Help me shoot a big goat?

Hello team. Trying to get that majic 30”plus goat. I live in the naki and big goats don’t really happen I’ve heard the Wellington and coromandel area has some alright goats and that’s where majority are shot. I’m keen as so traveling isn’t a issue. Anyone bake to help me out. Taranaki bush is bad so clearings are the common way to shoot goats. How and wjere do I hunt them in the bush in the likes of theses areas. I’m open for DMs and could potentially swap for a hunt or some spots. (Reds in ruahines or a fallow DOC land) sorry not much worth swapping just a younger fella wanting to head in the right direction for a big goat

man,you are in goat central..........Taumarunui is riddled with them...go knock on some doors and ask politely.... strangely enough at 1AM I was reading an article written by Chaz F about this very thing...written in 1981 ish and so relevant its not funny..... if you are asking to look for a big billy only you may gain access.....alternatively cocky MAY say shoot every one you see...whatever they ask for,do your very best to comply... even if you look for big billy first and bomb up in afternoon before leaving....hint its USUALLY white billies with longest horns,the angora type with big sweeping curls,but dont discount other colours just use your binos to access whats biggest before shooting...by far the biggest set Ive ever seen was on a light blue billy...never saw it again or heard of him being shot.
good luck.

What he said but east coast wairoa way would be a close second.

Where you are is already a prime spot in terms of goat numbers.
I really doubt head size has anything to do with location.

At one point there was a trophy goat herd up in Northland, just about pure wild angora. I shot a billy near Ohura that just sneaks into record books. 30” tip to tip and each horn is 30” around the curve. Scores 100 1/8”. Record book is 100”

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You're after big goats? Try the Beehive....take your pick.

Hey Clem,

I've got a few spots that seem to have escaped much hunting pressure. A bit of a walk for them though. There are certainly big goats in there. However, the big stinky billies are wily and I always shoot the younger nannies first so they look big but I don't know the head measurements of them they don't stick around after a shot. More interested in eating them than heads. It's typically the loners that are biggest I've observed. The bachelor mobs seem to hold small to average sized billies.
I'll send you a PM on a spot worth checking out.

SO going back to Chaz's article I read in wee small hours......he was using a fixed 4x scope and knew from measuring beforehand the size of average goats height....somewhere around 1mtr.....so if your cross hairs say take up from centre of Xhair to thick outer bar when goat is 100 yards away with goats height...and the horns take up same amount of Xhair...its a fairly safe bet horns are CLOSE to a meter wide...unless its a pigmy goat with short legs LOL.
Tasco used to market it as a 30-30 reticle and you could roughly range find using it.....

I shot a 36 inch billy on the banks peninsula a few years ago
Hung it in a tree in front yard
Got pinched along with 12 inch tahr head
Crazy
Must have stunk to high heaven

Gidday - Have a look at this link Feral Goat | NZ Bowhunters , what it tells me is there are big goats in several locations, and the NZDA record has shot in the Hunter hills. I shot a 39 1/4 beastie in 1980 in a forestry block handy to Napier on a NZSGSA trip. Boy was I cock-a-hoop after that trip - however my Wellington digs compatriots were less than pleased with me . . .

interesting the NZDA record was shot in hunterhills.......very interesting as goats are VERY few and far between there and have been for the 30plus years Ive been down here. the place gets hunted hard on regular basis for wallabies and goats stick out like dogs danglies by comparison.....

The kids have got a pet goat I'm tempted to get someone to 'accidentally' shoot.....

@Tentman And it tells you that the number of record goats over the last 10 years is declining just like the value of goats for dog food is increasing. Back in the days, no one cared about goats on their farms as long as there were not too man. Nowadays goats have a decent value so are getting harvested which means big billy goats also declined in neighbouring public land as well.
I started hunting 5 years ago and it has taken me that long to find the 27.5" goat hanging on the wall at the moment. I walked every public bush in the King Country and Waikato to get that one. And private blocks are cheating in my eyes... :)

We used to get the odd good Billy's in the Awakino area many years back but the DOC blocks have been heavily culled in recent times. There still seem to be goats about on the private land so door knocking may be productive. My best heads in the 33 - 37 inch area came from Tokomaru Bay above Gisborne but once again this was a long time back but no doubt there would be good ones still throughout that country. I culled in Coromandel in the early 70 s and never shot anything decent not sure what they are like now though. The country around Taumaramnui would probably hold some reasonable Billy's also. A bit of door knocking might get you onto something if you are lucky. A big goat head is a nice trophy for the wall, good luck.

