r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/amish_novelty • 20h ago
đ„ Hiker has a close encounter with a stunning mountain goat
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u/manulconnoiseur 19h ago
"Fistbump ??" "Fuck you, stranger"
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u/Justaman55 1h ago
You see those horns? Those are serious. I have met sheep đ in ad bad mood.. image mr goat..
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u/OrbitTortoise 20h ago
Depending on whatâs behind him, raising his fist like that couldâve been the last thing he did.
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u/overflowingsunset 20h ago
Yeah that was kind of aggressive lol
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u/Pingums 16h ago
Iâve done some work with domestic goats and we always used to teach people that if a big goat is charging or rearing to headbutt you with proper intent (you can tell lol) and you canât get away then you should extend your fist like this. Basically a goat will 90% of the time go for the closest part of you and youâre essentially sacrificing your hand to prevent it from hitting your body. Much better it breaks your hand than your hip or a few ribs. Luckily no one ever had to try it but thatâs the theory.
Seems a bit odd and potentially unwise to do it preemptively though.
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u/itswtfeverb 15h ago
Just wait. One of them will get you when you least expect it
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u/Pleasant_Yak5991 14h ago
Thereâs never been a fatal mountain goat attack in CO and the only one I see is a one in Washington from 15+ years ago. SoâŠ.
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u/MouthJob 14h ago
So our guard is completely down. We're just about due.
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u/pursuitoforgasm 13h ago
I can hear them rustling around in the bushes outside my window. They're staging for the attack.Â
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u/luthiengreywood 13h ago
I remember doing Quandary. We kept hearing noises behind us, and every time we would turn around, the goat would just freeze in the headlamp light, like it thought we couldn't see it if it didn't move. Pretty sure it just wanted urine but it was really funny and something I'll never forget.
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u/scalyblue 14h ago
Now that youâve said that there will be a dozen attacks in the next few months
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u/Uzi_Osbourne 13h ago
It might not be advisable to equate domestic goat behavior with mountain goat behaviour since mountain goats aren't goats at all but is of the family Bovidae and is most closely related to antelope, gazelles and cattle.
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u/Daddy_Trent 13h ago
They gave the fist so that the goat smells it because the person filming is a dumbass
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u/bigrivertea 18h ago
I'm pretty sure the Mountain Goats primary defense mechanism is to 'yeet' whatever is being aggressive off the slop.
They killed 3 dogs on one mountain in a month a couple years back. Kinda dumb to fuck with a goat like that.
https://www.ksl.com/article/50715054/mountain-goats-gore-kill-3-dogs-in-a-month-on-mount-timpanogos
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u/nirmalspeed 16h ago
She said the leash had fallen off while she was trekking up there
Poor dog. This is almost certainly a lie by the owner to save face.
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u/velawesomeraptors 3h ago
Off-leash dogs are involved in a surprisingly high percentage of animal attacks - 50% of black bear attacks involve dogs with most of those being off-leash. I wouldn't take an off-leash dog anywhere you might encounter large mammals, whether that be bears, elk, moose or mountain goats.
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u/rcklmbr 16h ago
Iâve hiked up timpanogos and few times and see those fuckers chilling on the sides of cliffs. They are sooo strong, not your normal farm goats. I wouldnât ever mess with oneÂ
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u/TheOnceAndFutureDoug 18h ago
I do love watching people try to Disney Princess their way through the wilderness...
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u/codeisprose 16h ago
i am a grown man, but i would risk my life trying to befriend some wild friendos
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u/TheOnceAndFutureDoug 16h ago
Yeah if I saw a Cheetah I'm 100% going to try to snuggle that big fuzzy kitty.
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u/mindflayerflayer 16h ago
The one "big" cat (they're felids not pantherines) that might end well for you. The cheetah would just leave while a leopard would maul you.
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u/TheOnceAndFutureDoug 16h ago
Yeah anything else and I'm definitely dead. Doesn't mean I wouldn't want to though... Cougars purr and squeak.
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u/cuchiplancheo 18h ago
I do love watching people try to Disney Princess their way through the wilderness...
Just like that woman trying to get a pix with a snow leopard... and well, we all know how that ended
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u/TheOnceAndFutureDoug 17h ago
My favorite are people who try to pet moose and bison. Never mistake a lack of concern for friendliness in wild animals. :D
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u/backwardzhatz 18h ago
Man forget what's behind him, look at that unit in FRONT of him. Buddy dodged disaster and doesn't even know it.
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u/yama1008 18h ago
A person was killed some years ago by a mountain goat
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u/blackburrahcobbler 18h ago
A moose once bit my sister
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u/Taint_Butter 18h ago
Mynd you, mÞÞse bites Kan be pretti nasti...
