OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST — A Shelton man’s encounter with an aggressive mountain goat in Mason County on Tuesday was the first such run-in in the Olympic Mountains since a mountain goat killed a Port Angeles man near Hurricane Ridge in October, Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest officials said.
Jim Decker of Shelton was hiking on the Mount Rose trail near Lake Cushman on Tuesday evening when he became separated from his wife, Cindy Brewer, and set off to look for her, he said Thursday.
He encountered a mountain goat that stalked him persistently in behavior similar to that of a 300-pound mountain goat that killed Bob Boardman on the Switchback Trail near the crest of Klahhanie Ridge 15 miles south of Port Angeles on Oct. 16.
The mountain goat that punctured an artery in Boardman’s leg with its horns was shot by rangers soon after the goring.
Boardman bled to death. He was 63.
Other hikers said Boardman — a respected community musician, nurse and diabetes educator — died a hero: He positioned himself between the mountain goat and others.
Boardman’s fatal encounter with the mountain goat entered Decker’s mind Tuesday.
On his way down the Mount Rose trail, Decker turned a switchback and came face to face with a white-coated mountain goat, which he estimated to be about 200 pounds.
“I’ve seen them 100 times before,” Decker said. “I decided to get off the trail and let it go by.”
But this mountain goat acted differently than others had, Decker said.
After he cut a series of switchbacks to avoid the growling animal, it suddenly appeared right in front of him.
“I’m going, ‘How did he do that?’” Decker said.
“Pretty soon, he was getting more and more aggressive.”
Decker left the trail and came face to face with the mountain goat again in a clearing.
Decker had to sidestep the mountain goat several times from the relative safety of a small tree.
“It missed me by 6 inches once,” Decker said.
Decker had come prepared with pepper spray and a handgun but had left both items with his wife.
He removed his backpack, drew a 6-inch knife and prepared for the fight of his life.
“I thought, ‘One of us is going to die here, and it’s probably going to be me,’” Decker said.
“At that point, I thought I was dead.
“He definitely wanted to gore me.”
When he had seen the news reports of Boardman’s encounter with a mountain goat, Decker assumed that Boardman had somehow provoked the animal.
“Now, I don’t know if that’s true,” he said.
Decker’s mountain goat, whose horns came up to Decker’s chest, eventually backed off. It apparently detected the scent of another hiker.
Decker encountered two hikers who his wife had sent up to look for him.
He said the mountain goat seemed to lose interest in Decker once he met the other hikers.
Decker’s encounter had not been reported to the Forest Service as of Thursday, said Donna Nemeth, Olympic National Forest spokeswoman.
Nemeth said the Boardman attack was the last incident involving an aggressive mountain goat that Olympic National Forest was aware of.
“After the last aggressive goat encounter that occurred in the park, biologists from Olympic National Forest worked with the Park Service to distribute fliers and signs that share common language,” Nemeth said.
“It talked about goat behavior and how to determine if a goat is showing aggressive behavior and what you should do about it.
“They were not specifically posted at Mount Rose,” Nemeth said, “but efforts are under way now to get those signs hung up in the area.”
Experts advise hikers to leave mountain goats alone, saying it is rare for the animals to come near a human.
Olympic National Forest Wildlife Biologist Susan Piper had told Nemeth that the only known aggressive mountain goat encounter in the national forest happened in 1999.
Mike Stoican of Allyn said he was gored by a mountain goat near the summit of Mount Ellinor in 1999.
“That was the only other one that I had heard of,” Nemeth said.
Olympic National Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said there have been no reports of aggressive mountain goats in the park this year.
“We’ve only had a couple sightings of goats at all, and they were far away from the people who reported that they’ve seen them,” Maynes said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
