Larter, N.C. 2004. Mountain Goat Survey Flat River Area, Western Mackenzie Mountains. 15 pp 

ABSTRACT

We conducted an aerial survey for mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) along the Flat River, western Mackenzie Mountains in September 2004 to document goat numbers and distribution.  Goats were classified from the air into four sex/age classes: kids, yearlings, nannies, and billies.  We used a handheld global positioning system to track the survey flight paths and record the locations of all wildlife seen.   We had planned to survey three areas in the vicinity of the Flat River, north of Seaplane Lake, covering a total area of ca. 1000 km².  Unfortunately, inclement weather limited the survey to an area of mountains (ca. 400 km²) on the western side of the Flat River valley and to areas mostly below 2000 m elevation because of snow cover. We observed 90 mountain goat, 31 billies, 28 nannies, 20 kids and 7 yearlings; 4 goats were unclassified.  We estimated 71.4 kids/100 nannies, 25.0 yearlings/100 nannies, and 111 billies/100 nannies.  Other wildlife observed during the survey included 2 Dall’s sheep (Ovis dalli), and 20 moose (Alces alces gigas).