The horns of mountain goats, small in contrast to those of male mountain sheep, are coal black and their surfaces are generally shiny and smooth. Male and female goat horns are very similar in size and appearance, but those of females are more slender and tend to be straighter. Because of the smaller circumferences, no female goats are known with high enough scores to reach the present All-time records book minimum entry score of 50 points. Goats develop growth year annuli on their horns, but they are much more closely spaced than on male sheep and usually a distinct annulus does not develop during the first winter.
Only a 1/4-inch wide flexible, steel tape may be used for length and circumference measurements on goat; a steel cable may not be substituted. At times the horns on goat may be loose on their cores; it is permissible to remove the horns from their cores for measurement of the lengths and circumferences.
The first step in measuring goats is the determination of the proper horn length measurement, which is vital to the subsequent measurements. As figure 12-A shows, the measurement is started by hooking the measuring tape clip-end on the lowest front edge of the horn base. The line of measurement is then maintained along the outer curve of the horn surface to a point in line with the horn tip. Generally goat horns end in a sharp point that will form the end of the measurement line. But, if the tip should be broken off or blunted, use a small carpenter’s square (or a credit card) to determine the end of the measurement line by forming a perpendicular of square and horn axis at that point.
A mounted specimen presents a problem in location of the start of the line of measurement. Care must be exercised to begin the line at the above mentioned edge of the horn. This point is often covered with hair and cape and may be fused with the mounting media (which may be colored black). Careful probing with a penknife point, using a bright light, is often necessary to properly locate the starting point.
Once the proper horn lengths are established, locations of the circumference measurements are determined by dividing the longer horn length measurement into quarters as shown in figure 12-A. The Quarter Location for Circumference Chart in the back of this manual provides these values. Record the locations of the three quarter locations in the space provided to the right of each circumference description on the score chart so they can easily be verified if there is any later question about the measurement. Mark the three quarter locations (D-2, D-3, and D-4) carefully on the original line of horn length measurement of each horn with a soft pencil. Since it is often difficult to see marks on the black horns, you may wish to use masking tape to mark these spots.
Be sure to establish these quarters by measuring from each horn base to the tip. This is essential to give proper matching of quarters on both horns. If the quarters were located by measuring from the tip toward the base, the quarter locations would be placed nearer the base on the shorter horn than on the longer. This would make an artificial difference between the quarter measurements. When marking the quarters on the horn, be sure to hold the tape stationary along the original line followed in measuring the length of horn.
Once the quarters have been properly located and marked by pencil, and the calculations verified, measure each circumference by carefully arranging a ring-end measuring tape at a right angle to the horn axis at that point. At the zero point of the tape, the two ends should pass on opposite sides of the pencil mark, with the tape and the horn axis forming a right angle (figure 12-B). Snug the tape around the horn before reading the result, again checking to be sure that the tape is correctly positioned on each side of the pencil mark. If you use a clip-end tape to measure circumferences, overlap the tape at a full 10 inch increment to simplify the procedure. Be sure to subtract the amount of overlap before recording the measurement. If it should happen that one horn is broken to the extent that the horn material is completely missing at the D-4 circumference location, simply enter a zero value in the appropriate column of the score chart to reflect this missing value.
The circumference of base (D-1) is best measured before a taxidermist has mounted the trophy. The mountain goat has a doughnut-shaped, fleshy gland around the horn base that is most pronounced on the back side of the horn. In restoring the skin, the taxidermist is apt to cover the basal portion of the horn, making it very difficult to properly locate the basal circumference.
Therefore, be careful in making the circumference of base measurement of a mounted specimen to avoid including hair, plastic material added by the taxidermist, or a portion of the skull in this measurement. The D-1 measurement is taken at a right angle to the base of the horn, and not by following the basal edge of the horn. Following the irregular lower edge of the horn would result in an inflated value, whichwould be incorrect.
Goat horns may show natural damage on occasion due to the gland posterior to the horn base. The damage is usually minimal, but may extend as high as an inch or more up the back of the horn on rare occasions. Often the horn material is absent in this damaged area. When this happens, the basal circumference must be located at the top of the damaged area, so that the measuring tape is in complete contact with horn material. In extreme cases, the basal circumference may even be taken near the location of the first quarter circumference.
The supplementary data of tip to tip and greatest spread are recorded to show general conformation. They do not figure into the score. The tip to tip measurement is simply from the center of the tip of one horn to the center of the tip of the other. Normally, it is taken by use of the folding carpenter’s rule or steel tape. Greatest spread can usually be taken with the same ruler or calipers. The greatest spread is simply the widest measurement available of the spread of the horns.
Sheep and goat trophies offer the opportunity to age them by counting the horn annuli (rings) left as a mark of the cessation of horn growth during each winter (figure 12-C). During the first winter the annulus is often only a swollen area in bighorn sheep and is often totally absent in mountain goats. But, each winter after that, a distinct annulus forms in both sheep and goats. The annuli should correspond on both horns of the same animal. All sheep and goat trophies should be aged by the annuli present, and the number of annuli present on both horns should be recorded in the REMARKS section of the score chart.
Rocky Mountain goats do develop distinct horn annuli. But, usually no annulus develops during the first winter so that the specimen is one year older than the visible number of annuli. In an old goat, the annuli nearest the skull may be as close together as 1/8 inch, necessitating close examination for an accurate count. Knowing the age of your trophy billy, as determined by the annual rings, will certainly add additional satisfaction to a fine hunt. Of course, a goat trophy can be aged at any time, even after taxidermy, although mounting of the trophy may make determination of the most recent growth rings more difficult.
Goats are usually harder to judge than rams. Nevertheless, there are certain criteria. In the first place, one has only to glance at a billy goat in the proximity of a nanny to note the high humped shoulder, the shaggy pelt, and the chunkier overall profile. To bag a trophy North American mountain goat, one must almost certainly shoot a billy, although the horns of a nanny are sometimes longer than those of a billy of the same age. One’s first necessity is then to make sure the quarry is a billy, not a nanny.
If the apparent horn length is visualized as straightened-out, and it then approximates the distance from the nostrils to the bottom of the eye, you are looking at a horn length of probably at least eight, but not over nine inches. If the same comparison yields an apparent length equivalent to the distance from the nostrils to the ear hole, you are unquestionably looking at a records-class billy, providing his horn tips are not broken and he appears to have a thick base on each horn.
Judging the base of a billy goat’s horns is a fine art. The safest assumption is that if a billy meeting the above length-of-horn comparison is shot on the Pacific Coast, or the west slope of the Rockies, or in the Cassiars, it will have a trophy quality base. If shot east of the Rockies, it probably will not. Obviously there are exceptions.
Another useful gauge is the apparent length of the horns compared to the visible length of the ear. For trophy quality, one normally must look for a horn that appears to be two and one-half times the visible length of the ear.
The use of a high-powered spotting scope is helpful in general evaluation, but certainly not in an attempt to count the number of annular growth rings on the horns. The rings are simply too small and spaced too close together to be counted at a distance. Bulk and pure size are then perhaps the final criteria. You are looking for a very old goat in terrain having mineralization to support better-than-average thickness of horns. This will almost never materialize in a breeding billy. Normally the trophy goat will be a loner. What makes this all the more difficult is that outside of the rutting season (late November) one seldom sees a mature billy other than alone or as one of a small group. Since a loner is not necessarily a big mature billy, an assessment of his size, bulk, and apparent horn length is essential to proper identification of a real trophy. ■
