The sheep is an active, wary and fleet-footed animal, fully as well equipped as the deer to escape by agility from its enemies and is not dependent for safety on a refuge beyond the reach of other animals. The goat on the other hand, is heavy, powerful, clumsy, slow moving and somewhat stupid and does not dare to venture very far from its inaccessible rocks. It thrives among precipitous cliffs, which are everywhere known among hunters as “goat rocks” and are recognizable as such at a glance.
LOCAL DISTRIBUTION.
In a mountainous country it is perfectly easy to say where goat are to be found, if there are any in the neighborhood. They descend, of course, into the upper limits of the forests, but always keep near to cliffs to which they can retire when attacked. Sometimes swim rivers and have been killed while crossing the Stickine far into the forests. Salt-licks have been found in the hillsides, where great holes have been eaten out by these animals. The trails which lead to some of the licks in British Columbia are worn so deeply as to resemble buffalo trails. Goat pass through the forests and lower slopes of the mountains in moving from one locality to another, but this of course, is exceptional. They sometimes swim rivers and have been killed while crossing the Stickine River in British Columbia, a wide and rapid stream.
So complete is the protection the goat finds in broken rocks and precipices, that they are practically out of danger from any animal approaching from below, except bear, which frequently lie in wait for them and occasionally capture an unwary individual. The eagles take a very heavy toll from the young goat in the spring.
The difficulty of reaching the mountain tops is, of course, a protection against man, but the conspicuous color and the slow movements of the animal make it a comparatively easy victim when once reached by hard climbing.
WATER SUPPLY.
The question of water supply on the mountains inhabited by goat has a most important bearing on the distribution of the animal. In a large portion of the southern range of the goat, little or no water is found from August to October, except what is furnished by such snow fields as persist throughout the year. All other animals can, during the dry season, venture down to the valleys and cañons for water, but the goat seldom leaves the rocks, even for water, relying on the snow of the mountain tops.
This fact alone, I believe, is sufficient to account for the absence of the goat, so often commented on by hunters, in many portions of its range, where other conditions appear to be entirely suitable. In southern British Columbia the great river valleys, such as those of the Kootenay, the Columbia and the Beaver, run almost north and south, and prevent communication from east to west between the goat inhabiting the adjacent mountains, while these same valleys offer no difficulties to the crossing of sheep and other large animals. Farther north in the Stickine country wide valleys are sometimes crossed.
The presence or absence of water on the higher ridges, taken together with the fact that the goat is not a very restless or migratory animal, accounts for many of the anomalies that are observed in its distribution. It is probable that in the course of its life the goat ranges over a smaller territory than any other of our game animals and unless seriously disturbed does not venture far from its native haunts as long as the food supply lasts. They can usually be found day after day on the same spot and goat have been watched, through glasses, which apparently scarcely moved for days at a time. Of course, in such a spot, food and water must be plentiful, and no danger threatening.