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Originally Posted by Tentman

Gidday - Have a look at this link Feral Goat | NZ Bowhunters , what it tells me is there are big goats in several locations, and the NZDA record has shot in the Hunter hills. I shot a 39 1/4 beastie in 1980 in a forestry block handy to Napier on a NZSGSA trip. Boy was I cock-a-hoop after that trip - however my Wellington digs compatriots were less than pleased with me . . .

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Thats where I shot mine.

Must go back for the head,its only been 14 years.

I think that big heads grow where there are few goats.

Its because they need to be old to grow long. So you need a okace where people dont hunt goats ie not enough to be worth spending a day out for and prefrably not many deer either.

If there are a lot of goats around, people will tend to shoot the biggest ones first, before they get really big.

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Originally Posted by norsk

Thats where I shot mine.

Must go back for the head,its only been 14 years.

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Should be pretty clean by now, mate.:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

interesting the NZDA record was shot in hunterhills.......very interesting as goats are VERY few and far between there and have been for the 30plus years Ive been down here. the place gets hunted hard on regular basis for wallabies and goats stick out like dogs danglies by comparison.....

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Really? I used to shoot roos on a few farms along the east side of the Hunters and would usually shoot a few goats at the same time. Or are you just meaning public land in the hunters?

@clem my 2c would be to start by driving the forgotten highway... did the drive from New Plymouth last year and the number of goats from Whangamomona through to Taumarunui/Te Kuiti was staggering. As others have stated with the current value of live goats being what they are, many farmers are now deliberately keeping numbers high and mustering but a little door knocking will do you no harm and a few public access open hunting permit areas not far off the road, you will only know if an area contains any big boys by getting out there by checking them out.

My two cents.

Like any trophy hunting bloodline is number one.
High angora will often produce long wide horns but usually at the expense of girth and gnarlyness. Angora will however produce an earlier trophy for you. Where to find them? White goat country. White goat country is also usually less shot country as these are the first down for newby shooters as they're usually first seen. Of course this isn't a hard and fast rule as you get a few Saanen lines and these produce rubbish heads generally speaking.

Then you have the classic multi coloured and black billys. I took a few good black billys and some good 'blues'. The classic brown colour with the stripe rarely gave out great horns(34+). Most of this sort of billy would be quite old before they went over 32"(which was my length of keeper). I was just looking through old pics but most were saved to photobucket which I found out last lockdown, they eventually delete.
Here's a blue that shows that nice gnarlyness. I think I kept this pic as he had really bad brushing on the end of the horns.
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Really like any trophy hunting the trick is to find an area that would have the correct blood line. It also needs bluffy ground that is well back from the average hunter ground to lower pressure. You then need to spend the time in there not pulling the trigger. Sometimes some of the little doc blocks that are overlooked can be the best. In fact the most heads over the shortest time for me came from the bush that overlooks Whangarei(we killed every goat in there in the end, sorry it was our job).

The TeKuiti area holds very large numbers of goats and is also blessed with huge amounts of food under the pines in many areas. On a friends farm down there there is usually 70+ goats in view from his house at any time. Few are of trophy quality as the bloodline is average and it is heavily pig hunted meaning they get smoked over just prior to real trophy size. when numbers are that high it's too expensive to cull for the cocky usually and these are hard to round up with out a huge effort.
But if you spend the time in there you are guaranteed to pull out a 30+ at some point if you cover ground and glass when you can. When they chop the pines it becomes a lot easier.

I had little interest in the value of the goats when I was shooting as a contractor, until I met a new mate of the old forum who had a shed full of deer trophys and who was shocked to see the pics of what I was leaving to rot. It inspired me to keep some however with days of 9 to 11 hrs on the hill I was only ever to keep one s that were close to the end of day or close to the car. Last lockdown I pulled all the trophys out of the rafters and gave some to him to boil out which we still haven't done. I'll have to try and get a pic of some. My biggest was 112cm(44") which I put in a tree to rot only to have it chewed up but one of my dogs. I'd seen him a few time with two other large ones which I'd shot but took a year to find him somewhere that I could shoot.

Some of the guys on the old forum had some seriously big ones. I believe a 45" goat is a trophy equal to a 190+ sika stag. Certainly it's pretty rare and takes a lot of ground and time to secure if you're attempting to reach that milestone. Of course some folk are lucky and just have them at the back of their farm. My 44 had been mustered a couple of times as they sliced a strip on the front of the horns each time.

Here's some goat porn for you I found while looking through an old youtube acc.

:D

https://youtu.be/vGxs6f4Mr9s

Nice,

I could probably put you on to a big goat in Australia,
Goats are mustered here for sale but the big ones are back in the hills.