Blacktail Deer

[Bear Heart]

This year I hunted in my home area of Ft. Lewis, WA and I have to say that I can't for the life of me figure out these blacktail deer.  Maybe this is just a low success area.  Does anyone understand hunting the Pacific Ghost?

[Sixby]

i've killed a few. I have one that scores 135, one that is 137 plus and one that is 149 7/8. Those are my largest I've killed about 20. All from the ground and all by still hunting. I understand that you have to use the wind, Hunt where deer are and be extremely slow and quiet. I also know for a fact that its getting harder and harder to take a good blacktail buck.

[j yenney]

I've hunted these deer when I was younger and If your going to take one with a bow, the best way nowdays is to hunt them like a whitetail and out of a tree stand, all the articles I read show's the authors and hunters using tree stands. Good luck, and stay dry. That's what I don't miss about hunting western oregon.(the rain)

[d. ward]

Bear Heart did you actuly hunt on the base??? are you stationed there??? High presure area.I,ve lived here in Wa.all my life and hunted blacktail at StHelens until she blew in 1980.I still get down around there maybe a couple times a year.I've not ever killed any bucks like mentioned above believe me.I have taken in over 40 years of bowhunting more then 30 blacktail..I guess...lots of doe's to be truthful.All with bow and arrow and everyone of them spot and stalk.But because of the StHelens gates being almost always locked by Weyerhouser scum bags..I won't get into that one right now.First thought on the blacktail near the base and helens area!!!! I like to call the lower westside..Look closer to you,no joke they are by far the best of the best and can out sneek any critter alive in thick brush.About 90% of the ones I've shot were less then 20 yards and looking at ya!!!!!!! They are masters of woodland camo!!!!There are still plenty of monster blacktail here and Oregon,Ron shot a slammer on the peninsula during rifle season.We have long since moved our early season bowhunting to the east side of the Cascades,near Cle Elum???? Whats pretty cool about that area is they have the Cascade blacktail ??? I believe there is a class for scoreing them now also ??? and reconized by the WDFW as a deer spiecies ???? Now that I heard second hand so not sure!!! But the Cascade Blacktail is yes you guessed it...half and half mama or daddy was mulie and the other was blacktail...Pretty cool looken deer.Walts 3X5 was over 200 lbs.but had blacktail,tail,ears and antlers big gray mulie body.Fun critters to hunt in a bit more open country...bd

[snag]

Doc, we have seen similar bucks in the Cascades down here in Oregon. Big bodied animals with blacktail markings and antlers. They have eluded me thus far. Hope to have a new refinished Blacktail bow to hunt them with this year....lol I much prefer hunting them on the ground. They don't pattern as well as whitetails. Just find where they are and like it has been said go slooow.

[Jager]

Spot light and a truck.....LOL....Im with you Bear. Ive hunted them before and I think you have a better chance of seeing Big Foot and mind you, your hunting in the same area where big foot lives! I would really like to get one though, I hunted the cascades this year for them with little success. Although I did see a nice four point crossing the road, but it was around 7 in the evening. The're fairly nocturnal Ive heard. Theres a guy here in Redmond at the bow shop whos taken quite a few nice ones. He hunts the snow line in the late season. Ive also heard rattling has some success in the late season.

[varmint]

My very first bow deer was a Blacktail in 1987.Stationed at Whidbey Island,Wa.when I was in the Navy.Only got to hunt them for 2 seasons,but it was some of the best hunting memories I have.

Don't have any advise or wisdom for you,sorry,it was a long time ago.I sure do miss the Pacific Northwest tho.......

[d. ward]

Varmint..Whidbey is about over run with people in the last 20 years,but still maintains a good population of blacktails and some really nice bucks.Thats some great hunting on the those islands.Little brushy but what fun..Those Cascade blacktail are also well worth the work if you connect...I,ve seen plenty of book buck cascade blacktail,and even scared heck out of several nice ones....but getting an arrow into one is tough.The country is more open sage brush and such..and I think that gives them a bit more of an edge.bd

[Tree Killer]

Originally posted by Bear Heart:
This year I hunted in my home area of Ft. Lewis, WA and I have to say that I can't for the life of me figure out these blacktail deer.  Maybe this is just a low success area.  Does anyone understand hunting the Pacific Ghost?

BH...I don't claim to understand Blacktails, but I have hunted them for 40 years here in Oregon. I hunt them in our late season in the north Cascades when they're rutting and moving down when/if we get a dumping of snow.

