Caping and field dressing tips and resources?

[CarlTuesday]

Hey all, I've done some searches but came up empty, so pardon me if this has come up recently.

I'm looking for some resources and tips on caping/dressing a mtn goat. Call me crazy, but I'm confident in getting into the goats and being in a position to take the shot. The "what happens next" is the part my group is somewhat concerned about. One guy is a fairly experienced hunter but never dealt with sheep/goat before, and mostly was concerned about meat and not the hide so much, and I'm totally green.

Plan is to bone it out for packing, but any tips beyond that? Just Google "gutless method" for a different animal and figure it's the same in a different scale?

Whatever you got would be appreciated.

 

[gelton]

Its a sheep not a goat but figure its close enough...

[video=youtube;8jsDu0XcFhw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jsDu0XcFhw[/video]

 

[Becca]

Decide ahead of time what your plan is for the hide...if you want a life size or shoulder mount than dorsal cut, if you want a rug you will want a ventral cut. If you are sure you only want a shoulder mount, you can save weight leaving the back end on the mountain. Goats have long hair, so the taxidermist can hide a lot. Just use care on the face and around the tear ducts on the eyes which are less forgiving. We usually pack ours back to camp head in, and then I take them out at my leisure in the tipi...the side of the mountain fighting daylight is a tough time for fine detail work.
IMO goat hides are as much a trophy as the horns, but they are heavy particularly if you get a big Billy, and they soak up a lot of water if conditions are wet.

Kind of on the fence about boning out the quarters...Leaving bones in means less loss and even a big front (which on goats are often as big or bigger than the hinds) are manageable. Boning meat out saves you some weight, but you also turn all that meat into jello. Harder to maneuver, and also harder to hang if you will remain in the field for awhile.

 

[JFKinYK]

This guy has a couple vids that helped with my sheep, even though he is showing a deer:

Taxidermy Cape Prep: Ears-Nose-Lips - YouTube

I also talked to a local taxi for some tips. Biggest thing, on sheep, is that the ears are all knife work. You can't use a twig or an ear splitter on them since they are so delicate.

I've never done a goat before.

 

[Maverick940]

Becca is correct about the boning issue. I don't and won't de-bone anything (moose, caribou, elk, sheep, goats, deer, bears) because it's too easy to lose it to climatic conditions once it becomes a blob in a cheese-cloth bag.

 

[Ftguides]

keep it bone in and cape on face until you have a good spot to work on it and are not pressured. In general, goats are not in great places to work on them. Bring a climbing rope (old one is fine, not using for humans here) and learn how to belay gear/goat down with out a harness so you don't go down steep terrain with 100+lbs on your back (good way to die).

Becca is spot on. Particularly by late Sept, goats are forgiving because of their hair length. The BIGGEST issue is make sure you have decided and/or told your guide (if using) your plans before you hunt. Lots of guys think they want a full body on goats until they see the price, then they just want a shoulder mount. That's OK but you do give up the hind qtrs rug, if you change mind from full body to shoulder.

Shoulder mount - cape like any other big game animal and then finish with a ventral cut to skin out the hind qtrs. Now, if you wish you get both a mini rug and a shoulder mount.

Full body - full body dorsal cut. On four legs, go up higher than you would on a sheep full body. I go up past the rear of the knee. Makes caping down from the top much easier and their extra hair doesn't make it an issue for taxi.

Rug - Ventral, like a bear. I put a mini cut across my ventral cut every couple feet just so its easier for rug guys to keep aligned when trimming. If you change your mind from rug to full-body most taxis can still do a great job with this setup

hope that helps.

 

[CarlTuesday]

Thanks for all the responses... Re: field time after the kill, it'll only be a day and change to get out (I'm the only tag, and the it's a long walk, but we'll be able to head out right after).

With relatively short time in the field until returning back to civilization, I definitely want to bring the head intact back to camp at least to work on... Maybe all the way back to civilization if it'll be ~24hrs or is that too long?

 

[CarlTuesday]

IMO goat hides are as much a trophy as the horns, but they are heavy particularly if you get a big Billy, and they soak up a lot of water if conditions are wet.

Kind of on the fence about boning out the quarters...

Agreed on both of these... Not doing all this climbing to leave the back end up on the mtn, so was leaning towards full dorsal (which then has some flexibility between mount / rug I guess).

I'd like to leave bone in as much as possible, but I think it'll depend on how bad the climb out is/distance, as well as what I can convince my partners to help carry.

Any idea on the "ballpark" or "WAG" weight difference is between boning out or not?

