Wild goats rebound — a little too well

MANTUA, Box Elder County (AP) — Rocky Mountain goats are thriving on top of Willard Peak and Ben Lomond.

In fact, they are doing so well, the Division of Wildlife Resources is looking at how best to reduce the numbers before the goats do it on their own.

The division drastically increased hunting pressure on the herd this year and is now looking at local peaks that could be the site of a future transplant.

One option is the Mount Ogden area, where at least three goats seem to have already set up shop. Two goats were first seen there during last year's annual flyover count, and reports have trickled in ever since, including a credible report last month that three were visible from Snowbasin resort, according to Darren DeBloois, DWR wildlife biologist.

The Willard Peak population started in 1994, when six goats were transplanted from Provo Peak. In 2000, when they brought in four more for genetic diversity, the population was nearing 40. In 2002, the estimate was 50 goats.

Then, the explosion: In the last four years, the population has quadrupled, to 200, according to the most recent DWR estimate, after a count in late August.

Now, everyone agrees that is about enough.

"The area can probably support 200 to 250 goats," DeBloois said. "But we need to keep monitoring to make sure they're not harming the habitat."

The goats seem to be spreading out from the west-facing slope between Willard Peak and Ben Lomond, but even the rosiest estimate of how much land they could use puts them near densities that have caused problems in other areas.

"The goats are extremely dense compared to other populations," said Steve Blatt, wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service's Ogden and Logan ranger districts. "It seems like they're reaching numbers like they did on the Olympic peninsula when they started eating themselves out of house and home."

So the question becomes: What should be done with the goats?

DWR increased hunting significantly this year, including the addition of two female-only hunts, for a total of 25 permits. The first hunt in the area began Saturday. Last year, only three permits were sold.

DeBloois said that if that many hunters were successful for three years, the population would begin to drop. But sportsmen who prefer the chance to shoot trophy billy goats are clamoring for an alternative to that strategy.

"As soon as that proclamation came out, we had members calling us, outraged and upset about the nanny hunt," said Byron Bateman, president of Sportsmen for Habitat, the nonprofit arm of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife.

Bateman said the group would not oppose the hunts if there were a compelling biological need, but argues for first reducing the population by spreading it out over peaks to the north and south, specifically Mount Ogden and the Wellsville mountain range.

Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife is well known for its ability to put money where its mouth is, and this would likely no exception.

DWR is working toward moving some of the goats.