WEIGHT AND SIZE.
The strength of the goat is enormous and while its weight is far greater than one would at first suppose, it is a matter about which we have little definite information. An average specimen from the Cascade Mountains appears to weigh about 150 pounds. A six-year-old goat killed near Skagway, Alaska, showed an actual weight of 329 pounds. A much smaller animal killed at the same time and probably a female, weighed 250 pounds. Large goat from the main Rockies, in British Columbia and Schesley Mountains, have been estimated to weigh as high as 350 and 400 pounds. Mr. Baillie-Grohman publishes an account of a full grown male goat captured near Deerlodge, Montana, which was weighed after its capture and “was found to turn the scales at 480 pounds!” This, however, must be an error.
The size of the goat is emphasized by the long and shaggy coat, which at the shoulders rises in a hump. This, taken in connection with the low-carried head, gives the animal the appearance of a pigmy bison. Careful measurements of goat are hard to obtain, but authentic figures which were taken by Mr. Stone, of four goat killed in August, 1902, in the Schesley Mountains, British Columbia, are to be found at the end of this article.
HORNS.[B]
[B] Measurements of horns are given at the end of this paper.
The horns of the female are slightly longer and much more slender than those of the male. A little over eleven inches appears to be the extreme limit of horns for the male. The longest horns known are from British Columbia, attaining a length of something over ten inches up to an extreme measurement of eleven and one-half, which appears to be the record. The horns from the Bitter Root Mountains average at least an inch shorter, as do those from the coast ranges in the United States. Any horn measuring over nine inches is to be considered of good size and anything over ten inches is very exceptional. All measurements of horns and antlers are subject to considerable variation, owing to the material of the tape and zeal of the man holding it and this must be taken into consideration in the measurements of record horns. In the measurement of the basal girth of sheep horns a variation of as much as an inch has been found to occur in the recorded size of the same horn taken by different persons, all quite conscientious in their efforts to be accurate.
PROTECTION.
The mountain goat has probably a better chance of survival in a wild state than any other American game animal, except possibly the Virginia deer. It is protected even from man by the extreme ruggedness of its mountain habitat and although it will probably be exterminated in certain localities, if given a moderate amount of protection it can hold its own throughout most of its range. Its history will probably be like that of the chamois in Europe, as the country grows more populated.