Hi!

I am going to New Zealand one of these day to visit some family, and I was thinking of doing some goatpopping!. What caliber could actually
"blow up" a goat, like a 22-250 does on prairiedogs?.

Try a .300 Magnum driving a 130 gr projectile.

Nothing will blow them up like a rabbit however.

The closest I have come is shooting a 150 gr HP into the back of a nanny's head from behind at 25 metres where her head exploded like a grenade and bits even landed behind me and in a radius from the goat. Quite spectacular.

Goats are not constructed like rabbits and prairiedogs - they are more like a small cow , so they dont really "blow-up" at all . Having said that- baby goats do spread over a fair bit of country sometimes...

I imagine super-velocity magnums with the correct bullet would have an explosive effect on an area of the target animal , but could just as easily blow a surface wound without actual penetration .

Personally I think goats deserve better than being regarded as a blow-up target.

like NitroX,Muzza said goats don't really blow up,i shoot a few goats with 7mmremmag with 115grHP head and neck shots do blow up abit.12ga slugs or 375H&H will give you the biggest exit holes if that is the sort thing you are after.

What about a .223, using 55 grain soft point ammo?

300Weatherby Mag with 110 grain

Cheers

20 mm cannon if you can carry one .

How about my 6.5x55?
Also is the 303 british still common over there?

The 222 Rem has accounted for countless numbers of goats.
I've used it, with neck shots it's deadly. It's easy to shoot and the lack of recoil helps when you get into a mob. With the "triple" it's bang, bang, bang, down they go. With the relatively quiet blast I found that at times goats wanted to know what made the noise and would come to find out.
Top Predator, do they show such curiosity when the 375 is used?
I would prefer to carry 50 rounds of 222 than 50 rounds of 375 when out goat shooting.
I suppose with the assendancy of the 223, if you haven't a 222, it is today, a better choice.

Poor Goats. Try blowing sheep. Some austarlians told me this was fun.

375H&H was a one off a mate from Canada was out here and he wanted to use his 375,its no louder than 7mm mag.If you can get above them and shoot down on them and they can not see where you are firing from they do not know where to run too and shoot the the bigger ones first the little ones don't know what to do.

Well put Oldun .
I am hpefully getting a .223 in a months time.
The less disturbance, the better.

I started my goat hunting in the Flinders Ranges with a .222 and 55 gr Nosler Solid Base projectiles.

While it was fine for 95% of goats one still needed to be careful with the shots and placement. I found I had to follow-up too many wounded goats and too many 'got away' to die. Following up in Summer heat with limited water is not fun if you don't have to. Remember the goats then were in plague proportions and the property owners wanted lots of them shot so it wasn't precision spot and stalk on specific animals. Used to got through several magazines in a mob/herd.

I believe I shot one of the few better billies I saw on this property well in the chest. It ran off into rough timbered country with lots of gullies. Never found it.

Another time the best billy we ever saw was a good distance away and my mate shot at it with a .22/250. Missed it and it got away. A better calibre would have been more effective. I got a shot off myself but it was after sliding down the scree and running up the opposite slope. I was winded and missed the running goat as well. Tried to ambush it by waiting for it to appear on a river bed below but he outsmarted us. I told my mate I had got it which upset him greatly until I told him the truth.

The Northern Flinders really didn't produce good long horns. Two mates managed this property and they too never saw anything decent come off it over several years. Makes missing out on a couple better ones that bit more disappointing.

I moved up to a .30-06 and rarely, even poorly shot goats went more than a few metres. I had great fun once on the side of a mountain picking off a fleeing mob of goats that were running on a narrow ledge away, one by one. I estimated the distance at about 400 metres and didn't miss much. Used a day pack as a steady rest. One by one they were hit hard and tumbled off the cliff. Until I gutshot one and it too fell and bleated away at the bottom of the cliff. Would you know I couldn't hit the bugger and had to climb down the mountainside to finish it off.

I liked the extra authority of a 150 gr Nosler Solid Base HP and it worked very well. IMO a .22 centrefire is a bit marginal but will do the job if nothing else is available.

Nitrox,
One of the reasons why the 222 was much used here in NZ was it was one of the two Forest Service standard calibres, which were the 222 and the 270.
It's much easier to carry a hundred 222 than a hundred 270.
Deer Cullers were usualy pretty good shots.

I'm Pink therefore I'm Spam.

I have been using the .223 with great success, I load up 55gr Hornady Spire points in front of 25gr of AR2206.
Extremely accurate groups, have taken goats out to 350yds although it is not ideal, anything up to 250yds are no problems at all

30/378wby and 125gn bt, bye bye goat.


cheers cc