Question for "old" Goat hunters

[BearSniper]

I say "old" as in long on experience not age:lol:

In the Expo year -1986- my cousin, who's hunted since he was 11, and his very dependable hunting partner here in Abbotsford got a fantastic Mountain Goat across the Fraser river on Mount Judge Howay. (reg 2-08) I don't know if it was LEH or open.

For those of you in the lower mainland, Mt. Judge Howay, if you were looking north from Surrey- Langley, is the sister mountain to Golden Ears to the east, about 25-40 km due north of Mission.

It's about a 6500 foot mountain and they had glassed him for several weeks prior to season opening. They took him on the back side in October and had one heck of a hike up and down to get him. I helped butcher it, once home, and saw the horns -they were huge. I don't know if it was a record breaker but they were very impressed with the size.

Even though there was a forestry road into the area, they still had to hike(bushwhack) up to 15 km to get to the point to make a shot. They reported the area as being as wild for Goats as any in the Kootenays.

Today however, the region is closed to Goats.

My question is, has anyone else ever taken a Goat in that region, and do you think theres ever a chance they'll reopen it again. Surely 21 years is enough to let an area rest from hunting pressure.:-(

Thanks, BearSniper

[Gamebuster]

I'd be surpised if you ever saw those areas opening up again, although ya never know!

Why not go for a goat elsewhere in Region 2 where it is open?

[boxhitch]

If the pop. #'s are there to support a harvest, it can be lobbied for, and maybe attainable. It just takes a spark sometimes.
The areas of reg. 8 that did not have a pop.# of thirty animals, have all been closed this year.

[lapadat]

The chance of a goat opening (leh or otherwise) in any of the closed areas in Region 2 is extremely slim. Mountain goat populations can be drastically influenced by nanny/kid mortality, which incidentally go hand in hand. If several hunters harvest breeding nannies from a small - medium group in one hunting season, it could take 10 + years to bring that population back into a healthy balance. Also, biologists/techs find it very difficult to study these animals as they do not handle stress well, ie. they die or in the case of a pregnant nanny, she will likely abort. So, tranq'ing and tagging with helicopters etc, is out of the question. The only other way to study population dynamics in the toughtest country in BC is by visual counts (heli, glasses), bed groups and pellet groups and hunter harvest reporting.

A biologist with WLAP is pushing to have certain Region 2 goat hunts limited to LEH only. Why? Because if a few hunters harvest a few nannies from one group in subsequent years, the herd may never recover to a healthy enough level to be huntable. Ie. Chilliwack valley goats.....pictured below

Bearsniper, are you looking for a Region 2 goat hunting partner?

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/234.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=4883&size=big&cat=500)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/229.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=4884&size=big&cat=500)