Colorado Goat

[jeep91xj]

Draw a Colorado goat tag this year,I have started scouting the unit. found goats midday on very high ground to bad they were all coming from the basin opposite the one is was glassing from so it was hard to get an idea of there routine. just couple of goat questions.

how often do they need to go to water?
do they get any lower later in the year like July vrs September?
is working the very craggy ridge tops going to be productive vrs waiting on them to come down lower?
what is the boned out weight of a nanny or billy?
some of these questions might be broad but just trying to figure out an animal Ive never hunted before

 

[Jimss]

This year there is lots of water in goat country so they have lots of water. They get water from plants they eat as well as snow, and springs up high. Most goats I've seen along the Continental Divide in Colo tend to move to south slopes once the first deep snows occur. Some may not wander far from where they are all summer while others I've seen travel around 10 miles to south slopes they winter. Almost all goats I've seen usually winter close to timberline...on south slopes.

Billies tend to hang out in the biggest cliffs in the area while nannies "tend" to spend more time than billies away from cliffs. Mature billies tend to spend the long days of summer in the cliffs and often come out of the cliffs to feed before dark....then head up to the cliffs to bed for the night.

A boned out nanny is actually pretty darn small. I bet there's only about 35-40+ lbs of boned meat? Colo's goats have been introduced from several states plus BC. Some Colo goats have small bodies while others have magnum bodies. Magnum, mature billies (5 to 6+ year olds) are gigantic and 1 person can barely move them before they are processed. Mature billies are built like miniature bison. They have super thick, dense bones. A lifesized skin/cape can almost be 1 load...especially if wet! I'm guessing a mature billy boned out meat weighs around 85+ish lbs? Huge in comparison to the largest nannies!