In a mountainous country it is perfectly easy to say where goat are to
be found, if there are any in the neighborhood. They descend, of course,
into the upper limits of the forests, but always keep near to cliffs
to which they can retire when attacked. Sometimes swim rivers and have
been killed while crossing the Stickine far into the forests. Salt-licks
have been found in the hillsides, where great holes have been eaten out
by these animals. The trails which lead to some of the licks in British
Columbia are worn so deeply as to resemble buffalo trails. Goat pass
through the forests and lower slopes of the mountains in moving from one
locality to another, but this of course, is exceptional. They sometimes
swim rivers and have been killed while crossing the Stickine River in
British Columbia, a wide and rapid stream.
So complete is the protection the goat finds in broken rocks and
precipices, that they are practically out of danger from any animal
approaching from below, except bear, which frequently lie in wait for
them and occasionally capture an unwary individual. The eagles take a
very heavy toll from the young goat in the spring.
The difficulty of reaching the mountain tops is, of course, a protection
against man, but the conspicuous color and the slow movements of the
animal make it a comparatively easy victim when once reached by hard
climbing.
WATER SUPPLY.
The question of water supply on the mountains inhabited by goat has a
most important bearing on the distribution of the animal. In a large
portion of the southern range of the goat, little or no water is found
from August to October, except what is furnished by such snow fields
as persist throughout the year. All other animals can, during the dry
season, venture down to the valleys and cañons for water, but the goat
seldom leaves the rocks, even for water, relying on the snow of the
mountain tops.
This fact alone, I believe, is sufficient to account for the absence
of the goat, so often commented on by hunters, in many portions of its
range, where other conditions appear to be entirely suitable. In southern
British Columbia the great river valleys, such as those of the Kootenay,
the Columbia and the Beaver, run almost north and south, and prevent
communication from east to west between the goat inhabiting the adjacent
mountains, while these same valleys offer no difficulties to the crossing
of sheep and other large animals. Farther north in the Stickine country
wide valleys are sometimes crossed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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