Your thoughts on these 2 goats?

Billies... at least one of them is close to 9"....

I think those are fairly young goats, but still are fairly long horned.

I am frankly more impressed by the build of a mature goat than anything and you won't mistake a mature one for a young one. I saw some stat's and frankly have seen some fairly well scoring and often long horned younger billies. That said, it can be misleading if those goats are small bodied, it makes the horns seem longer.

I'd guess 9''. Good basess, but thin on top. Look for bigger shoulders, think small white buffalo. Seriously.

Bob,

Look like young billies to me as well.
Like said above. You will know a mature billy when you see one. I'm talking a billy that is say 6-7+ years old. Try not to get caught up in the horns. Look for body characteristics that says he's older. The best tip I got from a friend that has hunted goats a few times was to look for a goat with a horse face. A gaots skull and horns continue to grow through out there life span. A long faced goat will be older. the horns will take care of them selves if the goat has some years on em.

Here's a goat I killed last year in Colorado. I knew the second I saw him, that he was a old mature billy even several miles away.
I had two 4-6 year old billies that were closer to me and he still was bigger at a farther distance. We estimated him over 300# on the hoof.

He was aged by the biologist at 12 1/2 years old. 9 3/8" A Really good goat for Colorado. One of the oldest ever killed here. I went back through the stats and if memory serves me only one killed older at 13 and two more at 12. for sure the oldest killed in the last 5 years.

Note the long face with the roman nose. Big front shoulders. Like I said. You'll know when you see a mature goat. But they don't have to be 12 to be mature but I would say look for 6+. That was my goal when I hunted. Kill the most mature goat I could find.

It looks like the goats in your area have good genetics. If you find an older goat he's going to be big I bet.


Here is a better pic that shows the long face. One of my favorite pics. Shows the length of the face pretty good.


More pics and hunt story here
http://www.rokslide.com/forums/show...ints-went-from-15-to-0-Colorado-G13!-whoo-hoo!

Good luck!

Take care

Excellent post, BGG, all spot on...

My guess is your looking at a two year old billy still paired up with momma. That billy would be a fine eating animal tender and sweet. I'll be targeting those younger Billies more now. Biologically they rank with old goats in seasonal mortality according to Cadwicks book A Beast The Color Of Winter. They also won't break my knees and back.
Kinda like this three year old from last year.
There's a place for targeting trophy goats. In restricted areas with limited once in a lifetime opportunity, absolutely hunt for goatzilla. In BC and Alaska hunting goats is a seasonal option. So getting goats for food is a good idea.

They were 2 younger Billys, both with visible privates. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and pics. Biologist guessed the larger one around 45-46". They did not have the huge body size as others have mentioned.
Hope to find the giant football player goat with no neck and horse head.
Thank you for everyones comments and pics!