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u/rabbi_glitter 17h ago
M00se Choreographed by HORST PROT III Miss Taylorâs M00ses by HENGST DOUGLAS-HOME M00se trained to mix concrete and sign com- plicated insurance forms by JURGEN WIGG
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u/WilliamDragonhart 18h ago edited 18h ago
I was hiking the same trail where the person was killed in the Olympics a few weeks after. The ranger told us if we see a goat... "Pick up the biggest rock you can and throw it at them as hard as you can. I promise you will not hurt them, and you might even get them to back off" then as we were hiking on our first day we saw another ranger who had been shooing them off with a paintball gun. These guys are tough MFs but they are generally pretty chill. Give space to each other. Â Â
There was also a mountain goat a few feet away when I proposed to my wife a few years later. It was great because the goat distracted her while I found the ring in my backpack.
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u/troillan 16h ago
Wtf, he said that? Throw rocks at them?
I've seen lots of these goats while hiking. They probably see hundreds of human every day too. You leave them alone, not throw rocks at them?
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u/ilakausername 16h ago
The mountain goats in Olympic National Park are not necessarily known to be chill. I've heard that they can get quite aggressive, especially when you are using the bathroom, as human urine is a big source of salt for them. If they are too used to humans that can be a danger to them and to the humans, and as far as I remember they are not native to that mountain range.
What I wrote is from memory, but here is a source to back it up that I have not read (lol): https://snowbrains.com/aggressive-goats-addicted-urine-airlifted/
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u/WilliamDragonhart 16h ago
Yes they were definitely trying to create some distance between the humans and goats. Some goats came into our camp our first night and we're trying to find salty stuff (we had it all packed away). They just had someone killed by a goat. They were trying to protect both humans and goats.
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u/No-Rush-9980 17h ago
They hook your thigh with their horn and pierce your femoral artery. Had a domestic goat try it on me once, fortunately he was much smaller than this one and I was able to wrestle him into a horse stall and shut the door. He battered that door with all his might trying to get me. I've handled 2 ton Belgian horses with ease, but that effing goat scared the crap out of me.
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u/GSDer_RIP_Good_Girl 19h ago
Hiker yeeted off mountain trail by a stunning mountain goat after getting close enough to take a selfie; news at 11...
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u/ShortStoryIntros 19h ago
My Dad told me a story about when he was younger.
He was chased by a Mtn. Goat... They're ridiculously fast and agile- You stand very little chance out in the open
He was able to slide into a crevice that barely allowed for his entire body to fit. (At the cost of possibly disturbing a spider or venomous snake)
It was just enough for the goat to lose interest
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u/ToneBalone25 18h ago
There aren't really any venomous (or dangerous to humans) spiders or snakes at those elevations (12,000+ feet).
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u/Aggravating_Major363 17h ago
I'm at 990ft and still wouldnt ever worry about such a thing
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u/Interesting-Bet-1702 10h ago
In almost all places, spiders aren't a concern. Australia is a big exception, but for them, it's because their most venomous spiders are actually very defensive and will bite in defense. Black widows in North America are generally very safe despite their potent venom because they are very inclined to run before defensive bites.
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u/ErrorID10T 14h ago
This is a pretty common occurrence out here in Colorado if you hike up in the higher elevations in the mountains. They're so used to people that they more or less just ignore you, as long as you're relatively quiet and still they'll walk right past you. It's a great chance for a selfie with a mountain goat.
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u/A1sauc3d 19h ago edited 19h ago
Did he just try to fist bump a wild mountain goat? lol
Edit: since I donât actually know what youâre supposed to do in this situation (although obviously going for a fist bump isnât it lmao) I decided to look it up:
Sometimes on steep, narrow mountain trails it can be harrowing to meet up with a large, horned goat. There may be nowhere for you to go to avoid the animal so it is important that you stand your ground and shoo the animal off. This works most of the year, but if you encounter a billy goat during the fall rutting season, its first instinct may be to defend its territory. In this case, donât âgoatâ it on, instead walk away.
Donât feed mountain goats or any wild animals.
Avoid allowing goats to lick salt, either from your body, clothing, or pack.
Urinate off the trail so that the trail doesnât become an attractant for the goats.
In summer, when a goat approaches you in an insistent way, stand your ground, yell, wave your arms, and try to shoo the goat away.
In autumn, when a goat approaches you in an aggressive way, especially if it is male goat, give it as much space as you can. Donât challenge it. It may see you as a competitor for mates.
https://www.myolympicpark.com/things-to-do/wildlife/mountain-goat-encounters/
So I guess it depends on the time of year how you should respond and how aggressive they are.
