On WaltAbout I have had great success finding bovidae. Year round I have found buffalo (America’s national mammal) and bighorn sheep (Colorado’s state mammal) while I have found goats from May to October. Goats tend to stay at the higher elevations which are not accessible during the winter months so the window to see them is shorter. Goats are not native to Colorado and were introduced to the state from the the late 1940’s until the early 1970’s. Less than a 100 were brought into the state and now there are over 1500. However their proliferation is a doubled edged sword as they compete for food sources with native bighorn sheep and can transmit diseases to them. Sometimes the actions taken by humans can be very disruptive to the balance of nature. My opportunities to see the mountain goats has been exclusively on Mount Evans at elevations above 11,000 feet.

My experiences with bighorn sheep and the buffalo have been much more extensive while on WaltAbout. I have found the bighorns from Waterton Canyon to Mount Evans and the buffalo at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) National Wildlife Refuge and Lookout Mountain in Genesee. Goats, sheep and buffalo are all herbivores that browse or graze for their food but I have noticed very different preferences in their food supplies. The bison are mainly grazers feeding on grassland and straw when penned in. The bighorns are both browser and grazer depending on what habitat they are in dictated by the altitude they are at. The mountain goats will also browse and graze on what little vegetation that is above the tree-line but I have mostly seen them eating moss and lichen. All three of these bovidae are drawn to salt. Most bovids have 30 to 32 teeth and no upper front ones, but a tough, flat pad that they use to graze and chew grass. Most bovids are diurnal. Feeding and doing what they do happens during the daylight with the most activity during dawn and dusk hours. Bovids usually rest before dawn, during midday, and after dark when they will herd up in defensive formations to deter predator’s while sleeping.

The bighorns unlike the goats are native to Colorado and the herds throughout the state are thriving. There are two varieties of bighorns in the state the Rocky Mountain Bighorn and the Desert Bighorn. The Rocky Mountain is found throughout the Rockies and the Desert is found mostly in the southwest portion of the state. The Desert is the smaller of the two sheep breeds weighing about 220 pounds standing about 28-42 inches at the shoulder while the Rocky Mountain comes in at about 300 pounds and stand over 42 inches at the shoulder with much larger racks. My experience while on WaltAbout has been exclusively with the Rocky Mountain.

Female goats called Nannies can be very competitive, protective of their space and food sources. They will fight with one another and the much larger bighorns if they feel threatened, to protect their young and to ensure their food supply. Don’t be fooled by the smaller size of the goats as they are much more aggressive than the sheep. In either case do not approach them and do not get caught up in the herd as neither species like most wildlife tolerates crowding. When in their territory have your head on a swivel as both are very stealthy and can come upon you before you realize it. I would recommend you never take a dog in areas that goats and sheep are known to be in for the safety of you, the dog and the wildlife.

Team Ram Blocking The Road

The buffalo were hunted to near extinction to feed the pioneers during the gold rush and eventually the migration to California. One of the most prolific hunters was none other than the immortal Buffalo Bill (Bison Bill just doesn’t sound right to me), many a day I have been to his burial site at Lookout Mountain on WaltAbout as I was on my way to see the buffalo in Genesee. The park at Genesee is part of the Denver mountain park system which has holdings in other parts of the state. If you head west out of Denver you can often see the Buffalo in the hillsides surrounding the I-70. The best time to spot them is between ten in the morning and noon as they are often fed hay by the caretakers around that time. Never approach buffalo and if you see them at an enclosed area like Lookout Mountain keep back from the fences at least three feet.