Goats on the trail again Shawnee Nat Forest Indian KitchenThe

[wildman]

My  wife and I hit the trail today with our youngest pack goat and new mt cur pup. Indian Kitchen wilderness area in Southren Illinois, if your ever in the area its worth the hike.   100 ft bluffs right into Lusk creek (wich is Awesome) I learned goats can and will swim today. The cur pup did a little goat herding and squirel sniffing and turned out to be a great swimmer as well.

[Ozzy]

Very cool

[bowtarist]

  Good for you man!...and wife! dp

[PrimitiveTim]

Haha!  That's so cool!

[stickbender]

     Dang from the title, I thought it was a recipe!  That is cool!.  Nice looking Brindle pup.
How many goats did you bring with you?  Did you have to get any kind of permits to bring the goats into the park?  Hey!  Your goat just ate our last surviving varigated purple, bifurcated,whang dangle, beaded indian slipper plant!(fictus makemupus,bigus storius)   I assume you have your check book handy......   Looks like a nice area.  Do you get many comments from other people when they see your goats with panniers on them?  Ever have any bunny huggers, give you any of their wit and wisdom, or lack there of.
Do you have a trailer for them, or do you just load them up in the truck with the dog?

                                                                        Wayne

[wildman]

Wayne
In our area the pack goats are usually a show stopper. People want to know how hard they are to train ,how much they can haul etc. The trails we frequent are heavy horse trails. The Forest Service post off limit areas to horses (nothing about goats) they leave minimal trace and for most people tracks would be hard to tell from a whitetail. I hope I have them on a technicality if its ever an issue, and yes they would eat the last petrified death cactus and never blink. We try to watch where we let them rest. As for the crunchies they will strike up a conversation as soon as anyone about our GREEN travel partners. I then explain how they are helpful for getting game out of way back yonder, as well as tasty themselves. I will explain the NATURAL cycle as long as they want to calmly debate it. They also think we have such a cutsy wootsy lil pitbull pup, untill I explain she is to be a racoon ravaging, squirrel scampering , goat herding machine bred by hillbillies for 100s of years just for that purpose. We have a box built from recycled pallets that fits in the back of my Toyota like a large dog box. The pup is involved in moving the goats everyday and she was helpful on the trail keeping things moving along. We have a full grown nannny Im going to break to a cart I will post pics as that goes along. I have thoght about bringing one to the Classic next year to let everyone see the simple set up.

[stickbender]

   Man that would be great at the Classic!  But I would not let her out of your sight!  You might find pappy, stretching her hide, and ...... uh....... curried goat on the menu....   Or just "Venison stew"........  I don't see why there would be a problem with Goats in the park, as long as they weren't set free to graze.  Like you said the feet are pretty near identical to a deer hoof, so the impact is no more, and actually less than a deer, which does have free range there.

                                                              Wayne

                                                         

[JW_Halverson]

Love the photos, a goat, a dog, and a wife that likes to hike. You got it made.

I had to turn down a free Boer goat the other day.  I had nowhere to keep it and it wasn't up to butchering size.  Plus the young girl wanted me to promise I wouldn't eat it. 

[wildman]

Yup, JW I got it made. It was the wifes idea for the day hike. If ya got a dog tie out a collar and a little feed ya got all a goat needs!

[huntertrapper]

Awesome. i pack my dog but have eben thinking on a new addition to the packing life. Goats seem to be the ticket for minimalism and personality. how is yours coming along?