I read a post about roe deer in which feral goat hunting is mentioned. In Brasil, where I live,hunting is almost forbidden. Only when animals like wildboars and alligators started growing overpopulation and developing a marked preference for domestic stock and dogs, limited hunting was allowed. Same thing for waterbuffalo, except for eating behaviour, of course. Now, our laws intend to 'protect' our native fauna, nevertheless soy, sugarcane and coffee intensive planting wipes fauna out a billion times more efficiently than a full army of hunters working in a full time basis.
Well, to the goats. They are not protected by law. In some abandoned farms they went back to wilderness, a savana kind of landscape. We hunt them, looking for big antlered pieces.It is quite fun, and not an easy item, they are weary and many times we come back emptyhanded.
Does something alike happens elsewhere?

Australia, New Zealand. Goats been brought in long ago as food for settler, turned loose or escaped, made a good living off the South Pacific vegetation, and are being a real nuisance in some areas.

Frans

We have feral goats in certain areas of the UK. Stalking is apparently varied as some are really not that challenging. However I believe in certain parts of Scotland it is supposed to be quite good and I intend going after one myself later in the year..

When in Nz a couple of years ago I shot a bunch of feral goats and sheep when helping the manager of a forest estate. I grew bored after the first day as they were now where near challenging! They were very close to stupid.... I hunted with a single shot T/C TCR and managed every time to shot several eventhough my "slow" reloading rate. Some of the "stinkers" - old billys were qiute aware of what were going on around them but nothing like a truly wild animal.

Cheers
K9

I've hunted goats here and if you come across a mob that has been hunted hard before they can be quite a challenge.

Bakes

I have taken a few as incidentals on Texas hunts. They were free ranging and every bit as wild as the whitetail deer on the ranches. Probably a lot tougher to put down also.

Yes I have hunted feral goats many times. We have many hundreds of thousands in Australia.

Farmers used to want them exterminated and hundreds could be shot on a weeks hunt, but now they have economic value being rounded up and sold to the Middle East. Still can hunt just a few on a lot of properties which I prefer anyway.

The meat is similar to mutton. Trophies include skins which can include lovely Angora skins plus long wide horns.

Used .222s, 6.5x55, .308, .30-06, 7.62x39 and .375. .30-06 is my favourite.

Good fun.

There tend to be quite a few "feral" goats in West Texas also. There doesn't seem to be a problem keeping them under control, since nobody will pass up free meat and they are easier to hunt than some of the other "feral" fauna running amok.

I shot feral goats in a macadamia nut orchard in Hawaii. A big one weighs about 160 lbs., or about 75 kg. Average is 120 lb./55 kg. Goats that have been hunted with loud rifles won't let you near, so the owner had me use a 22 Magnum. He has used one for years so his feral goats are almost tame--my shots were 30, 60 and 150m. The hunt was easy, but the shot had to be just right due to the tiny bullet. I won't hunt them again unless I could use something like a 30-30, 250-3000 or a 7x57. They would be just about ideal, except for the noise. Okie John.

Here in Argentina hunting feral goats was a tough game. You must first climb the Tres Picos and then walk many miles. By the way the Tres Picos is 1.500 meters high. Trophy billys were wilder than wolves and shooting them was often dangerous work due to venomous snakes, loose stones and the very mountain.
Don�t know, too much hunting pressure and pests should have decimated these animals now.

Like NitroX said, feral goats in Australia are fairly plentiful, and we used to 'bomb them up' ie shoot whole herds to help keep the numbers down on both and our neighbours' properties. Nowadays, 'though, they're worth money, so we only shoot for meat, good looking skins or good horns. You soon learn that an old billy's skin still stinks (we call them 'stinkers' for that reason, and will result in an indefensible divorce action if kept inside the house! If they've been under a lot of hunting pressure, or in mountainous country, they can be a real challenge, but if not, as on our place, you can walk to within 20 yards and not spook them too much. Last time I took my son out to get some meat, we ended up in the middle of a herd of 15 goats, and spent the morning yarning and skipping stones across one of the dams - the goats simply looked on in bored amazement. You can't shoot 'em under those conditions, almost like pets!

Hunt ? I think "shooting" is a more applicable word to use in most Australian situations.
Hunting goats in some parts of Asutralia is a valid term, such as in the Mountains
and South Asutralia but from what I've seen and done on Stations, it's mostly finding
a mob of goats and shooting as many as possible - and then of course spening a few hours
taking the meat off.
However as has been said, now they are worth money the farmers sell them to live export.
500 Nitro

Just waiting for the weather to fine up then...
... more goats to shoot.

Shot 126 in 3 days a couple of weeks ago. My Sako .222 was the medicine.

They are a pest here. Although at the moment they a worth around $18-25 alive if you can muster them.

Me... I kill them where they stand,lay,eat,sleep.

I hunted them in the mountains in NSW a number of years ago. It seemed like I could spot them on one hillside, make a wide detour to get close .... when I got there they were looking at me from the next hill over! I loved chaseing them and found them very challengeing in that terrain.

There isnt much more cunning than a goat that has been hunted before . Specially in the scrubby rubbish they like to live in in New Zealand.Sure , you can snipe them at great distance , but getting in close is more challenging and makes it all worthwhile.

Cunning ? They are bloody stupid Not a bad animal for young hunters to start with.