Authorities got a baa-d feeling about a worrisome "goat man" spotted wearing a white fur and scrambling along on his hands and knees trailing the wild goats on a Utah mountain. But the unidentified beastie has contacted a wildlife worker to explain that he's merely preparing for a goat hunt the way he has in the past. The 57-year-old hunter from southern California "gave details that convinced me" he's the man spotted by a photographer, said Phil Douglass, a wildlife resources manager who keeps tabs on the wild goats on Ben Lomond Peak near Ogden. “I’m satisfied that this was a person preparing for a hunt and did it with knowledge and experience.”
The hunter was photographed in his goat suit earlier this month by a hiker, who discussed his find with concerned authorities, reports the Utah Standard-Examiner. When the hunter spotted the photographer, he "slouched down like he was really self-conscious," lensman Coty Creighton told Fox 13 in Salt Lake City. The California man is preparing for a bow-and-arrow goat hunt in Canada next year, he told Douglass. His "goat suit" consists of a white hooded painter's outfit covered with Polarfleece to mimic fur. “Hunters do some amazingly creative things to be successful,” noted Douglass. (More wild goats stories.)