# What the effect of goats on deer?



## ROBOWADER (May 22, 2004)

Where I hunt; south of Ozona, the landowner raises goats; they are everywhere. However, when hunting I cannot recall ever seeing deer while the goats were around. 

The goats just migrate around the property and may show up just like a cow would out in front of you. But there are 40 of them.......
Sometimes they hang out for a long time; should I try to scare them off if they show up and loiter my hunting area??????

What do ya think?


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## drred4 (Aug 12, 2005)

Personally, I never liked goats around my hunting area. Our landowner has them too. Ever since I have been hunting inthe Hill country when they have showed up the deer get a little nervous and leave. I have seen older bucks ignore them as long as they were in the feed pen. I f they are moving along I let them mosey away, if they think about staying around, I start chunking rocks to scare them off. 

Next they compete with deer for food. They are browse animals as deer are, so they will compete for food. If you get too many goats they will definitely hurt you deer population and size(both antler and body).


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## redfish bayrat (Feb 17, 2006)

Does the property have a brows line? That is the area the goats have eaten. If so, it will be higher than the deer can reach. Goats and deer are in direct competition for browse. This was one of the reasons for the small size of hill country deer 25 years ago. They were not getting enough groceries.


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

9 out of 10 deer I have surveyed say they stink... I shot the other one and he had no comment.


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## TOP FLIGHT (Jun 10, 2005)

Pain in the arse is what they are. We have them too. Sure you know that you need a feed pen.


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## jtburf (May 26, 2004)

Any critter that has a strong odor (Pigs, Goats and some exotic deer) can will and do take away one of the most important safety senses a whitetail has ... 

It's ablity to smell Pray/Danger...


John


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## Salty Dog (Jan 29, 2005)

I hunted a ranch out south of Ozona for a number of years and we had to put up with them too. The ranch we were on would rotate them thru the pastures and generally would have them all in 1 or 2 pastures at a time. What i noticed is that whatever pastures they were in at the time you would not see many deer. Not like on the pastures they were not in. And if the feeder went off and a big group ran up there the deer would leave.


One tip regarding goats and feed pens, we used cattle panels and t posts to build our feed pens. If you go that route buy the panels that have smaller holes, the goats will try to get into the feed pen and will end up with their horns hung up in the feed pen if you use the panels with the large holes. Nothing like going to your stand and catching a whiff of something rotten only to find a dead goat hung up in your feed pen. Doesn't help your hunting much.


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## anchor-boy (Aug 11, 2005)

Paint-Ball Gun..!! Get's them on there way.


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## SSMike (Aug 15, 2005)

high power pellet gun....


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## SuperD (Dec 7, 2005)

Cabreta.


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## mudcatz71 (Jun 8, 2006)

slingshot


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