anyone trying for Colorado goat?

[obxman58]

i will be 51 this summer and i am weighted twice for goats.still feel i'm in pretty good shape and can hike around with most anybody.
question is,anyone trying to draw goats,what are my best chances of drawing before i may not be able,and anyone interested in talking about going tandem?i should add that i want to do rifle.............

[sheephunter]

Hey obx,
I haven't been around here for awhile, but I can talk goats with ya. I'm not familiar with G13, but I took a really nice goat back in '98 in G11. Now I'm back to 3+2 points; if I were to draw again I would probably use bow or flintlock. Don't think you're too old-2 years ago I had my then-59 year old friend from back east up to my goat hunting area for a backpack muzzleloader deer hunt. You can do it, just keep yourself in shape. I make a couple backpack trips up into sheep & goat country every summer. I'll be 50 this year, and I like to think what I'm losing in physical shape I'm making up in common sense.
If you draw, the DOW guy for the area will be your best friend...I've found with sheep & goat you can get great info from these guys but you need to do your homework and let them find for themselves you are a serious hunter; after they're convinced of that they will open up to you and share good solid info. If they think you're a slouch you won't get much from them.
Jeepers-I just looked at the '08 brochure and saw there were a total of 50 tags in that unit this year. That means there's either a boatload of goats in the unit, or the area is so tough they're not expecting much success. I'll have to look at my big game cd; it sure sounds like an interesting area.
Bill

[obxman58]

Hi Bill!

theres some big rams up in that area as well.we have hunted elk in there a few times,so thats the reason i set my sights on it.did a few of the d.o.w. counts over on Cottonwood and i was hooked after that.

did you have fun on your hunt?....any pics?
Rick

[TheGreatwhitehunter]

Rick, after our we had this fall I have no doubt you will hold your own against whoever goes with you if draw the tag.

Let me know what you plan on doing about elk and deer this year.

[sheephunter]

No luck on that ML hunt...that was back in '06. We passed on some small bucks, and I saw one pretty good buck that winded me as I tried to work in for a shot. We saw more goats than anything else on that hunt. We got rained on, snowed on, windburn, sunburn, dodged lightning---it was GREAT!!

I've been on some of the DOW sheep counts myself...did Maroon Bells the last 3 years. Rough but beautiful country. They sent me on one of the longest routes, and I was one of the oldest people on the count. It's good to know I can still do that stuff. The sheep herd in that area has very poor lamb recruitment, and I read recently they were to try some inoculations over the winter, and so there might be more counts scheduled for summer '09. I'll keep my ears open and if anyone's interested in helping out I'm sure DOW could use the help. Not all of the routes are as tough as the one I've been doing.

[Hiker]

My family and I are looking forward to drawing a goat tag soon. Starting this year we have 3 of us with at least 3 points to get into the draw.

[obxman58]

i figure on dedicating the whole big game season to the goat hunt,when and if it happens.....scouting,etc.

[Hiker]

Rick, I agree with you. Unless we happen to draw another limited tag, like moose or sheep. Then we'll have to divide them up accordingly. That would be a good problem to have.

[sheephunter]

Yeah, that's the great thing about getting sheep & goat tags-you're season really starts as soon as you get the tag. It's a great excuse to spend all summer knocking about in the high country, and you get to see all kinds of neat things, and depending on where you draw, there's usually nobody around.

[obxman58]

I've also heard that one has a better chance of drawing the "weekday only" tag?