# Mtn goat in weber canyon



## utaharcheryhunter (Jul 13, 2009)

So I might be called crazy, but I just drove through weber canyon and saw a mtn. Goat trying to cross the road from the north side going south. No lie, it was straight across from the rest stop on the north side. and I thought it was going to bust through onto the road, as I was passing the goat, it scurried up the hill.. I am trying to turn around to go take a pic.. Anyone else driving through that canyon see it? Its way off base..


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Its looking for selenium deposits by the road. :what:


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

I've seen a few up there... Never on the road though. :shock:


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

swbuckmaster said:


> Its looking for selenium deposits by the road. :what:


Try to keep up, you don't find selenium deposits by the road. Though wet springs will cause mountain goats to drop to lower elevations, and radiate out from their current locations, in search of mineral licks, and yes selenium.

It is Sodium chloride, and magnesium chloride, that animals seek out along the roads. At spring green up, the plants are high in potassium, animals are driven to seek out sodium, to balance out the high potassium levels. This is why deer seek out salt licks in the spring and summer. Basic road salts contain sodium. During wet growing conditions, and in acidic soils, magnesium levels can be lowered in plants, causing animals to seek out magnesium sources, such as magnesium chloride, in road deicer.(the liquid spay) Magnesium is the number three ingredient in deer, moose, and elk antler. Magnesium is used by ungulates to metabolize carbohydrates into energy. A lack of magnesium in late summer, can cause deer to succumb to die offs, or to go into fall unable to increase their weight, and fat reserves for winter. This can have detrimental affects for the health of does, and affect their estrus cycle, thereby disrupting the rut.

Here is a graph that demonstrates the differences in these elements, based on their atomic weight. I think they cover this in about the sixth grade.


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## riptheirlips (Jun 30, 2008)

That is what kept me from passing the 6th grade the first time.


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

riptheirlips said:


> That is what kept me from passing the 6th grade the first time.


I might have attended more of the sixth grade, if I knew I was actually going to use some of this stuff. I spent most of my sixth grade winter, working a trap line, rather than attending class. The fishing was pretty good that spring too. :grin:


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

utaharcheryhunter said:


> So I might be called crazy, but I just drove through weber canyon and saw a mtn. Goat trying to cross the road from the north side going south. No lie, it was straight across from the rest stop on the north side. and I thought it was going to bust through onto the road, as I was passing the goat, it scurried up the hill.. I am trying to turn around to go take a pic.. Anyone else driving through that canyon see it? Its way off base..


Thanks for posting this. The Willard goats have been expanding since at least 2004. They can now be found from the Wellsville mountains, to Weber canyon. There have probably been some that have already crossed the road, and gone South of there. They really started to expand, and occupy lower elevations in 2008, with the onset of those unseasonably wet springs we had.

If you look at the mountain goat management plan's, population trend graph, you will see this play out as a dip in the population in 2008. what looked like a population decline, was actually goats dropping to lower elevations, and spreading out.

Seeing a goat in Weber canyon trying to cross the road, is like clock work, now that I am looking closer. I just checked my calander, and the rain storm I worried the most about this spring, was on May 17 and 18. This storm was heavy and sustained, and had the potential to really change the mineral uptake of plants, and lower soil ph. Unlike deer, and bighorn sheep that respond to changes in selenium uptake and deficiency in 24 hours, goats do not respond for 30 days. This is because they are adapted to live in very selenium deficient enviroments.


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

swbuckmaster said:


> Its looking for selenium deposits by the road. :what:


Selenium has a huge affect on antler growth. You look much more heterosexual, packing out large antlers grown by selenium adequate bucks and bulls.


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## riptheirlips (Jun 30, 2008)

I am in the mountains south of the freeway going up Weber canyon quite frequently. I will have to keep an eye out for a mtn goat. Usually just see snakes.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Last spring there were two between the mouth of Logan Canyon and Blacksmith Fork Canyon- saw them many times


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I frequently saw mountain goats up Weber Canyon back in the early 90's when I was fishing up there daily. I believe they have been there for some time now.


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## crimson obsession (Sep 7, 2008)

I ran into a guy a few years back that swears up and down he seen one on the back side of bountiful peak. Said he watched it for dang near an hour to make sure that's what it was.


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

Packfish said:


> Last spring there were two between the mouth of Logan Canyon and Blacksmith Fork Canyon- saw them many times


That is very cool, and certainly not where I would expect them to show up. That is the same place those bighorns showed up back in ~2006. Does anybody else remember those?


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

Fowlmouth said:


> I frequently saw mountain goats up Weber Canyon back in the early 90's when I was fishing up there daily. I believe they have been there for some time now.


The Willard goats were initially transplanted in '94, and there were only a few. It would be interesting to know where the goats you saw, came from. If they came from further South, that is very interesting.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

I remember the rams also. I have a buddy who took cell phones pictures of the goats- I talk to him and see if he still has them.


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