Went for a fallow scout last weekend. Plenty of feed and not as many deer as usual, the bigger bucks haven't yet come to the does. A few young bucks, but that was it.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/deer/Goat_March11005.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/deer/Goat_March11003.jpg)
After walking most of the day, didn't see much fresh buck sign in the way of scrapes or rubs. Had a pretty good feed of Blackberries though! Came across the goats. If you ever wondered how do those big billies sleep? Here's the answer.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11055.jpg)
Another big fella in my sights. The adrenaline kicked in. They were about 400m away, time to get closer. As I moved in, they got up from their afternoon rest and moved off
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11058.jpg)
As they fed off, they moved out of the timber into the pasture. The amount of feed in the paddocks was phenomenal - plenty of cover for a stalk.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11066.jpg)
I estimated the big fella was easily 40 inches, maybe 44. and with plenty of length going back off his skull before his first twist out, I conservatively estimated him at 130 DS. (Well into record class)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11085.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11091.jpg)
As they fed over the knoll, I moved closer. There was another small mob of nannies and kids down to my left, and one of them saw me moving across the saddle. She turned downhill and away from where I was heading. The long grass made it hard to spot the goats, another lone nanny and kid were bypassed as I crawled through the long grass. I came across the big fellas mob feeding downhill.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11070.jpg)
They were about 50m away, and feeding on the move. As they left the last of the cover and headed out into the open pasture, I set up shop where they had just been, amongst a rocky outcrop with logs and a few coprosma bushes providing extra cover.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11145.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11173.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11180.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XFo28S0JXk
Some more pics and video to pass the time. I knew that they would feed back uphill at last light to bed down amongst the rocks and timber, so it was now a waiting game.
After a while, I backtracked and moved around the hill and set up in another stand of timber and coprosma and rocks. It was in the same gully that the mob used to head up to their bedding area last time I was there. I was pretty well concealed, but there was one nanny who was suspicious. She kept looking in my direction, but not always directly at me, so I figured that she couldn't see me. The rest of the mob wasn't paying too much attention to her intermittent sneezes and snorts.
After about a hundred pics of the big fella, I started looking around at the other billies, and noticed that there weren't any other good heads. One billy was around 32-33" and the rest were about 20-24". They were all black and white saddle backs or black faced billies, and most of the young goats were that colour too.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11262.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11247.jpg)
They were bigger in the body than the white billy, and had a clearly visible hump of muscle on their shoulders. Probably Boer cross, with the solid build and roman nose on them.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11131.jpg)
Then I started thinking that in this mob there was about 80% of the goats on the property. Not a huge population by any means, but I took out one big fella last year, and this is the only other big one. There might be one more billy over 100 DS with the rest lucky to make 70 DS. So by taking out this big billy, I will be taking out the best chance of keeping good genes in the herd.
The more I thought about it, the more I started thinking that I'll let the big fella go and hopefully breed a few more nannies and take out a few of the bigger bodied saddleback billies over the next few months.
The thoughts were going to and fro in my head, but at the end of the day, I just felt that If I shot him I would be *****tting in my own nest. I'd like to bring my boys here when they are old enough and let them see a big billy, and not just tell them about the ones I shot.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11224.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11227.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/memo48/Goats/Goat_March11238.jpg)
After getting the photo count up near 300, I decided to get back to camp. I slowly backtracked out and left the mob to do their thing.
The one I shot last year was about 7 yrs old and still hadn't worn his teeth down. So I reckon this big fella could last a few more years yet before I give him a hard time. In the mean time I'll be targeting a few of the black and white boofheads for a bit of 'game management'.
Hope you like the pics as much as I liked taking them.
Cheers,
Memo
Good decision mate! Looks a pretty healthy mob of goats there, it can be hard to get in close with that many eyes and noses on the look out. Nice pics :)
Great pics memo, thanks for taking the time to post them.
THX for sharing!
Great pictures sir! Thanks for posting them up for us! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
That billy is a pearler, must've been tough to pass him up! Looks like you've got plenty of other targets though. Go gettum!
Those are some beautiful photos.Good luck with the heard management.
awesome photos,
Thanks Steve
Cool to see pics and read about hunts from around the world.
Bill
Great pics & good on you for passing up that one for the sake of future generations :clapper:
That's really neat..... :thumbsup:
Nice pics,thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing....really cool pics....
Please note...they may get pulled for being too large. Max pic size is 640 pixels wide. Resize them if you can....I'd hate to see them go poof!
awesome pics.
Excellent hunt and even better pics!
I think you did the right thing, and ensured many more years of hunting some possible record bound goats.
:clapper:
Thanks sir. Good on ya.
Dream Land pics.
Thank you much for sharing.
Very cool.
nice Fallow, and an awesome billy :thumbsup:
really cool photo`s & a real show of responsibility in not targeting the big fella ,
its up to us to ensure bowhunting`s future .
i take my hat off to you :clapper:
Great photo's and story,thanks for sharing.
Leland