Culling Olympic Natl Park Mountain Goats - Fit sharpshooters needed

[Boss]

This does NOT look like a simple 'walk in the park' ...extended hiking in steep terrain, long range shots, etc. They're going to be pretty selective.

Politics aside, you're look ing for a challenge, this probably fits the bill.

Mountain Goat Management - Removal - Olympic National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Boss

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[bbbass]

Let the "non-native" wolves they introduced eat them... problem solved.

 

[2A2Dend]

No employees within the system?
Interesting.
Must pass BGC
Must take a one day class for each session.
Your time and all used is free?
Helicopters are advantageous.

 

[41mag]

Geeze, it was looking good past the 'fit sharpshooter' bit...but then came the 'supply own non-lead ammunition'...the final deal breaker....

 

[User 1234]

My Red Ryder lever action uses non-lead ammunition, so I'm golden.

 

[2A2Dend]

Tell them supply the necessary ammo.

 

[elitejake]

Have a friend who volunteered for the goat removal last year. It was done with helicopters and nets and trucks. I figure they need them gone they could spot them for the shooters. Knowing the range they will be shooting at. And the hike to get there.

 

[2506]

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2020-02-26/grand-teton-36-mountain-goats-killed-in-helicopter-shooting

Someone read the fine print..."hike 15 miles a day with a 50lbs pack"

 

[No_Regerts]

Tell them supply the necessary ammo.

They could supply my components, but I wouldn't slum .gov ammo.

 

[2A2Dend]

I wouldn't give them the time of day. Let nature take it's course.

 

[Boss]

Someone read the fine print..."hike 15 miles a day with a 50lbs pack"

That would be the 'fit,' ie. in good shape, part of the thread title...

Boss

 

[User 1234]

I can hike 50 feet a day with a 15 pound pack. I'll apply for a waiver.

 

[bbbass]

I can hike 50 feet a day with a 15 pound pack. I'll apply for a waiver.

I can hike .5 feet a day with a 1.5lb daypack... I'd like this opportunity to be scalable so that us physically challenged but fit mind people can participate.

 

[P7M13]

Anyone want to join a team with me? Need at least two others...
I have all the gear needed for prolly two people, plus GMRS and UHF radios.
I will need to up my conditioning, but I do not see that as an obstacle.
Please PM me if interested.

[edit to add] : the listing for the copper / non-lead bullets and ammunition is impressive. A good resource....

 

[Boss]

15 miles w/ a 50# pack in that type of terrain, likely 'off trail' in the Olympics, perhaps multiple times, is not to be dismissed casually...there was a time where it would have been well within my capabilities...I'm not in terrible shape, but it would take some dedicated work for me to get back there. I wouldn't be surprised if they're pretty selective...the article in the paper had a bit where the NPS doesn't want this to turn into rescue missions for folks that get in over their heads.

Boss

 

[whiskeybill]

So I'm going to "Volunteer", and have these people that can't take care of their own problem make sure I'm "qualified" to carry out their jobs? This just get's stranger every day. I am of the opinion that the current NPS / FS personnel are not the rough edged outdoorsmen of years past. I recall seeing old photographs of Park Service rangers when they put those goats in the Olympics. They packed them in by mule in specially built panniers in the days long before helicopters. How and where they caught them to transplant had to have been equally arduous.

Bill

 

[Dungannon]

Did two long hikes in the Olympics in my 20's with a 60# pack. Two interactions up close with the goats.

First hike with a brother and cousin was the Bailey Range traverse, north to south. We were near timberline and the trees were short. Short enough for the goats to chomp on our sweat soaked backpack straps before we could get out of sleeping bags and chase them off. Second time, the packs were under/next to our heads. A goat ate the crotch out of my cousins short pants that were laying on a rock. Fortunately, he had a spare. His griping was drowned out by our laughing.

We met a couple doing the traverse south to north; they'd only met one other party in the previous week. 2-3 days later we caught up with that group. But it was one guy and some kids, sitting next to the 'trail' above a steep grassy slope. One kid didn't cinched his sleeping bag straps tight, and it had dropped off and disappeared down slope. They were waiting for the other adult and kid to find it and hike back up. I told him we had met a couple going the other way that described their group as 'two adults and a bunch of retarded kids'. The guy laughed and said he and his friend took their church Junior High boys hiking in the Olympics each year, and 'yes, kids this age do act retarded.'

A few years later I did a week-long solo hike, doing a loop route out of Dosewallips: up the Gray Wolf drainage to Deer Park then over to Obstruction Point on High Divide trail, then over to the Cameron Basin over Grand Pass and Cameron Pass, and eventually back to my truck at the Dosewallips Ranger Station. High Divide trail reminded me of the "balds" in western North Carolina where you're just above the treeline with slopes to either side gently falling away into the haze. With the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the north, Puget Sound to the east, and the rest of the Olympic Range to the south, it felt like I was standing on a hill at the top of the world, with the whole earth below my feet. It was so cool that I stayed there for awhile, until I could see hikers in the distance, just to soak in that feeling.

As a result, I ended up reaching Obstruction Point in the evening. As I looked around for a good camp spot, I noticed bear paw prints in the mud. Walked back to the trailhead and left my backpack in the portapotty before laying out my sleeping bag in the back of a hay-filled pickup. In the middle of the night, I woke to warm breath in my face. About ripped my sleeping bag in two with my bare hands, trying to get out to fight off a bear. But it was some elk that had picked up the scent of hay. The elk did take a step back with all my yelling and waited for me to clear out before moving back in for breakfast. I had so much adrenaline flowing there was no point trying to get back to sleep, so I packed up and head up the trail to Cameron Basin in the dark. Good times.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I can hike 50 feet a day with a 15 pound pack. I'll apply for a waiver.

You can dole out the McDonalds lunch to the crew...

 

[Caveman Jim]

I can hike .5 feet a day with a 1.5lb daypack... I'd like this opportunity to be scalable so that us physically challenged but fit mind people can participate.

So if one does not meet the requirements then the state is discriminating against the handicapped....

 

[Caveman Jim]

So I'm going to "Volunteer", and have these people that can't take care of their own problem make sure I'm "qualified" to carry out their jobs? This just get's stranger every day. I am of the opinion that the current NPS / FS personnel are not the rough edged outdoorsmen of years past. I recall seeing old photographs of Park Service rangers when they put those goats in the Olympics. They packed them in by mule in specially built panniers in the days long before helicopters. How and where they caught them to transplant had to have been equally arduous.

Bill

Well it's pretty obvious that this project to remove the offending goats is out of funds, typical of Washington states mismanagement.