Archery Hunting with Goats *Clearly I need Help*

[Nanno]

Some goats lay down and some stand as long as the vehicle is moving.

I don't know how much it would cost to buy a whole trained pack string. I'm sure it would not be cheap! These finds are rare but they do happen from time to time.

[Duck-Slayer]

You might not be able to get all 4 from the same breeder, but you might be able to find 4 goat's that are 3+ years old off of craigslist, they probably won't be started persay, if you get goat's that are handled/lead around once in a while they should make ok packers, most likely won't be in shape, so you will have too take it easy with them, maybe take a month or so to get them in shape for hauling loads, most older goats you can get for $150+ each, at least around here, some are bucks, some are wethers, and some are doe's. The packs are hard to find used for much cheaper than you can buy them and they go pretty fast, just need to look everyday, morning and night and find the best deals, I buy all my packers as left over's from the spring or oopsy goat's, I generally get them for those wethers for $50 a piece, my 3 I have less than $600 in them other than winter feed and that's not much, its the 3 year wait that sucks! just picked up 2 more prospects a couple weeks ago, got a sainnen wether for $60 and a ober/alpine for $50 both are great and my kids get to bottle feed them, I try to pick up 1 every year to keep my herd young. Good luck
Matt

[Duck-Slayer]

Here's 1 - have to have him cut thou,
http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/5815094722.html

another possibility
http://eastidaho.craigslist.org/grd/5791039964.html

up and comers
http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/5785256806.html

Matt

[Taffy]

Before I ever consider buying a goat I make sure the herd they are from has a current (within 1 year) CAE, CL, Johne's negative test and ask to see it. While you can get cheap goats and freebies you need to realize these goats are an investment, not just a pet. They will be athletes. They need good conformation and the right mindset to do their job well.

[Nanno]

It never hurts to go look at Craigslist goats. I've found some nice goats on Craigslist before.

I definitely agree with Taffy that you want goats that are disease-free. CAE and CL are common diseases among goats, but many people do not test for CL since it is not normally a deadly disease. That said, it's also not a disease you want lurking on your property or among your herd. CAE is crippling and deadly if the disease becomes clinical. Johnes is not terribly common, but if the goats were kept near cattle then it is a possible concern. You can't accurately test goats under 2 years old for Johnes. If a seller has never had their goats tested for diseases, it is ok to ask that the tests be done before you buy. I have done that before and I paid for the tests and the seller held the goats for me until results came in. Other goats I bought without testing but quarantined them on my property until I got clean test results back. These tests are not terribly expensive and turnaround time is 1-2 weeks depending on what lab you use and what day the samples get there. Many people use the WADDL lab at WSU to do their testing.

The buck looks like he might be real nice (hard to see how big he is and they don't mention his age). The price is outstanding, but be aware that most mature bucks have not been handled very much and he may require more training than you have time or experience for. Also, if he has not bonded to humans by this point in his life he may never start. The young Saanens might be a good choice but look carefully at their feet and legs. I love Saanens, but the breed has a reputation for bad feet and legs. Look for good substance of bone in the legs, toes that are well-developed and not splayed, upright pasterns, and straightness. With packgoats you want ones that are physically built for the job, are well-bonded to people, not skittish, and are obedient on a leash (unless they are little babies, in which case you have time to train them). If a goat is six months old and not been worked with then it's not one you want to consider for a packgoat--particularly not one of your first packgoats.

[Mallardsx2]

I have a lot of local livestock fairs with Alpines at them for sale all the time. Would these work for hunting applications? Im not so sure I want white goats running allover when I am trying to hunt but Maybe it doesn't matter?

Being from Georgia It would be hard to justify driving to Idaho to look at a pack goat. I'm probably going to have to go with something local. Maybe getting 4 would be the better option.

[GPW1]

This is a similar situation to what I was in years ago, packed 1 deer out myself on a very long hike and told myself THERES GOTTA BE A BETTER WAY haha. Here is my .02 on what I have learned but hey I'm still learning.

So far I have owned 6 goats in the last 4 years of having pack goats, the first pair I bought were Obers from a guy off of a hunting forum and they worked fine until the smallest one decided to quite working ( jerry ) and became a total PITA to deal with, which wasn't to big of a deal since his bigger counterpart ( samson ) was a work horse and was fine with just hunting and hiking with me while I left the lame duck at home with my 2 younger alpines ( loki and pan ). This worked out great until I came home from a short hunt to find samson dead from reasons unknown. Know I had 2 babys and a non worker literally 1 week before a planned wilderness hunt. UGH

After that I found 2 very large boys ( moe and eustis ) off of a goat forum that were rescue goats and gave Jerry to a nice family down the road from me who needed a companion for there other goat they had. but now I was down to 2 baby goats and 2 untested goats so there wasn't much happening that hunting season as the 2 big goats were getting used to there surroundings and I didn't want them mixed in with the baby goats as eustis was very aggressive towards both of them.

After afew months they settled in and eustis calmed down abit ( at least when I was around ) so we started hiking. Right off the bat moe was kinda a PITA , not following, more interested in eating than hiking , which would screw everything up as he is the "top goat" . So I began hiking with just the young goats or just the big goats as I didn't want moes tendencies to rub off on my younger guys. So far its been good but I can't hike with all of them. I can hike with just eustis but I have to leave the younger ones at home or moe will completely lose his mind trying to get out, and he always does whether he jumps the fence, smashes trough it or whatever.

Through all of this though my 2 youngest goats ( loki and pan ) who I got from Dave at trinity farms have been hands down the best pack goats due to having them after they turned 3 months old and working with them and taking them on as much trips as possible, whether its a hiking trip or camping or working trip they usually go with me.

My Point?
You get what you get from Craigslist and forums....Some goats turn out great but some are just well....barn turds and alot of the time when you buy 2 or more I feel your getting one great goat and then the " problem goat " that the previous owner didn't want to deal with and can't see getting rid of just the one " problem goat ". Maybe I'm wrong but this has been my short experience with goats. I would highly suggest buying them younger and freshly weaned but It'll take 2-3 years before you can really put a decent pack load on them, or buy acouple younger ones and a couple older ones and be prepared to get rid of the duds putting your working goat string together. My Ideal pack string will be 3 goats as I primarily hunt deer and next year I will be hunting with loki, pan and eustis. Again this is just my experience.