Wyoming Mountain Goat

If hunting a mountain goat is on your bucket list, you might want to give Wyoming a look. With no preference point system for mountain goats, everyone has an equal opportunity to draw a license. However, with the change to the 90/10 split in 2023, license numbers for non-residents were cut in half, making drawing a tag more difficult than in the past.

The state’s mountain goat population has taken a dip in the last year, especially in unit 2 where goat numbers have declined significantly due to disease. Units 4 and 5, where you could draw a type A tag, are no longer available as the number of mountain goats has been reduced to basically nothing. This will make draw odds significantly more difficult as everyone will be applying for units 1 and 3 in the northwest part of the state. The application deadline to apply for a mountain goat tag has changed to April 30th, with draw results coming out in early May.

There is the $2,767 license fee you have to put up to apply, but it will be refunded quickly if you are unsuccessful.

Area 1 sits along the Montana border on the north end of the state. Within it resides the Beartooth goat herd, and its population is holding stable. Mature billies are available on this hunt, but plan on spending a lot of time in the field to turn one up. There are areas within the unit that are remote and make for a physically demanding hunt, along with some areas that can be day hunted. Turning up a mature goat in the easier-to-access areas is going to be difficult. While there is some wilderness in the western portion of the area, almost every goat harvested on this hunt is being taken outside of the wilderness, making this a great hunt for a self-guided hunter. This country is loaded with grizzly bears.

Area 2 has been hit hard with disease in the last year, and over 50% of the once great mountain goat population is gone. Hunters struggled to find billies of any size in 2024 and reported seeing few nannies and nearly no kids. WYGF gave the five license recipients the option to turn their licenses back in due to a lack of goats. It borders unit 67 in Idaho, and the same reports have come from there with very few mountain goats on the landscape. Early talk from the Department is to suspend hunting in this unit until the herd can recover some. If tags are issued, buyer beware as it could be a very tough hunt. It is unfortunate that disease struck this unit as it had been producing some record book billies and was an extremely fun hunt for any and all hunters lucky enough to draw. An outfitter can be helpful if you are looking for a bigger goat and don’t have time to scout. There have been reports of a few grizzlies in the area, but this hunt is easily a hunter's best bet at hunting Wyoming goats with the lowest probability of encountering a grizzly.

Area 3 is located along the Yellowstone National Park line and borders Montana on the northern end of the unit. This giant unit holds the North Absaroka herd, which is the largest goat herd in Wyoming. The herd is mostly spread out throughout the high country of the North Absaroka Wilderness, which butts up against Yellowstone National Park. It’s getting harder to find a mature billy on the type 1 hunt, and hiring an outfitter to access the more remote areas in the unit will provide you your best chance at doing so. License numbers were reduced by 10 goats for the 2024 season as the goat population is slipping. Roughly half of the goats harvested on the type 1 hunt are coming out of the wilderness. Those that are being taken outside of wilderness areas are coming from the Sunlight Basin area. The type 2 hunt confines hunters to the North Fork of the Shoshone River Drainage in the southwest corner of area 3. The area is almost entirely wilderness. As intended by WGFD, goat populations are extremely low as the state is trying to keep the goat herd from expanding to the south and into area 5. Turning up a mature billy here is going to be difficult and will take a lot of searching. Area 3 has a high population of grizzly bears.

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