I am writing regarding the concerns the FWP has with “Why mountain goats are not doing as well as they once did in the Bitterroot Mountains.” I totally agree that the numbers have fallen drastically, as have the permits. I remember a time it wasn’t too hard to draw a permit and was even easier to take a mountain goat, as was the case with my wife, my daughter and myself. Also, going back to the 1950s and 60s, one could drive a short distance west of Hamilton and view a substantial amount of mountain goats in the Blodgett Canyon Cliffs. During that time we saw very few Golden Eagles unlike what we see today.
There is no question Eagles do build their nests in the cliffs at the same time the Mountain Goats are having their young, in the cliffs. It’s been my experience from raising pigeons as a youth that raptors will always take the whitest bird in the flock. Maybe that’s the case with eagles being attracted to baby white mountain goats. If anyone thinks an eagle is not capable of taking a newborn mountain goat, I strongly urge you to go to YouTube, click video: eagle versus mountain goat, and see what all they are capable of killing.
It’s not man, it’s not climate change, it’s as one biologist stated years ago: “Eagles are wolves in the sky.” Solution to the problem? With so much focus on the protection of predators? There is none!
Larry Rose
Darby