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For many years in Australia the feral Goat has been the 'poor mans trophy'. It is a cunning and elusive quarry, and the rewards of a successful hunt are well worth it!
Just about everything from a goat can be used. The meat can be eaten, the skins can be tanned and made into rugs or wall hangings, and the horns can be mounted and put on a trophy wall as a decoration.
Hunting goats is mostly done in very hilly and mountainous country, and just getting to where goats are can be quite a challenge! Actually stalking and dispatching the goat can be an even harder task. There sense of smell, and their eyesight (which is equivalent to about a 8x pair of binoculars) all make them quite formidable targets.
Feral goats (also called 'stinkys' because of their disgusting smell), have had a marked impact on the natural Australian environment. Their hoofed feet have caused damage and erosion the ground that was formed for animals with padded feet, and their voracious appetite for vegetation has
caused many animals to drop in number because of competition for food.
Goats arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788. They were a convenient livestock animal for early European settlers, being relatively small, eating a wide range of plants and providing both meat and milk.
These domestic goats either escaped or were released, and established feral herds. During the 19th Century, many goats were also released by sailors onto islands and the mainland for emergency food supplies.
Feral goats compete with both native animals and domestic stock for food, water and shelter, particularly during droughts, and have had a major effect on native vegetation. Feral goats also cause damage to habitat and natural pasture.
It is believed that one of the main reasons why the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby is now rare in places it was once found in western New South Wales is that it was forced out of rock shelters by feral goats. Without protection, the Rock-wallaby is exposed to the heat of the day and can be easy prey for foxes and wedge-tailed eagles.
Feral goats can carry many internal and external parasites, some of which can affect sheep. Feral goats also carry foot rot. It is very hard to get rid of this disease in sheep if feral goats are nearby. Feral goats are also potential carriers of exotic diseases such as foot and mouth disease.
Feral goats are most common in rocky or hilly country in the semi-arid rangelands of western New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland.
Goats become sexually mature at an early age and usually produce one or two goat kids each pregnancy. With a gestation period of 150 days, many feral goats can have two litters within a year if there is a regular supply of food.
Goats are herbivores and generally select the food that is of the highest quality. They eat leaves, twigs, bark, flowers, fruit and roots. Goats will often eat herbs and grasses if available rather than shrubs. However, goats can eat the majority of plants in pastoral regions of Australia and will often eat plants that are avoided by sheep or cattle.
Hunting Goats isn't a walk in the park! Just finding goats is a major challenge, and then approaching undetected
to within shooting distance also adds the the skill needed to hunt goats successfully.
Hunting of Goats is mainly done with Centrefire rifles. The reason bieng that to score a successful kill at ranges that goats are encountered, a .22 rimfire just hasn't got the might. It can do the job under ideal conditions, however it is always better to be a little overgunned than undergunned. Shotguns are generally not used for goat hunting, as shots are usually taken over long distances.
If shooting Goats for their skins or meat, usually calibres such as .222, .223, .243 are all suitable for clean kills, and are not too powerful to damage the skins. When shooting them for their trophy horns or just for eradication purposes, larger calibres such as .270, .25/06 and .308 can be used.
Because goats are thin-skinned; large, heavy, solid bullets are not needed. Ones that are light and fast, but "mushroom" well and conserve their wieght are best suited.
The best areas to place shots are: the chest area on a frontal shot, the heart lung area on a side shot, and for an angled shot aim to break the leg on the far side of the animal. It is generally accepted that a head shot CAN be very inhumane. The reason is that that a bullet could ricochet off the hard head area of the Goat and possibly be projected to an unsafe area, or the shot could just damage the jaw area of the Goat condemning it to a slow and painful death. For these reasons, head shots are usually avoided.
