Mountain Goat Identification

[mrdayle]

Hi Guys,
I'm working on a project to improve Mountain Goat Identification, designed for both educational and practical purposes.


Check it out and test your knowledge!


The model is built to predict the ### of mountain goats based on specific features, like horn shape and base thickness. Currently, it's a work in progress and has been trained on a small dataset. With your help, it can get even better!


By uploading images, you’re contributing directly to the improvement of the model, helping to create a more accurate and useful tool. Keep in mind, this version isn’t perfect—it will give a prediction for any image you upload, whether it’s a mountain goat or not.


Try it out at: https://www.daleandcompany.com/pages...oat-identifier

 

[BlackRam]

I will take your survey, but wanted to make a note here.
Having done all the research I could do, books, articles, videos, prior to hunting mountain goat, and having taken a large billy on my first hunt, my second hunt was very educational.
I found a lone goat on the same mountain and in almost the same location as my previous billy, and got within 150 yards and spent more time glassing it to try to confirm it as a billy. On the previous hunt, as well as this one, the billy's tended to use one area on the mountain while the nannies and kids used another area close by. This lone goat was in the area that the billies frequented, and we had not seen the nannies and kids in this area on either hunt. Glassing the goat, it had long hair (October hunt), the long chaps, and a good beard, and had a tapered, smooth curl to its horns. After taking the goat at 115 yards, and finally reaching the animal an hour later as it had fell and rolled down a steep chute, I found that it was a lone, dry nanny. When placing its horns next to the billy from my previous hunt, there was no difference in the profile and taper of the two sets of horns, except that it was shorter and lighter than the billy's (but a difference between a 10 1/2" billy and a 9" nanny). Her horns were not slim and less tapered from base to end, and had no hook near the top. It tapered evenly from base to tip. So despite the normal identifying differences between the two ###es, it must be noted that this is not always consistent.
I will note that while glassing the goat, climbing to within range and glassing it again, the goat never did stand and urinate (at least not when we able to see the goat during the climb), which would have let me know that it was a nanny.
Thanks

 

[Brassman66]

I will take your survey, but wanted to make a note here.
Having done all the research I could do, books, articles, videos, prior to hunting mountain goat, and having taken a large billy on my first hunt, my second hunt was very educational.
I found a lone goat on the same mountain and in almost the same location as my previous billy, and got within 150 yards and spent more time glassing it to try to confirm it as a billy. On the previous hunt, as well as this one, the billy's tended to use one area on the mountain while the nannies and kids used another area close by. This lone goat was in the area that the billies frequented, and we had not seen the nannies and kids in this area on either hunt. Glassing the goat, it had long hair (October hunt), the long chaps, and a good beard, and had a tapered, smooth curl to its horns. After taking the goat at 115 yards, and finally reaching the animal an hour later as it had fell and rolled down a steep chute, I found that it was a lone, dry nanny. When placing its horns next to the billy from my previous hunt, there was no difference in the profile and taper of the two sets of horns, except that it was shorter and lighter than the billy's (but a difference between a 10 1/2" billy and a 9" nanny). Her horns were not slim and less tapered from base to end, and had no hook near the top. It tapered evenly from base to tip. So despite the normal identifying differences between the two ###es, it must be noted that this is not always consistent.
I will note that while glassing the goat, climbing to within range and glassing it again, the goat never did stand and urinate (at least not when we able to see the goat during the climb), which would have let me know that it was a nanny.
Thanks

Single Nannie without or with a Kid visiting same place which usually frequented by Old Trophy quality Billie's only, happens more often then many Hunters think. In some cases it may be that there is a mineral lick nearby. We found such places way up above Timberline when we found Goats, Sheep and Grizzlies hitting the same location at different times.

Cheers

 

[156821]

I have learned through my experience there is only 2 things you can depend on for identification.
1. How the animal urinates.
2. Really heavy bases on a big billy.

Horn curve is very difficult to rely upon especially if the animal isn’t that old.

My second goat was a nanny. Check out the picture.