After a hiker spotted the so-called goat man on
July 15 in the mountains above Ogden, about 40 miles north of Salt
Lake City, wildlife officials said they wanted to talk to the
person to be certain he was aware of the dangers as hunting season
approaches.
They speculated he might have been an extreme wildlife
enthusiast who just wanted to get as close as possible to the
goats. A few days after the spotting, state wildlife authorities
received an anonymous call from an "agitated man" who simply said,
"Leave goat man alone. He's done nothing wrong."
This week, however, the mystery was solved.
Phil Douglass of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said he
received a call Monday from a 57-year-old Southern California
hunter who explained he was merely trying out his goat suit in
preparation for a mountain goat hunt in Canada next year.
"He gave me enough details about the area and the situation that
it made me feel confident this was him," Douglass said Tuesday.
"In talking to him, I felt he was very knowledgeable, a very
experienced hunter. He's hunted internationally," Douglass added.
"My concern all along was that this person needed to understand the
risks, and certainly after talking to him, I felt he was doing the
best he could to understand and mitigate those risks ... He was
simply preparing for a hunt."
The man did not identify himself, Douglass said, noting the
hunter was concerned for his safety after widespread media coverage
of the sighting, first reported by the Standard-Examiner of
Ogden.
Coty Creighton, 33, spotted the goat man July 15 during his
hike. He said he came across a herd, but noticed something odd
about one goat that was trailing behind the rest.
"I thought maybe it was injured," Creighton said last week. "It
just looked odd."
He said he pulled out binoculars to get a closer look at the
goats about 200 yards away and was shocked. The man appeared to be
acting like a goat while wearing a crudely made costume, which had
fake horns and a cloth mask with cut-out eye holes, Creighton
said.
"We were the only ones around for miles," he said. "It was real
creepy."
Douglass said 60 permits will be issued for goat hunting season
in that area, which begins in September, and he had worried the man
in the goat suit might be accidentally shot or could be attacked by
a real goat.
He said the hunter described the goat costume as merely a hooded
painter's uniform and a fleece.
Douglass said wildlife officials encourage archery hunters to
practice their skills and to "get themselves in a position where
they make a clean and humane shot."
"That's exactly what he was doing," Douglass said. "There are
laws that require people to wear hunter orange during rifle hunts,
but people do wear camo during archery hunts."
And while it's not illegal to dress up like the animal you're
trying to kill, Douglass said it's still dangerous.
"It's unwise," he said. "It's just a bad idea all the way around
to do that kind of thing."