My favorite way to hunt Blacktails is by using rattling antlers to simulate a fight and pull a buck out of the brush.

I also like to track down bucks when we get fresh snow. If you can find a set of large tracks, you can dog him and eventually catch up with him. I've tracked bucks right to a bed before, and sometimes they'll lay right there expecting you to walk on by before sneaking out the back on ya.

Heavy rain is a good time to see big bucks out and about, but I'd rather wait until the storm breaks rather then chance looking a bloodtrail in a heavy rain.

If you can find a small herd of doe's after November 1st, keep track of them because sooner or later some bucks will show up looking for love.

This is my 2007 buck...
 

Good luck and have fun!

[snag]

I never get tired of seeing that picture!

[Jager]

True storie I would like to just see a glimspe of that buck while I was hunting!

[Bear Heart]

Seems the deer are doing a little better down in Oregon.  I did a lot of scouting but found almost no sign.  At this elevation we don't get much in the way of snow.  
Tree Killer I have never seen more than two deer at a time in this area and only saw a total of about eight all year.
Did see a lot of Coyote and Bear dropping though.  The Coyotes are plentiful and probe your perimiter when you are training in the field at night.

[TheArc]

I hunt the Northern CA/Mendocino County area and they are almost always nocturnal in good weather with any kind of moonlight. If it gets really cold and we get an early October rain they do move about more then. It seems to be more a matter of how much time you can put in active areas if you can't find private property with all the ingredients. Our late season buck hunt would be better if there wasn't so much poaching and of course the gut shooting by green growers.

[Sixby]

For Sure hunting the rut is the best time but I really like the early season too. I like to hunt high ridges that the buck lay up on to get away from the flys. I find the down wind side and just move real slow and stop a lot and look around. Everytime you decide nothings there and you move fast you bust deer out lOL. I think hunting blacktails on foot , still hunting is the supreme bowhunt/ Eastern Hunters look at our deer numbers and laugh but guys we only get one deer a year. I don't even deer hunt now but spend the entire first season after elk. If I still have any energy then I will hunt the rut. This year I just stayed home and built bows.Bodock a lot of my earlier deer were does too. I did eventually decide if I kept killing little ones I wouldn't ever kill a big un though. Had to pass on lots of deer and drew a couple of blanks/

TreeKiller , I absolutely love that pic too. Thats as good as it gets.

[BTH]

I've been hunting blacktails for a long time and I've shot quite a few Mendocino County blacktails. Early mornings and late evenings are the best times although I've also been lucky around 11am. Hunt the moon phase, find their travel patterns, food sources, bedding locations. You can spot and stalk, still hunt, or ambush, but you need information. Be patient. If you haven't already read Boyd Iversons books on hunting blacktails. In the "sucks to be me" catagory I just lost access to the 3000 acre ranch I've been hunting for 20 years. Now I have to start over and pattern new areas.
Sixby, I hear you. I've killed bucks using that strategy. Come down on them from above while they're looking downhill in their bed, patient, slow stalking, with the afternoon upslope wind in my favor. That is my #1 favorite strategy.
Arc, where are you hunting in October? I've been going into the area around Lake Shasta the past few years for B zone after A zone closes.

[TheArc]

I hunt on a timber track and ranch in the Round Valley area about 10 miles up from Covelo off Mina Road. As much bear sign as deer where I go. I drew a Covelo Buck tag two years ago but it stayed warm and dry  late and the rut never came into play.

[Bear Heart]

The deer here don't seem to have a big food source but instead just seem to snack on the plentiful berries, apples and other plant and can get water just about anywhere once the fall rains come.  Judging from the very dark color of the deer I saw I am guessing that they are in some deep, dark swampy area.  Just might have to break out the wadders.

[Bear Heart]

ttt

[Sixby]

I have hunted the backside of Shasta in October,Medicine Lake and really loved it , Cougers got most of the deer in that area though. Last time I was there all I saw was cat tracks. I don't know what the cats were eating because there weren't any deer there but there sure were cats.

Like Tree Said the snowline hunt , late is good too because it concentrates the bucks and they are not in their normal territory brushed up. You can track them but lots of times just see them . Usually still with does. that kind of hunting is getting kind of hard on me now though.

[legends1]

Ive hunted them here in California for over 35 years.I hunt them much like the eastern white tail hunters from a treestand.I set up on  a well used trail between feeding and bedding areas.Give that a try.Good luck