WY population control units
Mountain Goat
Contributors to this thread:
Surprised no one has talked about this yet. Any thoughts on unit 4 or 5?
No first hand info, but I did quite a bit of internet scouting and determined it could be pretty tough to find one outside the wilderness areas. Sure, there is a bit of goat looking territory that is not wilderness but I didn't want to play the boundary line game on a OIL species hunt.
I thought I read they were exempted from the OIL rule.
Steve,
You are correct on the OIL. I shot one in 2015 and can apply again if I choose for areas 4 and 5.
Have they come out with quotas or anything yet? Last I saw it was just out for public comment. I haven't seen anything on their website.
You guys are absolutely correct, I just meant I didn't want to devote that kind of time, $ and effort to a goat hunt that had limited odds of success from the get go. If it's just a matter of effort, that would be one thing, but getting denied by the wilderness restriction would be very frustrating.
Quotas don't usually get released until May.
Sure. Just wondering what the actual odds of drawing will be like. All I've seen is that they want to reduce numbers and are thinking about giving out a lot of tags to do it, but no concrete info.
They're attempting to kill ALL the Goats in those 2 units, is my understanding. They will saturate it with hunters to do so. Likely your chance to win a license is very high.
I agree with SS
Yes lots of guys and for sure you must get into wilderness but my plan would be 3-4 days scouting and 2-3 days hunting. I would cold camp on a goat(s) and plan to shoot first legal light. Not rocket science BUT 50 other guys could bump them night before opening day.
Mnt goat chances are rare and when thing like this have happened before (MT sheep a few years ago) guys who really hit it hard had opportunities.
I am curious about if you can list it as a second choice, not to mention first choice odds MIGHT increase slightly.
FYI it must be a first choice so NR odds will go up in units 1-3 not enough to matter but they will go up.
I read something saying the tags would not be OTC nor dozens issued. Things can change up until the allocation is set. If tag allocation is less than two dozen total for 4 and 5 then odds will not be great for NR though better than the traditional goat draw in WY for NR.
ID has better odds if willing to by a hunting license to apply for goat and by doing so that is all you can apply for that year in ID. Or could apply for moose. Or sheep. Or for elk and deer and pronghorn.
If not for the stupid "no NR in the wilderness" law I'd definitely be applying. Don, are you a resident or planning to go guided?
NR hoping to find a resident to go with. TW god point but with no points I might take that chance.
Idaho odds are not nearly as good as many think due to the NR cap. 2-3% at best - which is guess is good for mnt goat odds!
Good luck Don, I think you'd have a pretty good shot if you can access wilderness.
And I wholeheartedly agree on the Idaho odds, not as rosy as advertised.
Thanks! Still debating my plan, only got a few hours!
Anyone else notice the 2.5% fee to apply online in Wyoming? That's a big chunk of change when app fees are over 6K just for bison and goat. Do they accept paper apps? Otherwise buying the idaho license is basically the same cost as the 2.5% fee except you get a license.
No way to avoid the 2.5% fee.