 

[Felix40]

I'm surprised by everyone saying they don't debone their meat. If you use a quality game bag the blob deal is a non issue. I hate to carry bones. Unless it's ribs. I have nothing on the goat though. Hope you kill one

 

[Maverick940]

I'd like to leave bone in as much as possible, but I think it'll depend on how bad the climb out is/distance, as well as what I can convince my partners to help carry.

Any idea on the "ballpark" or "WAG" weight difference is between boning out or not?

I've yet to weigh a pile of fresh bones. I can say that you're not reducing a whole lot of weight by deboning, comparatively speaking. For me, there isn't a trade-off. I rather have bone-in than to debone. It's whole lot easier to keep meat-related situations contained and to thereby prevent spoilage. Of course, I'm not doing just one-day or two-day or three-day hunts, either. Plus, bone doesn't add that much weight to a load, no matter where or when I'm hauling it. So for me, it's an easy decision.

 

[CarlTuesday]

I've yet to weigh a pile of fresh bones. I can say that you're not reducing a whole lot of weight by deboning, comparatively speaking. For me, there isn't a trade-off. I rather have bone-in than to debone. It's whole lot easier to keep meat-related situations contained and to thereby prevent spoilage. Of course, I'm not doing just one-day or two-day or three-day hunts, either. Plus, bone doesn't add that much weight to a load, no matter where or when I'm hauling it. So for me, it's an easy decision.

Somewhat answered my own question (at least according to "max" ADFG #s). They figure deboning is 72lbs of a 168lb carcass. Thats a pretty big swing to me (granted these are listed as "estimates of maximum weight" but still...)



Just curious for all the bone-in folks - how far are you typically packing out when you make that decision? Perhaps you that's part of the decision, or you are tougher/stronger than I am (which I'll readily admit).

 

[Becca]

Somewhat answered my own question (at least according to "max" ADFG #s). They figure deboning is 72lbs of a 168lb carcass. Thats a pretty big swing to me (granted these are listed as "estimates of maximum weight" but still...)

View attachment 38994

Just curious for all the bone-in folks - how far are you typically packing out when you make that decision? Perhaps you that's part of the decision, or you are tougher/stronger than I am (which I'll readily admit).

Maybe I am wrong, but I find the info in that table pretty astounding. No way the 4 leg bones weigh 72lbs. Then I started thinking about it, and realized my definition of boned out was different than the one in your chart. we never carry out any rib or spine bones. So when I say I prefer not to debone a goat, I mean we left all four legs on the bone (dropping the lower leg below the joint of course). Rib meat we take off the ribs at the kill site, as well as neck meat, back straps and tenderloins. i would guess those four leg bones might weigh 20lbs, and even that seems generous. We watched an average sized fox carry off (not drag) the bones from a front shoulder a couple seasons ago with no trouble at all.

 

[carlc]

On a deer/sheep/goat, I would bet that the four legs bones above the knee would be about 15 lbs total.

That being said, I prefer to bone my meat out completely, using the method above. I believe that it is redundant to spend thousands on lighter gear, only to pack bone out, that gets tossed at home. I feel that with bone in, it also takes longer to cool. It can be a bit tougher to handle, bit quality game bags that are correctly sized and shaped, makes it a moot point.

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[luke moffat]

On a deer/sheep/goat, I would bet that the four legs bones above the knee would be about 15 lbs total.

That being said, I prefer to bone my meat out completely, using the method above. I believe that it is redundant to spend thousands on lighter gear, only to pack bone out, that gets tossed at home. I feel that with bone in, it also takes longer to cool. It can be a bit tougher to handle, bit quality game bags that are correctly sized and shaped, makes it a moot point.

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HAHA I spend all that $$$ to lighten up just so its easier to take care of that wonderful meat. Bone on the quarter is so much handier that I generally don't mind the extra weight of the bones being in. On the rare occasion depending on how far I have to pack it out it will bone it out but thats pretty rare.

 

[oenanthe]

Maybe I am wrong, but I find the info in that table pretty astounding. No way the 4 leg bones weigh 72lbs. Then I started thinking about it, and realized my definition of boned out was different than the one in your chart. we never carry out any rib or spine bones. So when I say I prefer not to debone a goat, I mean we left all four legs on the bone (dropping the lower leg below the joint of course). Rib meat we take off the ribs at the kill site, as well as neck meat, back straps and tenderloins. i would guess those four leg bones might weigh 20lbs, and even that seems generous. We watched an average sized fox carry off (not drag) the bones from a front shoulder a couple seasons ago with no trouble at all.

I think you're right; the table weights must include all bones.

For what it's worth, I've weighed the leg bones from two medium caribou bulls, after boning them out at home. They were both right at 16 lbs for all four legs. Lower legs were left in the field.