What ammo to use on mountain goats?

[muliecrazy]

I recently hunted a Billy mountain goat in the interior hitting it multiple times from 10 - 60 yds with a 300 WSM and 180 grain Barnes XLC's and didn't get it. He went off a small cliff, maybe 40 feet, and I spent almost 3 days looking but never got him. What ammo should I be using? some people say hard bullets like ballistic tips while others say softer? I have had amazing luck with Barnes bullets but wonder if goats require something different?

[KB90]

First off too bad on losing the goat, but good job on trying to find him.

I don't think bullet selection was the culprit.... Shot placement was.

Break their back, hit as much bone as you can. People say goats are one of the toughest animals to kill.

People were killing goats before all the different fancy types of bullets came out.


Any ideas on where your shots were hitting?

[Tenacious Billy]

Were you aiming at his ears?? 10-60 yards?......If your shooting didn't kill him, I dare to say his fall off a 40 foot cliff likely did. Your bullet selection seems perfectly appropriate.

[BiG Boar]

Shot placement probably more of an issue. Got to break bone and make em drop. I bet if you did find the goat there would be big exit holes. These things are not made of steel. Did you find much blood?

[AT&T]

Goats are so tough. Good thing moose arent made that way. Regarding falling. Thats what goats usually do! If you are shooting that close with a 300 load some 220 grain. My last goat went down a lot quicker with the 220 at close range.

[stoneguide]

Your bullet selection and shot placment could both have been part of the issue. Since the shots were so close and shooting solid bullets you may have had very minimal expansion if you only hit soft tissue causing comlpete pass through and a small wound channel.

Just my thoughts.

SG

[BlacktailStalker]

Bad luck for sure MAYBE bad shot placement (cant say for sure though because you couldnt examine it first hand)
Killed mine @ 285 yards with a single 168gr TSX from a 300WSM but maybe mine didnt have super powers like most on here.
If it was only a 40'cliff and no blood you either missed his vitals completely or you shot too high in the lungs and he was bleeding on the inside, hence no blood trail.
Surprised the ravens didnt show him to you in 3 days... they were waiting on mine before I got to him in an hour.

[happygilmore]

shot mine with my 300wby with 165grn accubonds at over 350yrd off a small 15 foot cliff, he then proceeded to cartwheel down the slide about 200 yards. I put my rifle in my pack and started to climb down. when I got within 30 yrds (about 30min later) he jumped up and started to run! he got to about 100yrds before I got my rifle out for a second shot. when I turned him over my first shot was perfect and the exit hole was about 6inches round! Yeah tough animal...
My buddies goat didnt run 1inch shot between eyes! oops lol

[muliecrazy]

thanks for your replies. Shot placement was an issue the first shot, he was quartering away, tried to go through vitals and into the far shoulder but hit him a little far back in the hind a bit but still would have got good penetration. it knocked him over but he got up and made it over a small ridge, he was bleeding good. I looked over and he was standing there maybe 12 yds on the other side of a small fir. It was a little hard to tell where exactly i was aiming he was so close but went to the front of his body then back onto what I hoped was the shoulder. two shots at this distance on the second he dropped, got up and then hobbled over a ridge. as I chambered another he came back into site across the top of a cliff quartering away again at maybe 40 yds and I hammered him again sending him flying off and made an awful thud when it hit some trees below the cliff. and yes I did look up in case he was hung in a tree. I could only get within about 30 yards of where he landed that day and didn't notice any tracks leaving the patch of trees in the snow. Went back the next day with more rope and it had snowed another few inches which helped support me to get where he landed but he wasn't in there. I also didn't see any tracks or drag marks where maybe a bear drug him away.

I don't know what to say. Bullet expansion may have been an issue as I wasn't expecting shots that close. Had actually hiked about 100 yds above them only to discover they had moved upslope too. I also harvested a bull elk and whitetail buck this year with that rifle/ammo combo and the went zero yards, both dropped in their track. I guess the answer with them is perfect shot placement and bullet expansion on close shots.

[bowhunterbruce]

i got mine with a 180 gr out of my 30-06 at 50 yards. bedded down quartering towards me,i placed the shot at the base of the neck just before the front of the left shoulder.no exit wound however there was nothing left of both lungs and the top of the heart.it got up apon the shot but just rolled and slid down a 100 yards to where it came to rest in a tight run off crack.good thing too another 20 feet and it was another 150 yards straight down.
bhb

[6616]

After many years of hunting goats and having shot quite a few and having witnessed even more being shot, I feel that poor shot placement has added a lot to the "hard to kill" reputation goats have. I'm not denying they're tough animals, one needs a lot of skelatal or vital organ damage to anchor them. They also seem to have extremelly tough lungs and we rely heavily on lung shots for most animals, but I have seen goats survive lung shots and keep on walking for many hours. Goats have very slow heart rates and bleed to death very slowly.

Take a look at some pictures of goats with full winter coats vrs goats with mid-summer coats. What a huge difference. A modest sized animal inside that huge puff ball of hair. Hair hanging down a foot under the belly and piled up 6" to 8" deep on his back and top of his neck and rump. Note that shoulder hump and high bulge on the top of the neck is mostly all just fur. It can be extremelly difficult to pick the correct shot placement on a late season goat to ensure hitting the vitals, especially on quartering or uphill/downhill shots.

I think, because of the above, a lot of goat hunters get poor shot placement on their first shots, and once the adrenalin starts pumping in a mountain goat you practically need to blow him to bits to stop him. Not saying that's what happened in you case MM, but if it did you're certainly not alone, I think almost all first time goat hunters faced with a furry late season goat are highly susceptible to this pitfall. You need to think of a smaller animal hidden in that big pile of hair and try to figure the correct angle to get into the vitals. I really doubt if the bullet choice was a big factor, those are one of the best big game bullets available today.

[goatdancer]

50 cal with armour piercing explosive ammo should do it........

[swampthing]

I have shot goats with both hard and soft bullets and have noticed no difference. As 6616 says, it shot placement. All my goats have died within 30 seconds except one that made it about 1 minute. The problem is that goats can get into pretty rough country in 30 seconds. Aim for bone and keep shooting. Empty the clip.

[BCbillies]

x2 on 6616's response. While I enjoy goat hunting with the 300 wmag and the 375 :wink: my 270 loaded with 130 grain Hornady Interlock SP's is my first choice . . . it is the rifle I am most comfortable shooting and is very accurate. A hunter will encounter many obstacles in bringing home a goat . . . your rifle/shooting shouldn't be one of them.

[moosinaround]

I am sure a 168gr TTSX would lay a hurtin on a goat, specially coming out of a 300 WSM!! Shot placement is the ticket, and if a rifle is set up at 200 yrds and you are closer you may have syked yourself out with the excitement and all. I always aim at the center of the kill zone! If it is high it is a spine shot, if it is low it goes through lungs. A little back and high liver, forward produces shoulder and heart. A 300 WSM hitting any critter in the vitals is a kill from my experience with other "tough" critters like bears and elk. I wouldn't change anything, it is a good caliber and the Barnes bullets are awesome. It was just a fluke situation that happens to everybody once, or more, in their hunting careers! Moosin