front when they apply like Idaho.  If they are not successful in the draw, it is refunded back to them.   

[rosscrazyelk]

nothing this state does makes sense.

[sagerat]

And now we even have to pay more for it with the "surcharge" 

[Bighorse]

All I gotta say is here on Baranof Island in SE AK.  The Bio did a Heli survey a few weeks ago.  He counted over 400 goats in a fairly broad survey area but not complete.

At this point we still have an over-the-counter registration hunt and he'll stop the hunt at aprox 75 points.  1point for billies 3 for nannies. 

The population here has done great under this system and maintains high numbers of both harvest and live animals.  We've got predators too.......Coastal Brown Bears.

[shanevg]

All I gotta say is here on Baranof Island in SE AK.  The Bio did a Heli survey a few weeks ago.  He counted over 400 goats in a fairly broad survey area but not complete.

At this point we still have an over-the-counter registration hunt and he'll stop the hunt at aprox 75 points.  1point for billies 3 for nannies. 

The population here has done great under this system and maintains high numbers of both harvest and live animals.  We've got predators too.......Coastal Brown Bears.

The problem with doing something like that here in WA is that we have too many hunters to that would storm to one herd if there were OTC tags and it would be a shooting gallery in the more easily accessible spots.  It would be nice if WDFW would learn from Alaska's goat management as far as the 75 points goes though - that would sure be a lot more permits than we get now!

[Bighorse]

Ya, thats what I was thinking.  Certainly from a bioligical prospective you've got the populations to establish a more liberal hunting season.  You could even stagger hunters into a particular unit and set dates.   

I also have found goats in areas that don't have an open hunt in WA. 

Here our season runs from August through December.  So hunters are scattered like leaves in the wind and I've never had another hunter encroaching upon any hunt area I've been in.

It works here where the town population is less than 8k and the total number of alpine hunters is drastically less.  I guess thats why I left WA. 

[shanevg]

Ya, thats what I was thinking.  Certainly from a bioligical prospective you've got the populations to establish a more liberal hunting season.  You could even stagger hunters into a particular unit and set dates.   

I also have found goats in areas that don't have an open hunt in WA. 

Here our season runs from August through December.  So hunters are scattered like leaves in the wind and I've never had another hunter encroaching upon any hunt area I've been in.

It works here where the town population is less than 8k and the total number of alpine hunters is drastically less.  I guess thats why I left WA. 

Yeah, you have it pretty awesome, I have to admit I envy you. 

There are definitely many places in WA with goats and no season, the former Methow unit being one of the more obvious of them.  Okanogan County is #2 B&C producing county of all time and there is no goat tag there.  The Enchantments being another area that comes to mind.  Unluckily, WDFW has decided we need a population of at least 100 goats to allow a harvest of 1 goat.  We can look at management plans in other states and provinces (CO, UT, ID, NV, AK, WY, MT just to name a few) to see that you don't need 100 goats to maintain a stable herd size, but WDFW thinks they are smarter then all the other states on this matter so what do we do? 

[WDFW-SUX]

I wish they would make the Pasayten an unlimited mt goat unit with a quota of 2-3 goats and run the hunt the same way that montana does its unlimited sheep units

[shanevg]

I wish they would make the Pasayten an unlimited mt goat unit with a quota of 2-3 goats and run the hunt the same way that montana does its unlimited sheep units

Now that would be pretty awesome!  Have you ever emailed/called/wrote WDFW with that idea?  Who knows, maybe they would be open to it!  I know that I personally would be goat hunting every single year if that were the case!   

I like that idea, maybe we need to make an organized push for such an idea!

[WDFW-SUX]

Im full of good ideas...  but im not the best messenger

I think that would be an awesome hunt... there are defiantly goats there are they are not being hunted and there would be almost no user conflicts with hikers etc.

I wonder if they would be open to that kind of hunt.

Id prolly be in on the hunt as well... might have to redraw the boundaries of the goat hunt so that there was a 3-5 mile buffer from some of the roads

Oh and this would be a hunt for residents only.

[shanevg]

Im full of good ideas...  but im not the best messenger

I think that would be an awesome hunt... there are defiantly goats there are they are not being hunted and there would be almost no user conflicts with hikers etc.

I wonder if they would be open to that kind of hunt.

Id prolly be in on the hunt as well... might have to redraw the boundaries of the goat hunt so that there was a 3-5 mile buffer from some of the roads

Oh and this would be a hunt for residents only.

I like all your ideas regarding this hunt!  I think I may try to get ahold of some biologists in the coming weeks and see what WDFW thinks of a hunt like this. 

[WDFW-SUX]

Make it a mature billy hunt 6in horns or better and use the tag proceeds to fund further goat counts in areas that don't have tags or not enough tags.

This way we can expand the opportunity state wide for goat hunting.

[shanevg]

Make it a mature billy hunt 6in horns or better and use the tag proceeds to fund further goat counts in areas that don't have tags or not enough tags.

This way we can expand the opportunity state wide for goat hunting.

I don't know about the mature billy idea.  Unluckily, when you have too many restrictions regarding size of animal, it just gives too much room for people to get in trouble.  A lot of people have trouble determining the difference between a billy and a nanny and I would rather see people taking their nanny out than accidentally shooting one and leaving it in the woods.  I think a better option would be a point system like AK does, a 4 or 5 point quota where billies are worth 1 point and nannies are worth 3.  Then when the point quota is filled, the hunt closes.  If by chance, 2 nannies are killed in one day, or the point quota is exceeded due to a nanny harvest when only 1 or 2 points remains in the quota, then you lower the quota in subsequent years to make up for it.