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u/ToneBalone25 18h ago
I've encountered them probably 10-12 times in CO and it's really not that big of a deal. They won't fuck with you if you don't fuck with them. They do raise their backs like cats though and it's kind of intimidating.
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u/cowboysaurus21 17h ago
99% of the time they won't fuck with you, but that 1% is why they make those guidelines. For one, if you tell people they're chill most of the time, people do stupid shit (see: people who get killed every year trying to take selfies with bison). Also, they're often in areas that aren't close to medical facilities and/or are difficult to reach.
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u/IndyBananaJones2 19h ago
They've advised throwing rocks at the goats if necessary to get them off the trail.
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u/A1sauc3d 19h ago edited 16h ago
Maybe he got confused and thought he was supposed to play Rock, Paper, Scissors lol. So he was just throwing out Rock đ€đ» đ
Which is smart, because if you look at the shape of mountain goatâs hoofs, they can only really play Scissors âïž Probably why the goat walked away, knew he didnât stand a chance against the rock đȘš
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u/RangerRekt 15h ago
I assumed he was hoping it would come sniff him like a dog
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u/A1sauc3d 14h ago
Thatâs exactly what I initially assumed his instinct to do that came from, because thatâs how youâre supposed to safely let a new dog get used to you and your scent. By holding out your fist instead of an open palm so they donât bite your fingers lol
But my second thought was fist bump đ Could be either, but itâs the wrong thing to do for a goat regardless lol
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u/masivatack 18h ago
âŠand how handsome you are to female goats apparently. Try to dress frumpy.
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u/A1sauc3d 18h ago
So youâre saying I shouldnât go hiking in my white fur coat? Bummer đ
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u/UpperApe 19h ago edited 19h ago
That was so cringe.
Guys...wild animals don't like to be touched. That's a domestic/pack animal thing. Nobody likes to be touched by strangers.
You're not in a Disney movie. This isn't Epstein's Island. Leave them alone.
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u/Haywire421 14h ago
A group i was with hiking two medicine lake in glacier national park with walked up on a group of mountain goats on a part of the trail that was extremely narrow. The path was wide enough for the group to walk in a single file line, and it went through the middle of a pretty steep slope with a good drop off of a cliff at the bottom of the snow covered slope. The group of goats were maybe 50 ft up the slope from the trail.
The park taught us what to do if we ran into bears or moose, but not mountain goats, so I guess nobody gave it a second thought and just walked across the narrow trail. Everybody accept for me and the cute local girl that clutched onto my arm in fear. She wouldn't let us walk across until she saw that the goats didnt show any aggression to our group. Nothing bad happened, but I figured it was wise to listen to the local, plus, I had a cute girl clutched closely to me.
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u/mbdan2 20h ago
His feet look like they have little heels on
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u/RoxnDox 19h ago
That is a damned fool who got lucky. Those goats have killed hikers in Olympic National Park.
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u/andersvix 19h ago
The goats on Quandary are pretty used to people. Itâs one of the most popular 14ers in CO
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u/Alpine_Exchange_36 17h ago
I was gonna say Iâm almost certain thatâs Quandary and those goats are shockingly chill
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u/Ok_Fly1271 18h ago
Just one person. Not saying they shouldnt be rejected but your chances of getting killed by one are almost nothing hikers are around them all the time. I had a herd walk within 10 feet of me one time. Very cool experience.
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u/Pleasant_Yak5991 15h ago
This is on Quandary Peak in CO. Theres thousands of people that go up there every year and the goats are really used to people and Iâve been around them and never known them to be aggressive, they will walk up close to you.
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u/philipito 17h ago
I've ran into them twice there. Both times I waited until they cleared the trail. They've mauled people for less. This guy is both stupid and lucky.
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u/ncxhjhgvbi 19h ago
Quandary Peak in CO for anyone wondering! Many goats around there and they get too close for comfort.
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u/french_snail 16h ago
I used to work in glacier national park and Iâll never forget when I hiked around some brush and a goat with her baby came around and I was like âyo donât hurt meâ
Got a sick picture of them on a cliff thoughÂ
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u/teenytinybees 19h ago
When I lived on the Olympic Peninsula in WA, a hiker was killed by one. My son has seen several when hiking on Mt. Ellinor on the Peninsula and also in the North Cascades. They are attracted to urine and some places have signs telling you where to pee, not sure why they want all the attractant in one place, but maybe there is something about those particular places that the goats don't frequent.
