01-06-2014, 07:50 AM
I like the thought of leaving goats loose at night (and I've done it before), but after that hunter lost his three untethered goats in Idaho last fall and only ever got one back (that I know of), I don't think I could risk it. All it takes is for a curious bear to walk through camp and all your goats could take off running. We like to think they'll run to us, but if they panic they could run blindly and end up a long way off before they stop and realize that they're lost in a strange place and have no idea where to even look for you. The nice thing about being loose is that they can wander in search of browse, but the down side is that when they go even a little ways outside of camp they become a lot more attractive to predators.