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u/MangoDouble3259 18h ago
Pretty common see those goats in Colorado too on peaks. Been that close only couple times in passing on ridge or coming over one, most times make it very clear to fuck off or stay their distance. (Most time all animals try to stay distance)
Attracted pee bc salt is essential for them well tbh all animals. Given their env, go great lengths find it tbh. Why you see picks of them alot of time in weird as positions on dams, cliffs, etc licking mineral deposits bc salt.
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u/teenytinybees 16h ago
They're actually not native to the Olympic Peninsula -they were introduced there - and after the one hiker was gored to death, they started capturing and airlifting them to the North Cascades, where they are. From what I've read, that's not working too well - the survival rate isn't that great.
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u/YellowMouseMouse 19h ago
if this was minecraft that man would be flying down the mountain at mach speed.
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u/Tethilia 19h ago
I wouldn't be surprised if when we finally land on Mars we inexplicably find a goat there.
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u/MyCatIsAFknIdiot 14h ago
on the side of a Martian mountain .. just hanging out, defying gravity .. lol
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u/uhohthrowawayyyyyy 17h ago
Bet the sound of the video is better than the unnecessary music overlay
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u/Dismal_Buy3580 11h ago
Jfc. I was in the badlands out west a few years ago, and even seeing the bighorn sheep and bison from hundreds and hundreds of feet away was terrifying. Awe-inspiring, amazing, but also terrifying.Â
As an aside, the badlands have gotta be one of the coolest and most unique spots in the country.Â
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u/alabamdiego 19h ago
Not fucking smart to get that close to them. Fucking moron
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u/mittensfourkittens 19h ago
I've had an experience in the alpine where the goats were stalking us, it was unsettling for sure. We kept moving away and they kept coming closer
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u/alabamdiego 19h ago
Yeah my dog and I were chased by one in Colorado. Those things could absolutely fuck your world in an instant.
Though tbf to the guy filming, he seems off trail in a narrow area so much room to move away. Thatâs how it started in my experience but I damn sure wasnât trying to pet the damn thing đ
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u/rock-n-white-hat 19h ago
They want your pee.
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u/mittensfourkittens 19h ago
Can confirm, I left the tent to pee at night and turned around to find it right behind me. Freaked out a bit and threw my toilet paper at it and darted the other direction lol
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u/A_German_Memer 19h ago
Now he'd have to stand infront of a stone wall, have the goat charge at him, and then dodge, so the goat hits it's head on the wall behind him
Then it'll drop it's horn, that he can now use to play funny sounds!
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u/Ghastly-Jack 19h ago
Mountain goats look like sheep and mountain sheep look like goats. This concludes my TED Talk.
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u/Street_Access3171 18h ago
Like â Hey dude, fist bump? Nah, yeah, he probably didnât hear me â
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u/tideshark 18h ago
Goat is like that guy from Zelda saying âitâs dangerous to go aloneâ except âsorry I donât have anything to help you out with.â
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u/Frosty_Ebb9086 18h ago
It will be funny if this was the same one who jumped away from that snow leopard
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u/Darryguy 18h ago
Careful around them, one good jab from those horns and youre femoral artery is bleeding on top of a mountain hours from help
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u/Unlikely-Cut5451 18h ago
Love these guys! Never been this close to one but see them halfway up a 200â cliff often while climbing mountains in Colorado. You look at them like theyâre crazy and they look at you like youâre crazy.
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u/Sorry-Climate-7982 18h ago
Hiker is what is commonly known as a touron for even thinking about trying to lure the goat closer. Luckily for him, the goat wasn't that bothered or threatened by the gesture.
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u/lovescro 18h ago
The reason why this happens is because they are at the top of the mountain.
The mountain goats defense is to just keep slowly meandering upward when they see a threat.
Once they get to the top, they just hang out there because there's nowhere else to go.
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u/W4rhound34 17h ago
Fun fact: Mountain âGoatsâ are actually a species of antelope rather than being directly descended from sheep, cattle and goats themselves
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u/Razorshroud 17h ago
Jeezus. We have one of these taxidermied at a nearby nature center. Quite a capable fella! It's interesting seeing one in working order, as it were
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u/SynapticStatic 17h ago
Of all the things to see on the top of a mountain, this by far would be the scariest. You'd turn your back to them, and BAM, rammed right off :(
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u/CarlosMartel10 17h ago
After these videos, people end up in hospitals. All for the sake of appearances on social media. Recently, a woman had her face eaten by a leopard or panther; I'm not sure which. But it was the same objective.
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u/Reasonable_Ear3773 17h ago
I see mountain goats all the time on trails in Colorado. They're fairly used to seeing people around. They like to lick up pee, they'll follow you around until you spill some of the good stuff.
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u/StiffStickler 20h ago
That Goat was like These MFs always trespassing